Daily Bible Notes: December, 18th
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
Rend your heart, and not your garments.
Joel 2:13
Garment-rendering and other outward signs of religious emotion, are easily manifested and are frequently hypocritical ; but to feel true repentance is far more difficult, and consequently far less common. Men will attend to the most multiplied and minute ceremonial regulations - for such things are pleasing to the flesh - but true religion is too humbling, too heart-searching, too thorough for the tastes of the carnal men; they prefer something more ostentatious, flimsy, and worldly. Outward observances are temporarily comfortable ; eye and ear are pleased; self-conceit is fed, and self-righteousness is puffed up: but they are ultimately delusive , for in the article of death, and at the day of judgment, the soul needs something more substantial than ceremonies and rituals to lean upon. Apart from vital godliness all religion is utterly vain; offered without a sincere heart, every form of worship is a solemn sham and an impudent mockery of the majesty of heaven.
HEART-RENDING is divinely wrought and solemnly felt . It is a secret grief which is personally experienced , not in mere form, but as a deep, soul-moving work of the Holy Spirit upon the inmost heart of each believer. It is not a matter to be merely talked of and believed in, but keenly and sensitively felt in every living child of the living God. It is powerfully humiliating , and completely sin-purging; but then it is sweetly preparative for those gracious consolations which proud unhumbled spirits are unable to receive; and it is distinctly discriminating , for it belongs to the elect of God, and to them alone.
The text commands us to rend our hearts, but they are naturally hard as marble: how, then, can this be done? We must take them to Calvary: a dying Saviour’s voice rent the rocks once, and it is as powerful now. O blessed Spirit, let us hear the death-cries of Jesus, and our hearts shall be rent even as men rend their vestures in the day of lamentation.
Evening
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
Proverbs 27:23
Every wise merchant will occasionally hold a stock-taking, when he will cast up his accounts, examine what he has on hand, and ascertain decisively whether his trade is prosperous or declining. Every man who is wise in the kingdom of heaven, will cry, "Search me, O God, and try me"; and he will frequently set apart special seasons for self-examination, to discover whether things are right between God and his soul. The God whom we worship is a great heart-searcher; and of old His servants knew Him as "the Lord which searcheth the heart and trieth the reins of the children of men." Let me stir you up in His name to make diligent search and solemn trial of your state, lest you come short of the promised rest.
That which every wise man does, that which God Himself does with us all, I exhort you to do with yourself this evening. Let the oldest saint look well to the fundamentals of his piety, for grey heads may cover black hearts: and let not the young professor despise the word of warning, for the greenness of youth may be joined to the rottenness of hypocrisy.
Every now and then a cedar falls into our midst. The enemy still continues to sow tares among the wheat. It is not my aim to introduce doubts and fears into your mind; nay, verily, but I shall hope the rather that the rough wind of self-examination may help to drive them away. It is not security, but carnal security, which we would kill; not confidence, but fleshly confidence, which we would overthrow; not peace, but false peace, which we would destroy. By the precious blood of Christ, which was not shed to make you a hypocrite, but that sincere souls might show forth His praise, I beseech you, search and look, lest at the last it be said of you, "Mene, Mene, Tekel: thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Luke 19:1-10
1 He entered and was passing through Jericho.
2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn't because of the crowd, because he was short.
4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.
5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."
6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.
7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."
9 Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
THE SINNER'S GUEST
"He is gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner."
It was hurled as an accusation; it has been treasured as a garland. It was first said in contempt; it is repeated in adoration. It was thought to reveal His earthliness; it is now seen to unveil His glory. Our Saviour seeks the home of the sinner. The Best desires to be the guest of the worst. He spreads His kindnesses for the outcasts, and He offers His friendship to the exile on the loneliest road. He waits to befriend the defeated, the poor folk with aching consciences and broken wills. He loves to go to souls that have lost their power of flight, like birds with broken wings, which can only flutter in the unclean road. He went to Zacchæus.
Yes, the Lord went to be "guest with a man that is a sinner," and He changed the sinner into a saint. The worldling found wings. The stone became flesh. Gentle emotions began to stir in a heart hardened by heedlessness and sin. Restitution took the place of greed. The home of the sinner became the temple of the Lord. "To-day is salvation come to this house forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
December l8th.
My Father in Heaven, teach me how to attain unto rest. Save me from the anxiety that consumes my strength and mars my
peace. Give me the grace of repose. Help me to lean confidentially on Thee, and to do all my work in the strength of untroubled trust.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem.
Isaiah 31:5
With hurrying wing the mother bird hastens up to the protection of her young. She wastes no time upon the road when coming to supply them with food, or guard them from danger. Thus as on eagle's wings will the Lord come for the defence of his chosen; yea, he will ride upon the wings of the wind.
With outspread wing the mother covers her little ones in the nest. She hides them away by interposing her own body. The hen yields her own warmth to her chicks, and makes her wings a house, in which they dwell at home. Thus doth Jehovah himself become the protection of his elect. He himself is their refuge, their abode, their all.
As birds flying, and birds covering (for the word means both), so will the Lord be unto us: and this he will be repeatedly and successfully. We shall be defended and preserved from all evil: the Lord who likens himself to birds will not be like them in their feebleness, for he is Jehovah of hosts. Let this be our comfort, that almighty love will be swift to succour, and sure to cover. The wing of God is more quick and more tender than the wing of a bird, and we will put our trust under its shadow henceforth and for ever.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
In the world ye shall have tribulation.
John 16:33
The tendency of the age is to softness. Some may read this final message and, turning from it, say, This is not easy. Easy! When did Christ suggest ease to men in the method of their own making? Did He not solemnly warn those who would follow Him ... that the pathway of His footprints necessitated the denial of self and the taking of the Cross?
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.
Revelation 15:1
The vision of the heavenly order is continued, as preliminary to that of the final stage in the processes of judgment leading on to the setting up of the Kingdom of God on earth. Seven angels are seen having seven plagues. Then, before they proceeded to the pouring out of the vials of wrath, the seer beheld a glassy sea, mingled with fire, and standing by that sea the victorious host who had overcome the beast. They were probably such as had sealed their testimony with their blood, and had overcome through death. Their song is a perfect ascription of praise to the Lord God, the Almighty, for His works, His ways, His holiness, and His righteous acts. He is referred to in this song as King of the ages, and thus the fact of all ages being under His government is recognized, the ages of tribulation, as well as those of triumph. Next in order John saw the opening of the Temple in heaven, and from thence the seven angels appeared. To these were given seven bowls full of the wrath of God. The introductory words of all this declare that these "are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God." So that in the things that are to follow, we are to observe the final activities of the Lamb in judgment before the setting up of the Kingdom for the thousand years. The wrath of God can be finished. His love is never finished. His wrath moves forward ever to the accomplishment of that which is necessary to the full activity of His love. When that is done, His wrath is finished.
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.