Daily Bible Notes: December, 14th
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
They go from strength to strength.
Psalm 84:7
They go from strength to strength . There are various renderings of these words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.
Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this morning. "They go from strength to strength." That is, they grow stronger and stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully pursue our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise which still holds good: "The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the future. "Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction to affliction." Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown shoulders.
Evening
I am crucified with Christ.
Galatians 2:20
The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what He did as a great public representative person, and His dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all His people. Then all His saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ’s chosen people, he died upon the cross in Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon it. He believed that by virtue of Christ’s death, he had satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel, "I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ."
But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ’s death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, "I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them." Such is the experience of every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one who is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at the same time, exclaim with the apostle, "Nevertheless I live." He is fully alive unto God. The Christian’s life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them!
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Corinthians 8:8-13
8 But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don't eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.
9 But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.
10 For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol's temple, won't his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
11 And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
12 Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don't cause my brother to stumble.
THE SACRED USE OF LIBERTY
Take heed lest this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling-block."
That is a very solemn warning. My liberty may trip someone into bondage. If life were an affair of one my liberty might be wholesome; but it is an affair of many, and my liberty may be destructive to my fellows. I am not only responsible for my life, but for its influence. When a thing has been lived there is still the example to deal with. If orange peel be thrown upon the pavement, that is not the end of the feast. The man who slips over the peel is a factor in the incident, and my responsibility covers him.
I am, therefore, to consider both my deeds and their influence. How does my life trend when it touches my brother? In what way does he move because of the impact of my example? Towards liberty or towards license? To the swamps of transgression or to the fields of holiness? These are determining questions, and I must not seek to escape or ignore them. My brother is a vital part of my life. I must never shut him out of my sight. How is he influenced by my example? "If meat make my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
December 14th.
My Father, all fullness is Thine. I bring my emptiness to the fountain. May I be filled with the river of water of life!
Fill my gaps out of Thy wonderful resources. May I become complete in Thee! May I at last awake in Thy likeness!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
Revelation 21:5
Glory be to his name! All things need making new, for they are sadly battered and worn by sin. It is time that the old vesture was rolled up and laid aside, and that creation put on her Sabbath suit. But no one else can make all things new except the Lord who made them at the first; for it needs as much power to make out of evil as to make out of nothing. Our Lord Jesus has undertaken the task, and he is fully competent for the performance of it. Already he has commenced his labour, and for centuries he has persevered in making new the hearts of men, and the order of society. By-and-by he will make new the whole constitution of human government, and human nature shall be changed by his grace; and there shall come a day when even the body shall be made new, and raised like unto his glorious body.
What a joy to belong to a kingdom in which everything is being made new by the power of its King! We are not dying out: we are hastening on to a more glorious life. Despite the opposition of the powers of evil, our glorious Lord Jesus is accomplishing his purpose, and making us, and all things about us, "new" and as full of beauty as when they first came from the hand of the Lord.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I know thy ... faith.
Revelation 2:19
Faith is here mentioned not as the principle out of which an attitude grows, but rather the attitude of fidelity that grows out of the principle of confidence. I know thy steadfastness, I know that in thee is manifested the opposite of fickleness.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.
Revelation 11:15
The early part of this chapter is occupied with a continuation of the account of the preparation of the seer for what he was to witness after the sounding of the last of the seven trumpets. It is almost certainly an interpretation of the things which at that period in the Divine procedure had then already transpired, during the period of the opening of the seals until that moment. At last the seventh angel sounded, and the final stage under the seventh seal is ushered in. Directly the angel sounded, great voices followed in heaven, and these were the words they uttered. Much remained to be done; the last stages of the Divine judgment would be more terrible than any that had preceded; but the heavenly Intelligences knew whereunto it would all lead, and they rejoiced and worshipped, that the time had come when all false authority over the world would be abolished, and God and His Christ would firmly establish Their rule and authority over it. This, then, is heaven's perpetual song, even amid the conflict between Jerusalem and Babylon, between faith and rebellion, between good and evil; and it is the privilege of the heavenly people, of those whose names are written in heaven, to sing the same song. They know the Throne that is set; the One Who sits upon it, and the Lamb Who opens the seals. For them, there never can be any doubt as to the issue. The world must become actually and experimentally the Kingdom of God. Knowing this, they rejoice in tribulation also, and rest in the Divine justice as it proceeds to deal with evil in judgment.
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.