Daily Bible Notes: December, 7th
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
Base things of the world hath God chosen.
1 Corinthians 1:28
Walk the streets by moonlight, if you dare, and you will see sinners then.
Watch when the night is dark, and the wind is howling, and the picklock is grating in the door, and you will see sinners then. Go to yon jail, and walk through the wards, and mark the men with heavy over-hanging brows, men whom you would not like to meet at night, and there are sinners there. Go to the Reformatories, and note those who have betrayed a rampant juvenile depravity, and you will see sinners there. Go across the seas to the place where a man will gnaw a bone upon which is reeking human flesh, and there is a sinner there. Go where you will, you need not ransack earth to find sinners, for they are common enough; you may find them in every lane and street of every city, and town, and village, and hamlet. It is for such that Jesus died. If you will select me the grossest specimen of humanity, if he be but born of woman, I will have hope of him yet, because Jesus Christ is come to seek and to save sinners . Electing love has selected some of the worst to be made the best. Pebbles of the brook grace turns into jewels for the crown-royal. Worthless dross He transforms into pure gold. Redeeming love has set apart many of the worst of mankind to be the reward of the Saviour’s passion. Effectual grace calls forth many of the vilest of the vile to sit at the table of mercy, and therefore let none despair.
Reader, by that love looking out of Jesus’ tearful eyes, by that love streaming from those bleeding wounds, by that faithful love, that strong love, that pure, disinterested, and abiding love; by the heart and by the bowels of the Saviour’s compassion, we conjure you turn not away as though it were nothing to you; but believe on Him and you shall be saved.
Trust your soul with Him and He will bring you to His Father’s right hand in glory everlasting.
Evening
I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
1 Corinthians 9:22
Paul’s great object was not merely to instruct and to improve, but to save.
Anything short of this would have disappointed him; he would have men renewed in heart, forgiven, sanctified, in fact, saved. Have our Christian labours been aimed at anything below this great point? Then let us amend our ways, for of what avail will it be at the last great day to have taught and moralized men if they appear before God unsaved? Blood-red will our skirts be if through life we have sought inferior objects, and forgotten that men needed to be saved. Paul knew the ruin of man’s natural state, and did not try to educate him, but to save him; he saw men sinking to hell, and did not talk of refining them, but of saving from the wrath to come. To compass their salvation, he gave himself up with untiring zeal to telling abroad the gospel, to warning and beseeching men to be reconciled to God.
His prayers were importunate and his labours incessant. To save souls was his consuming passion, his ambition, his calling. He became a servant to all men, toiling for his race, feeling a woe within him if he preached not the gospel. He laid aside his preferences to prevent prejudice; he submitted his will in things indifferent, and if men would but receive the gospel, he raised no questions about forms or ceremonies: the gospel was the one all-important business with him. If he might save some he would be content. This was the crown for which he strove, the sole and sufficient reward of all his labours and self-denials. Dear reader, have you and I lived to win souls at this noble rate? Are we possessed with the same all-absorbing desire? If not, why not? Jesus died for sinners, cannot we live for them? Where is our tenderness? Where our love to Christ, if we seek not His honour in the salvation of men? O that the Lord would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Chronicles 28:1-10
1 David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, the captains of the companies who served the king by division, the captains of thousands, the captains of hundreds, and the rulers over all the substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officers and the mighty men, even all the mighty men of valour, to Jerusalem.
2 Then David the king stood up on his feet, and said, "Hear me, my brothers, and my people! As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the LORD's covenant, and for the footstool of our God; and I had prepared for the building.
3 But God said to me, 'You shall not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood.'
4 However the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen Judah to be prince; and in the house of Judah, the house of my father; and amongst the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.
5 Of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the LORD's kingdom over Israel.
6 He said to me, 'Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.
7 I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues to do my commandments and my ordinances, as it is today.'
8 Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the LORD's assembly, and in the audience of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of the LORD your God; that you may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.
