Daily Bible Notes: August, 19th
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
He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord.
Micah 5:4
Christ’s reign in His Church is that of a shepherd-king . He has supremacy, but it is the superiority of a wise and tender shepherd over his needy and loving flock; He commands and receives obedience, but it is the willing obedience of the well-cared-for sheep, rendered joyfully to their beloved Shepherd, whose voice they know so well. He rules by the force of love and the energy of goodness.
His reign is practical in its character . It is said, "He shall stand and feed ."
The great Head of the Church is actively engaged in providing for His people. He does not sit down upon the throne in empty state, or hold a sceptre without wielding it in government. No, He stands and feeds. The expression "feed," in the original, is like an analogous one in the Greek, which means to shepherdize, to do everything expected of a shepherd: to guide, to watch, to preserve, to restore, to tend, as well as to feed.
His reign is continual in its duration . It is said, "He shall stand and feed"; not "He shall feed now and then, and leave His position"; not, "He shall one day grant a revival, and then next day leave His Church to barrenness."
His eyes never slumber, and His hands never rest; His heart never ceases to beat with love, and His shoulders are never weary of carrying His people’s burdens.
His reign is effectually powerful in its action ; "He shall feed in the strength of Jehovah." Wherever Christ is, there is God; and whatever Christ does is the act of the Most High. Oh! it is a joyful truth to consider that He who stands to-day representing the interests of His people is very God of very God, to whom every knee shall bow. Happy are we who belong to such a shepherd, whose humanity communes with us, and whose divinity protects us. Let us worship and bow down before Him as the people of His pasture.
Evening
Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for Thou art my strength.
Psalm 31:4
Our spiritual foes are of the serpent’s brood, a and seek to ensnare us by subtlety. The prayer before us supposes the possibility of the believer being caught like a bird. So deftly does the fowler do his work, that simple ones are soon surrounded by the net. The text asks that even out of Satan’s meshes the captive one may be delivered; this is a proper petition, and one which can be granted: from between the jaws of the lion, and out of the belly of hell, can eternal love rescue the saint. It may need a sharp pull to save a soul from the net of temptations, and a mighty pull to extricate a man from the snares of malicious cunning, but the Lord is equal to every emergency, and the most skilfully placed nets of the hunter shall never be able to hold His chosen ones. Woe unto those who are so clever at net laying; they who tempt others shall be destroyed themselves. "For Thou art my strength ." What an inexpressible sweetness is to be found in these few words! How joyfully may we encounter toils, and how cheerfully may we endure sufferings, when we can lay hold upon celestial strength. Divine power will rend asunder all the toils of our enemies, confound their politics, and frustrate their knavish tricks; he is a happy man who has such matchless might engaged upon his side. Our own strength would be of little service when embarrassed in the nets of base cunning, but the Lord’s strength is ever available; we have but to invoke it, and we shall find it near at hand. If by faith we are depending alone upon the strength of the mighty God of Israel, we may use our holy reliance as a plea in supplication. "Lord, evermore Thy face we seek:
Tempted we are, and poor, and weak; Keep us with lowly hearts, and meek.
Let us not fall. Let us not fall."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the LORD's house forever.
IN GREEN PASTURES
This little psalm has been called the nightingale of the psalms. It sings "in the shade when all things rest." It makes music in the darkness; it gives me "songs in the night." And what does it sing about?
It sings of God's bounty in food and rest. "Green pastures"; "still waters." My Lord knows when my heart is faint, when it needs His reviving food. He knows when my heart is tired and needs His sweet rest. "He restoreth my soul."
And it sings of the God-appointed way across the hill. "He leadeth me in paths of righteousness." He makes the right way clear. He walks the path of duty with me. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me."
And it sings of the feast which the Lord serves in the very midst of my foes. "He spreadeth a table before me in the midst of mine enemies." He gives me the fat things of grace in the very presence of frowning circumstances.
And it sings of the providence which guards the rear. "Goodness and mercy shall follow me!" God's grace comes between me and my yesterdays. It cuts off the heredity from the old Adam, and no far-off plague comes nigh my dwelling.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
August 19th.
My Father, I thank Thee for all the mercies of the past. Quicken my memory that I may recall them. May I see the way of
grace along which Thou hast in mercy led me! May Thy mercy awake my praise!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
Psalms 58:11
God's judgments in this life are not always clearly to be seen, for in many cases one event happeneth alike to all. This is the state of probation, not of punishment or reward. Yet at times God works terrible things in righteousness, and even the careless are compelled to own his hand.
Even in this life righteousness has that kind of reward which it prefers above all others, namely, the smile of God, which creates a quiet conscience. Sometimes other recompenses follow, for God will be in no man's debt. But, at the same time, the chief reward of the righteous lies in the hereafter.
Meanwhile, on a large scale, we mark the presence of the great Ruler among the nations. He breaks in pieces oppressive thrones, and punishes guilty peoples. No one can study the history of the rise and fall of empires without perceiving that there is a power which makes for righteousness, and, in the end, brings iniquity before its bar, and condemns it with unsparing justice. Sin shall not go unpunished, and goodness shall not remain unrewarded. The Judge of all the earth must do right. Therefore, let us fear before him, and no more dread the power of the wicked.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I have learned by experience.
Genesis 30:27
Man is expected to profit by experience, and if he declines to do so he must bear the penalty.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6:12
Having introduced the name of Melchizedek, and so also the idea of an order of priesthood higher than that of Aaron, before dealing with that subject more particularly the writer turned aside to exhort his hearers to diligence, and to warn them against the deadly peril of apostasy. In the course of this teaching, he thus put two attitudes toward all these great matters into contrast: the attitude of the sluggish, and that of imitators of those of faith and patience. Or we may say a contrast between "sluggishness" and "faith and patience." This calls us up again to "take heed," and to diligence in "considering." What, then, is sluggishness? The King James' Version rendered the word "slothful," but that left the emphasis too much on the failure to act. The word "sluggish" employed by the Revisers emphasizes a condition, which results in slothfulness. The Greek word means lazy, stupid. It is a condition of soul into which we inevitably pass if we fail in the utmost diligence. Great as is the glory of our High Priest, unless we resolutely maintain our attitude of mental alertness, we shall lose the power to see, to realize, and so to profit by, His greatness. In order to this diligence, we need "faith in patience": that is, faith reinforced and kept operative by patience. Here the word translated patience means more than endurance. It is the word elsewhere rendered long-suffering. It is active rather than passive. The cure for sluggishness is ever the activity which persists in conforming the life and its habits to the faith which is professed.
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.