Daily Bible Notes: August, 28th
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
Oil for the light.
Exodus 25:6
My soul, how much thou needest this, for thy lamp will not long continue to burn without it. Thy snuff will smoke and become an offence if light be gone, and gone it will be if oil be absent. Thou hast no oil well springing up in thy human nature, and therefore thou must go to them that sell and buy for thyself, or like the foolish virgins, thou wilt have to cry, "My lamp is gone out." Even the consecrated lamps could not give light without oil; though they shone in the tabernacle they needed to be fed, though no rough winds blew upon them they required to be trimmed, and thy need is equally as great. Under the most happy circumstances thou canst not give light for another hour unless fresh oil of grace be given thee.
It was not every oil that might be used in the Lord’s service; neither the petroleum which exudes so plentifully from the earth, nor the produce of fishes, nor that extracted from nuts would be accepted; one oil only was selected, and that the best olive oil. Pretended grace from natural goodness, fancied grace from priestly hands, or imaginary grace from outward ceremonies will never serve the true saint of God; he knows that the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil. He goes to the olive-press of Gethsemane, and draws his supplies from Him who was crushed therein.
The oil of gospel grace is pure and free from lees and dregs, and hence the light which is fed thereon is clear and bright. Our churches are the Saviour’s golden candelabra, and if they are to be lights in this dark world, they must have much holy oil. Let us pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches, that they may never lack oil for the light. Truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, love, these are all beams of the sacred light, but we cannot give them forth unless in private we receive oil from God the Holy Ghost.
Evening
Sing, O barren.
Isaiah 54:1
Though we have brought forth some fruit unto Christ, and have a joyful hope that we are "plants of His own right hand planting," yet there are times when we feel very barren. Prayer is lifeless, love is cold, faith is weak, each grace in the garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are like flowers in the hot sun, requiring the refreshing shower. In such a condition what are we to do? The text is addressed to us in just such a state. "Sing, O barren, break forth and cry aloud ." But what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of barrenness. Ah! I can sing of Jesus Christ. I can talk of visits which the Redeemer has aforetimes paid to me; or if not of these, I can magnify the great love wherewith He loved His people when He came from the heights of heaven for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come, my soul, heavy laden thou wast once, and thou didst lose thy burden there. Go to Calvary again. Perhaps that very cross which gave thee life may give thee fruitfulness. What is my barrenness? It is the platform for His fruit-creating power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of His everlasting love. I will go in poverty, I will go in helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will tell Him that I am still His child, and in confidence in His faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.
Sing, believer, for it will cheer thine own heart, and the hearts of other desolate ones. Sing on, for now that thou art really ashamed of being barren, thou wilt be fruitful soon; now that God makes thee loath to be without fruit He will soon cover thee with clusters. The experience of our barrenness is painful, but the Lord’s visitations are delightful. A sense of our own poverty drives us to Christ, and that is where we need to be, for in Him is our fruit found.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Job 28:12-28
12 "But where will wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?
13 Man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, 'It isn't in me.' The sea says, 'It isn't with me.'
15 It can't be gotten for gold, neither will silver be weighed for its price.
16 It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
17 Gold and glass can't equal it, neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention will be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it, nor will it be valued with pure gold.
20 Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?
21 Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky.
22 Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a rumour of it with our ears.'
23 "God understands its way, and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky.
25 He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.
26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yes, and searched it out.
28 To man he said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.' "
WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING
"The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom."
Mere learning will not make me wise. The path to wisdom is not necessarily through the schools. The brilliant scholar may be an arrant fool. True wisdom is found, not in mental acquisitions, but in a certain spiritual relation. The wise man is known by the pose of his soul. He is "inclined toward the Lord!" He has returned unto his rest, and he finds light and vision in the fellowship of his Lord.
"To depart from evil is understanding." Yes, I need the lens of purity if I am to see the secrets of things. A dirty lens is the explanation of much ignorance and obscurity. I do not think I can ever see a flower if my lens is defiled. Much less can I see "the things of others." And still less again can I enjoy "the secret of the Lord." What we want is not so much a theological training as a right spirit, not so much to go to school as to "depart from evil." When I leave an evil habit worlds unseen begin to show their glory. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
August 28th.
Father of all men, lead me into the secret places of that great name. May the love that is in it lead me into the brotherliness!
May I not call Thee Father, and yet not be a brother. Because Thou art our Father, lift me into the spirit of loving kinship.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me.
Psalma 55:16
Yes, I must and will pray. What else can I do? What better can I do? Betrayed, forsaken, grieved, baffled, O my Lord, I will call upon thee. My Ziklag is in ashes, and men speak of stoning me; but I encourage my heart in the Lord, who will bear me through this trial as he has borne me through so many others. Jehovah shall save me; I am sure he will, and I declare my faith.
The Lord and no one else shall save me. I desire no other helper, and would not trust in an arm of flesh even if I could. I will cry to him evening, and morning, and noon, and I will cry to no one else, for he is All-sufficient.
How he will save me I cannot guess; but he will do it, I know. He will do it in the best and surest way, and he will do it in the largest, truest, and fullest sense. Out of this trouble and all future troubles the great I AM will bring me as surely as he lives; and when death comes, and all the mysteries of eternity follow thereon, still will this be true: "the Lord shall save me." This shall be my song all through this autumn day. Is it not as a ripe apple from the tree of life? I will feed upon it. How sweet it is to my taste!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.
Psalm 37:5
Nothing brings greater comfort to the human mind as it stands amid all the perplexing mysteries of evil and of good, of the power and limitation of the human will, than to fall back upon the certainty that what we know not, God knows.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
So speak ye, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty.
James 2:12
Again the purpose of James is practical, but the arresting word here is the description of the standard of speech and action as "a law of liberty." The phrase had already been used, as a definition of "the perfect law" (1:25). Its repetition shows that it suggests an aspect of law which impressed the writer, and it is interesting to remember that the phrase is peculiar to James. He had referred a little before to the "royal law" - "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" - words taken from the law of Moses, and emphasized in the teaching of Jesus. Was it not the sum-total of the conception of life as implicated in that "royal law" that he described as a "law of liberty"? To keep that law is only possible when that which the Lord had connected with it is obeyed: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." When that law is kept, the soul is set free from all the bondage which results from the breaking of any of the enactments of the moral law. The law of liberty is the law which defines our relationship to God and man as love-mastered. To speak and do under that impulse, is to be free indeed. If that law be disobeyed, if no mercy be shown, then judgment based upon that law will show no mercy. Love is the most vigilant and severe sentinel that watches words and works. If it be obeyed, then is life a life of liberty. If it be disobeyed, then are we in bondage every way.
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.