9 You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
10 Take heed now; for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong, and do it."
CHOSEN AS BUILDERS
"Take heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee to build."
And how must he take heed? For it may be that the Lord hath also chosen me to build, and the counsel given to Solomon may serve me in this later day. Let me listen.
"Serve Him with a perfect heart." God's chosen builders must be characterized by singleness and simplicity. He can do nothing with "double" men, who do things only "by half," giving one part to Him and the other part to Mammon. It is like offering the stock of a gun to one man and the barrel to another; and the effect is nil. No, the entire gun! The "perfect heart"!
"And with a willing mind." For the willing mind is the ready mind, and God can do nothing with the unready. I never know just when He will call me to add another stone to the rising walls of the New Jerusalem, and if I am "otherwise engaged" I am a grievous hindrance to His gracious plans. He must be willing and ready who would be a builder of the walls of Zion. And to that man the Lord will entrust the privilege of responsibility.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
December 7th.
Holy Spirit, wilt Thou be my Revealer to-day? Show me things that are now concealed. Give me glimpses of unexpected glory.
Lead me into the truth. May I find delight in my Lord's Commandments! May I be an eager disciple in the school of Christ!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.
Psalms 29:11
David had just heard the voice of the Lord in a thunderstorm, and had seen his power in the hurricane whose path he had described; and now, in the cool calm after the storm, that overwhelming power by which heaven and earth are shaken is promised to be the strength of the chosen. He who wings the unerring bolt will give to his redeemed the wings of eagles; he who shakes the earth with his voice will terrify the enemies of his saints, and give his children peace. Why are we weak when we have divine strength to flee to? Why are we troubled when the Lord's own peace is ours? Jesus, the mighty God, is our strength; let us put him on and go forth to our service. Jesus, our blessed Lord, is also our peace; let us repose in him this day, and end our fears. What a blessing to have him for our strength and peace both now and for ever!
That same God who rides upon the storm in days of tempest will also rule the hurricane of our tribulation, and send us, before long, days of peace. We shall have strength for storms, and songs for fair weather. Let us begin to sing at once unto God our strength and our peace. Away, dark thoughts! Up, faith and hope!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Suppose ye that these ... were sinners ... because they suffered such things?
Luke 13:2
If we cannot understand what God is doing with that woman whose heart is crushed and broken with overwhelming sorrow, let us be reverently silent lest we help the men who drive the nails, and break the Lord's own heart.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
A throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon the throne.
Revelation 4:2
This book is now about to pass on to matters of the earth, of its kingdoms, and forces, and behaviour. Jesus Christ is to be unveiled in His government. He is to be disclosed in the processes by which He battles against the destructive forces of evil, and finally establishes the Kingdom of God on earth. This chapter and the next are occupied with the established order, rather than with the executive activity. In this one, the central revelation is that of the Throne, and the One Who occupies it. The first fact is that of the Throne and the One. It is an unveiling. The Throne is not seen as now being set in Heaven, but as having been for ever set there. It is, in the words of the old Hebrew prophet, the Throne set on high from the beginning. It has always been there. Whatever the attitudes of men may have been toward it - whether that of forgetfulness, or indifference, or rebellion, or submission - they have never escaped from its power and authority. Moreover, the One Who is unveiled is not One Who has recently come to the Throne. He has ever occupied it. This is the Throne that Isaiah saw when Uzziah died, the Throne that has never been vacant, and that has never trembled. The imagery of the chapter is wonderful, as it helps us to apprehend the glory and majesty of that centre of authority in the universe. Perhaps, however, nothing in all the chapter is more impressive than the reverent reticence of the description of the One upon the Throne. No form is described, but only the effect produced by looking, that of the translucent light and beauty of jasper and sardius. When we attempt interpretation, we fail, because we are not sure about the stones. The impression is everything. Light, glory, beauty; and all that, living, and enthroned.
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.