Daily Bible Notes: August, 18th
The following daily bible notes for every day of the year, are taken from six public domain sources:
- "Morning and Evening" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by John H.Jowett
- "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
- "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by Charles H.Spurgeon
- "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan
- An Evening Meditation from "Searchlights from the Word" by G. Campbell Morgan
1. "Morning and Evening" by C.H.Spurgeon
Morning
Strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.
Jeremiah 51:51
In this account the faces of the Lord’s people were covered with shame, for it was a terrible thing that men should intrude into the Holy Place reserved for the priests alone. Everywhere about us we see like cause for sorrow. How many ungodly men are now educating with the view of entering into the ministry! What a crying sin is that solemn lie by which our whole population is nominally comprehended in a National Church!
How fearful it is that ordinances should be pressed upon the unconverted, and that among the more enlightened churches of our land there should be such laxity of discipline. If the thousands who will read this portion shall all take this matter before the Lord Jesus this day, He will interfere and avert the evil which else will come upon His Church. To adulterate the Church is to pollute a well, to pour water upon fire, to sow a fertile field with stones. May we all have grace to maintain in our own proper way the purity of the Church, as being an assembly of believers, and not a nation, an unsaved community of unconverted men.
Our zeal must, however, begin at home. Let us examine ourselves as to our right to eat at the Lord’s table. Let us see to it that we have on our wedding garment, lest we ourselves be intruders in the Lord’s sanctuaries.
Many are called, but few are chosen; the way is narrow, and the gate is strait. O for grace to come to Jesus aright, with the faith of God’s elect. He who smote Uzzah for touching the ark is very jealous of His two ordinances; as a true believer I may approach them freely, as an alien I must not touch them lest I die. Heartsearching is the duty of all who are baptized or come to the Lord’s table. "Search me, O God, and know my way, try me and know my heart."
Evening
And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but He received it not.
Mark 15:23
A golden truth is couched in the fact that the Saviour put the myrrhed wine-cup from His lips. On the heights of heaven the Son of God stood of old, and as He looked down upon our globe He measured the long descent to the utmost depths of human misery; He cast up the m total of all the agonies which expiation would require, and abated not a jot. He solemnly determined that to offer a sufficient atoning sacrifice He must go the whole way, from the highest to the lowest, from the throne of highest glory to the cross of deepest woe. This myrrhed cup, with its soporific influence, would have stayed Him within a little of the utmost limit of misery, therefore He refused it. He would not stop short of all He had undertaken to suffer for His people. Ah, how many of us have pined after reliefs to our grief which would have been injurious to us! Reader, did you never pray for a discharge from hard service or suffering with a petulant and wilful eagerness? Providence has taken from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Say, Christian, if it had been said, "If you so desire it, that loved one of yours shall live, but God will be dishonoured," could you have put away the temptation, and said, "Thy will be done"? Oh, it is sweet to be able to say, "My Lord, if for other reasons I need not suffer, yet if I can honour Thee more by suffering, and if the loss of my earthly all will bring Thee glory, then so let it be. I refuse the comfort, if it comes in the way of Thine honour." O that we thus walked more in the footsteps of our Lord, cheerfully enduring trial for His sake, promptly and willingly putting away the thought of self and comfort when it would interfere with our finishing the work which He has given us to do. Great grace is needed, but great grace is provided.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 122
1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let's go to the LORD's house!"
2 Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem,
3 Jerusalem, that is built as a city that is compact together,
4 where the tribes go up, even the LORD's tribes, according to an ordinance for Israel, to give thanks to the LORD's name.
5 For there are set thrones for judgement, the thrones of David's house.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper.
7 Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.
8 For my brothers' and companions' sakes, I will now say, "Peace be within you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.
THE CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
And my Jerusalem is "the church of the living God." Do I carry her on my heart? Do I praise God for her heritage, and for her endowment of spiritual glory? And do I remember her perils, especially those parts of her walls where the defences are very thin, and can be easily broken through? Yes, has my Church any place in my prayer, or am I robbing her of part of her intended possessions?
And is the entire Jerusalem the subject of my supplication? Or do I only think of a corner of it, just that part where my own little synagogue is placed? I am a Congregationalist; do I remember the Anglican? I am an Anglican; do I remember the Quaker? Am I thus concerned only with a small section of Jerusalem, or does my intercession sweep the entire city?
"They shall prosper that love thee." I cannot be healthy if I am bereft of fellowship. If I ignore the house of prayer I impoverish my home. The peaceful glow of the fireside is not unrelated to the coals upon the common altar. The sacrament is connected with my ordinary meal. To love the Church of Christ is to become enriched with "the fulness of Christ."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
August 18th.
My Saviour, Thou who didst know the ways of common toil, bless my work to-day. May I do it well as unto Thee! Save me
from all deceit. May I be frank and open and reliable! May my work be heavenly sacrifice!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
If thou seek him, he will he found of thee.
1 Chronicles 28:9
We need our God; he is to be had for the seeking; and he will not deny himself to any one of us if we personally seek his face. It is not, if thou deserve him, or purchase his favour, but merely if thou "seek" him. Those who already know the Lord must go on seeking his face by prayer, by diligent service, and by holy gratitude: to such he will not refuse his favour and fellowship. Those who, as yet, have not known him to their souls' rest should at once commence seeking, and never cease till they find him as their Saviour, their Friend, their Father, and their God.
What strong assurance this promise gives to the seeker! "He that seeketh findeth." You, yes you, if you seek your God shall find him. When you find him you have found life, pardon, sanctification, preservation, and glory. Will you not seek, and seek on, since you shall not seek in vain? Dear friend, seek the Lord at once. Here is the place, and now is the time. Bend that stiff knee; yes, bend that stiffer neck, and cry out for God, for the living God. In the name of Jesus seek cleansing and justification. You shall not be refused. Here is David's testimony to his son Solomon, and it is the writer's personal witness to the reader. Believe it and act upon it, for Christ's sake.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
He is a great King over all the earth.
Psalm 47:2
Christ is today Ruler over the most wonderful empire the world has ever seen. We are living in a day when criticism of the Church is one of the most popular pastimes of some inside its borders. I am intensely weary of this whole business.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:6
In considering the "High Priest of our confession," the writer had made clear His superiority to the Aaronic order. He now quoted this couplet from a psalm, and thus introduced the name Melchizedek, to which he presently returned. The really emphatic words of the couplet are "for ever." Aaron was called of God, and rendered his appointed service; but the period of that service was necessarily limited to his earthly lifetime, and he was succeeded by others. Our High Priest is the Son of God, and therefore there is no end to the period of His priesthood, and there can be no successors. While that is so, the quotation also suggests the nature of His priesthood. It is not merely that of dealing with sin; it is that also of sustaining life amid service and conflict. Melchizedek appears once on the page of Hebrew history, and the appearance is full of suggestiveness in the matter of what he did. Abram had been forth to war in the interest of righteousness. His service was wholly on behalf of others. He was victorious. The king of Sodom went out to meet him. Then Melchizedek appeared, and "brought forth bread and wine"; also he blessed Abram; also he received a "tenth of all." Thus he appeared, these things he did, and then he passed out of sight. There is no further reference to him until David in a Messianic psalm wrote this couplet. There is no other reference to him till this letter. Thus we see him at once king of righteousness and peace, and his priestly function is that of sustaining and blessing those who serve the Kingdom of righteousness and peace.
Note: To the best of our knowledge we are of the understanding that the above material, all published before 1926 and freely available elsewhere on the internet in various formats, is in the public domain.