Daily Bible Notes: August, 21st
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 that watereth shall be watered also himself.
Proverbs 11:25
We are here taught the great lesson, that to get, we must give; that to accumulate, we must scatter; that to make ourselves happy, we must make others happy; and that in order to become spiritually vigorous, we must seek the spiritual good of others. In watering others, we are ourselves watered. How? Our efforts to be useful, bring out our powers for usefulness . We have latent talents and dormant faculties, which are brought to light by exercise. Our strength for labour is hidden even from ourselves, until we venture forth to fight the Lord’s battles, or to climb the mountains of difficulty. We do not know what tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow’s tears, and soothe the orphan’s grief. We often find in attempting to teach others, that we gain instruction for ourselves .
Oh, what gracious lessons some of us have learned at sick beds! We went to teach the Scriptures, we came away blushing that we knew so little of them. In our converse with poor saints, we are taught the way of God more perfectly for ourselves and get a deeper insight into divine truth. So that watering others makes us humble . We discover how much grace there is where we had not looked for it; and how much the poor saint may outstrip us in knowledge. Our own comfort is also increased by our working for others. We endeavour to cheer them, and the consolation gladdens our own heart. Like the two men in the snow; one chafed the other’s limbs to keep him from dying, and in so doing kept his own blood in circulation, and saved his own life. The poor widow of Sarepta gave from her scanty store a supply for the prophet’s wants, and from that day she never again knew what want was. Give then, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and running over.
Evening
I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain.
Isaiah 45:19
We may gain much solace by considering what God has not said. What He has said is inexpressibly full of comfort and delight; what He has not said is scarcely less rich in consolation. It was one of these "said nots" which preserved the kingdom of Israel in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, for "the Lord said not that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven." 2 Kings 14:27. In our text we have an assurance that God will answer prayer, because He hath "not said unto the seed of Israel, Seek ye Me in vain." You who write bitter things against yourselves should remember that, let your doubts and fears say what they will, if God has not cut you off from mercy, there is no room for despair: even the voice of conscience is of little weight if it be not seconded by the voice of God.
What God has said, tremble at! But suffer not your vain imaginings to overwhelm you with despondency and sinful despair. Many timid persons have been vexed by the suspicion that there may be something in God’s decree which shuts them out from hope, but here is a complete refutation to that troublesome fear, for no true seeker can be decreed to wrath. "I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I have not said," even in the secret of my unsearchable decree, "Seek ye Me in vain." God has clearly revealed that He will hear the prayer of those who call upon Him, and that declaration cannot be contravened. He has so firmly, so truthfully, so righteously spoken, that there can be no room for doubt. He does not reveal His mind in unintelligible words, but He speaks plainly and positively, "Ask, and ye shall receive." Believe, O trembler, this sure truth - that prayer must and shall be heard, and that never, even in the secrets of eternity, has the Lord said unto any living soul, "Seek ye Me in vain."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Jeremiah 31:10-14
10 "Hear the LORD's word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.'
11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
12 They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all.
13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness," says the LORD.
SATISFACTION
"My people shall be satisfied with My goodness."
And how unlike is all this to the feasts of the world! There is a great show, but no satisfaction. There is much decorative china, but no nutritious food or drink. "Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again." We rise from the table, and our deepest cravings are unappeased. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" We know. We have had a condiment, but no meat; a showy menu-card, but no reviving feast.
Nothing but the goodness of the Lord can satisfy the soul. Whatever else may be on the table of life, if this be absent we shall go away unfed. We may have money, and pleasure, and success, and fame, but they are all delusive husks if the grace of the Lord be absent.
This is the real furnishing of the feast. There are vast multitudes of things I can do without if only I have the holy bread of life in the gracious Presence of my Lord. In this sphere it is the Guest who makes the table! "Thou, O Christ, art all I want!" "Having Him we have all things." A glorious satisfaction possesses the soul, and though we may not increase our worldly possessions, we do something better, we "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
August 21st.
Father of lights, I thank Thee for every one who brings me any illumination. For all who bring me suggestion, counsel,
warning; for all who help me by voice or by pen; for all who lead me into a larger life I give Thee the praise and glory.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Psalms 30:5
A moment under our Father's anger seems very long, and yet it is but a moment after all. If we grieve his Spirit we cannot look for his smile; but he is a God ready to pardon, and he soon puts aside all remembrance of our faults. When we faint and are ready to die because of his frown, his favour puts new life into us.
This verse has another note of the semi-quaver kind. Our weeping night soon turns into joyous day. Brevity is the mark of mercy in the hour of the chastisement of believers. The Lord loves not to use the rod on his chosen; he gives a blow or two, and all is over; yea, and the life and the joy, which follow the anger and the weeping, more than make amends for the salutary sorrow.
Come, my heart, begin thy hallelujahs! Weep not all through the night, but wipe thine eyes in anticipation of the morning. These tears are dews which mean us as much good as the sunbeams of the morrow. Tears clear the eyes for the sight of God in his grace; and make the vision of his favour more precious. A night of sorrow supplies those shades of the picture by which the high lights are brought out with distinctness. All is well.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
He that oppreseth the poor reproacheth his Maker.
Proverbs 14:31
There is yet to be found a man who, out of love to God, will lay his first fruits on the altar, and then oppress another man in poverty and need.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
He is the Mediator of a better covenant.
Hebrews 8:6
The outstanding word here is the word "covenant," for it includes everything which accrues to the believer through the priesthood of Jesus. The writer had employed it once before (7:22). Now he turned back to it, and from this point it constantly recurs to the end of the letter. It is well that we should recognize its real value. The Latin Vulgate invariably renders the word testamentum, and our Revisers always marginally suggest testament as an alternative rendering. This is suggestive, and indeed important. When we employ the word covenant, we think of a contract, into which two parties have entered, and which involves obligations and responsibilities on both sides; and all this is true in the use of the word in this connection. But the idea is not that of a covenant made after discussion, or by mutual concession and arrangement. A covenant is literally a testament, or disposition made by one, in the making of which the other is not consulted, but the benefits of which that other can only appropriate as he fulfils the terms laid down by the one. Our modern word Will exactly conveys the idea. The covenant between God and man which Christ Jesus has mediated is the disposition of God on behalf of man, the benefits of which man can only appropriate as he obeys the terms of that testament or disposition. To put the truth somewhat roughly, and perhaps, therefore, all the more forcefully - the better covenant is not one arrived at after bargaining with God. It is all of His grace.
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.