Daily Bible Notes: December, 9th
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
Therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you.
Isaiah 30:18
God often DELAYS IN ANSWERING PRAYER. We have several instances of this in sacred Scripture. Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day - he had to wrestle all night for it. The poor woman of Syrophenicia was answered not a word for a long while.
Paul besought the Lord thrice that "the thorn in the flesh" might be taken from him, and he received no assurance that it should be taken away, but instead thereof a promise that God’s grace should be sufficient for him. If thou hast been knocking at the gate of mercy, and hast received no answer, shall I tell thee why the mighty Maker hath not opened the door and let thee in? Our Father has reasons peculiar to Himself for thus keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show His power and His sovereignty, that men may know that Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold. More frequently the delay is for our profit. Thou art perhaps kept waiting in order that thy desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if He keeps thee waiting thou wilt see thy necessity more clearly, and wilt seek more earnestly; and that thou wilt prize the mercy all the more for its long tarrying. There may also be something wrong in thee which has need to be removed, before the joy of the Lord is given. Perhaps thy views of the Gospel plan are confused, or thou mayest be placing some little reliance on thyself, instead of trusting simply and entirely to the Lord Jesus. Or, God makes thee tarry awhile that He may the more fully display the riches of His grace to thee at last.
Thy prayers are all filed in heaven, and if not immediately answered they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while shall be fulfilled to thy delight and satisfaction. Let not despair make thee silent, but continue instant in earnest supplication.
Evening
My people shall dwell in quiet resting places.
Isaiah 32:18
Peace and rest belong not to the unregenerate, they are the peculiar possession of the Lord’s people, and of them only. The God of Peace gives perfect peace to those whose hearts are stayed upon Him. When man was unfallen, his God gave him the flowery bowers of Eden as his quiet resting places; alas! how soon sin blighted the fair abode of innocence. In the day of universal wrath when the flood swept away a guilty race, the chosen family were quietly secured in the resting-place of the ark, which floated them from the old condemned world into the new earth of the rainbow and the covenant, herein typifying Jesus, the ark of our salvation.
Israel rested safely beneath the blood-besprinkled habitations of Egypt when the destroying angel smote the first-born; and in the wilderness the shadow of the pillar of cloud, and the flowing rock, gave the weary pilgrims sweet repose. At this hour we rest in the promises of our faithful God, knowing that His words are full of truth and power; we rest in the doctrines of His word, which are consolation itself; we rest in the covenant of His grace, which is a haven of delight. More highly favoured are we than David in Adullam, or Jonah beneath his gourd, for none can invade or destroy our shelter. The person of Jesus is the quiet resting-place of His people, and when we draw near to Him in the breaking of the bread, in the hearing of the word, the searching of the Scriptures, prayer, or praise, we find any form of approach to Him to be the return of peace to our spirits. "I hear the words of love, I gaze upon the blood, I see the mighty sacrifice, and I have peace with God. ‘Tis everlasting peace, sure as Jehovah’s name, ‘Tis stable as His steadfast throne, for evermore the same:
The clouds may go and come, and storms may sweep my sky, This blood-sealed friendship changes not, the cross is ever nigh."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 89:1-18
1 I will sing of the loving kindness of the LORD forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I indeed declare, "Love stands firm forever. You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them."
3 "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant,
4 'I will establish your offspring forever, and build up your throne to all generations.' " Selah.
5 The heavens will praise your wonders, LORD, your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who amongst the sons of the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
7 a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
8 LORD, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you? The LORD, your faithfulness is around you.
9 You rule the pride of the sea. When its waves rise up, you calm them.
10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours, the world and its fullness. You have founded them.
12 You have created the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
13 You have a mighty arm. Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Loving kindness and truth go before your face.
15 Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your presence, LORD.
16 In your name they rejoice all day. In your righteousness, they are exalted.
17 For you are the glory of their strength. In your favour, our horn will be exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
NATIONAL BLESSEDNESS
"Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound."
Blessed is the people who love the sound of the silver trumpet which calls to holy convocation! Blessed is the people who are sacredly impatient for the hour of holy communion! Blessed is the people "in whose heart are the highways to Zion." And in what shall their blessedness consist?
In illumination. "They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance." The favour of the Lord shall shine upon them when they walk through rough and troublous places. There shall always be a sunny patch where the soul is in communion with its Lord.
In exultation. "In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day." There is nothing like sunshine for making the spirits dance! Light is a great emancipator, a great breaker-up of frozen bondages. It thaws "the genial currents of the soul," and the stream of life sings in its progress.
In exaltation. "In Thy righteousness shall they be exalted." They will be lifted up above their enemies. In elevation they will find their safety. God lifts us above our passions, above our cares, above our little fears and tempers, and we find our peace upon the heights.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
December 9th.
My Father, may Thy heavenly rest possess my soul to-day. Let it not be a day taken up with earthly ease or pleasure,
but a day of heavenly peace. May I enter into the secret place! May I have that fellowship which makes me know the rest of the Lord!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mark 9:23
Our unbelief is the greatest hindrance in our way; in fact, there is no other real difficulty as to our spiritual progress and prosperity. The Lord can do everything; but when he makes a rule that according to our faith so shall it be unto us, our unbelief ties the hands of his omnipotence.
Yes, the confederacies of evil shall be scattered if we can but believe. Despised truth shall lift its head if we will but have confidence in the God of truth. We can bear our load of trouble, or pass uninjured through the waves of distress, if we can gird our loins with the girdle of peace, that girdle which is buckled on by the hands of trust.
What can we not believe? Is everything possible except believing in God? Yet he is always true; why do we not believe him? He is always faithful to his word; why can we not trust him? When we are in a right state of heart faith costs no effort: it is then as natural for us to rely upon God as for a child to trust its father.
The worst of it is, that we can believe God about everything except the present pressing trial. This is folly. Come, my soul, shake off such sinfulness, and trust thy God with the load, the labour, the longing of this present. This done, all is done.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling.
2 Timothy 1:9
I go to His Cross to be in some measure a sharer of His suffering for others ... In the death of self on the cross the new pain begins, and so long as I remain here, the sorrow and sin of the world must press on my heart, for His life now holds and governs it.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The Lamb opened one of the seven seals.
Revelation 6:1
Having seen the unveiling of Jesus Christ as the Executive of the Throne, in the right created by the fact that He is "the Lamb that hath been slain," we now proceed to His unveiling in actual government. Nothing takes place apart from His administration. He opens every seal, the story of which continues to the end of chapter 18, for the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls reveal different aspects of the same governmental procedure. Beyond that, He it is Who reigns for the thousand years, conquers the final manifestation of evil, and reigns over the final, perfected Kingdom. The words which we have selected refer to the first of the seals, but they are equally true of all of them. It is always the Lamb Who opens them. In this chapter we have the account of the opening of six seals. As they are opened, we first see forces commanded to come forth, and manifest and express themselves. After the opening of the first, the King is manifested; after the second, the Lord of War; after the third, the Prince of Commerce; after the fourth, Death with Hades. Under all these, souls suffer and die in fellowship with the suffering and death of the One Who opens the seals, and the opening of the fifth reveals them as calling for the ending of false rule on earth, and comforted, and commanded to wait until the process should be completed. The opening of the sixth gives the signs of the approach of the end. Amid the convulsions of the world-order, kings, princes, captains, the rich, the strong, bondmen, and freemen, are made conscious of the One Who sitteth upon the Throne, and of the wrath of the Lamb. All things are proceeding by the administration of the Lamb, Who opens every seal.
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.