Daily Bible Reading Notes for every day of the Year.

"Bring my soul out of prison!"

I too, have my prison-house, and only the Lord can deliver me.

There is the prison-house of sin. It is a dark and suffocating hole, without friendly light or morning air. And it is haunted by such affrighting shapes, as though my iniquities had incarnated themselves in ugly and repulsive forms. None but the Lord can bring me out.

And there is the prison-house of sorrow. My griefs sometimes wrap me about like cold confining walls, which have neither windows nor doors. It seems as though a fluid sorrow can congeal into a cold, hard temperament, and hold me in its icy embrace. And none but the Lord can bring me out.

And there is the prison-house of death. I must perforce pass through the gate of death. Shall I find it a castle of gloom, or is there another gate through which I shall emerge into the fair, sweet paradise of God? My Master is Lord of the road! And He tells me that death shall not be a castle of captivity, but only a thoroughfare through which I shall pass into the realm of eternal day.

3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett

February 1st.
Jesus, my Saviour, may I rise with Thee to-day! I would be in the heavenly places with Thee. Lift me into the Light, and may I see things I never dreamed of before.

4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.

Morning

They shall sing in the ways of the Lord.
Psalm 138:5

The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord is when they first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even the songs of the angels seem so sweet as the first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost soul of the forgiven child of God. You know how John Bunyan describes it. He says when poor Pilgrim lost his burden at the Cross, he gave three great leaps, and went on his way singing - "Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be The Man that there was put to shame for me!"

Believer, do you recollect the day when your fetters fell off? Do you remember the place when Jesus met you, and said, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgressions, and as a thick cloud thy sins; they shall not be mentioned against thee any more for ever." Oh! what a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin. When the Lord first pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I could scarce refrain from dancing. I thought on my road home from the house where I had been set at liberty, that I must tell the stones in the street the story of my deliverance. So full was my soul of joy, that I wanted to tell every snow-flake that was falling from heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus, who had blotted out the sins of one of the chief of rebels. But it is not only at the commencement of the Christian life that believers have reason for song; as long as they live they discover cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their experience of His constant lovingkindness leads them to say, "I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth." See to it, brother, that thou magnifiest the Lord this day . "Long as we tread this desert land, New mercies shall new songs demand."

Evening

Thy love to me was wonderful.
2 Samuel 1:26

Come, dear readers, let each one of us speak for himself of the wonderful love, not of Jonathan, but of Jesus. We will not relate what we have been told, but the things which we have tasted and handled-of the love of Christ. Thy love to me, O Jesus, was wonderful when I was a stranger wandering far from Thee, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

Thy love restrained me from committing the sin which is unto death, and withheld me from self-destruction. Thy love held back the axe when Justice said, "Cut it down! why cumbereth it the ground?" Thy love drew me into the wilderness, stripped me there, and made me feel the guilt of my sin, and the burden of mine iniquity. Thy love spake thus comfortably to me when, I was sore dismayed -"Come unto Me, and I will give thee rest." Oh, how matchless Thy love when, in a moment, Thou didst wash my sins away, and make my polluted soul, which was crimson with the blood of my nativity, and black with the grime of my transgressions, to be white as the driven snow, and pure as the finest wool. How Thou didst commend Thy love when Thou didst whisper in my ears, "I am thine and thou art Mine." Kind were those accents when Thou saidst, "The Father Himself loveth you." And sweet the moments, passing sweet, when Thou declaredst to me "the love of the Spirit." Never shall my soul forget those chambers of fellowship where Thou has unveiled Thyself to me. Had Moses his cleft in the rock, where he saw the train, the back parts of his God? We, too, have had our clefts in the rock, where we have seen the full splendours of the Godhead in the person of Christ. Did David remember the tracks of the wild goat, the land of Jordan and the Hermonites? We, too, can remember spots to memory dear, equal to these in blessedness.

Precious Lord Jesus, give us a fresh draught of Thy wondrous love to begin the month with. Amen.

2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett

Psalms 142

1 I cry with my voice to the LORD. With my voice, I ask the LORD for mercy.

2 I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles.

3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my route. On the path in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me.

4 Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.

5 I cried to you, LORD. I said, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."

6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.

7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.

THE SOUL IN PRISON

"Bring my soul out of prison!"

I too, have my prison-house, and only the Lord can deliver me.

There is the prison-house of sin. It is a dark and suffocating hole, without friendly light or morning air. And it is haunted by such affrighting shapes, as though my iniquities had incarnated themselves in ugly and repulsive forms. None but the Lord can bring me out.

And there is the prison-house of sorrow. My griefs sometimes wrap me about like cold confining walls, which have neither windows nor doors. It seems as though a fluid sorrow can congeal into a cold, hard temperament, and hold me in its icy embrace. And none but the Lord can bring me out.

And there is the prison-house of death. I must perforce pass through the gate of death. Shall I find it a castle of gloom, or is there another gate through which I shall emerge into the fair, sweet paradise of God? My Master is Lord of the road! And He tells me that death shall not be a castle of captivity, but only a thoroughfare through which I shall pass into the realm of eternal day.

3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett

4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.
Malachi 4:2

Fulfilled once in the first advent of our glorious Lord, and yet to have a fuller accomplishment in his second advent, this gracious word is also for daily use. Is it dark with the reader? Does the night deepen into a denser blackness? Still let us not despair: the sun will yet rise. When the night is darkest, dawn is nearest.

The sun which will arise is of no common sort. It is THE sun - the Sun of Righteousness, whose every ray is holiness. He who comes to cheer us, comes in the way of justice as well as of mercy, comes to violate no law even to save us. Jesus as much displays the holiness of God as his love. Our deliverance, when it comes, will be safe because righteous.

Our one point of inquiry should be — "Do we fear the name of the Lord? Do we reverence the living God, and walk in his ways?" Then for us the night must be short; and when the morning cometh, all the sickness and sorrow of our soul will be over for ever. Light, warmth, joy, and clearness of vision will come, and healing of every disease and distress will follow after.

Has Jesus risen upon us? Let us sit in the sun. Has he hidden his face? Let us wait for his rising. He will shine forth as surely as the sun.

5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.

It is not yet made manifest what we shall be.
1 John 3:2

We cry out for the beyond. Horizons are always a menace to our peace. We crave the infinite.

Then we shall be where we would be;
Then we shall be what we should be;
Things which are not now, nor could be,
Then shall be our own.
J. G. Deck.

6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.

Thou, Lord, alone makest me dwell in safety.
Psalms 4:8

This was a song at eventide, a meditation at the close of a day which had been by no means free from trouble. It has been very generally associated with the previous Psalm as having been written during the period of Absalom's rebellion. This suggestion is entirely speculative, and certainly not proven. The value of it remains, whatever the local circumstances which gave rise to it. It is the song of a soul, keenly conscious of the difficulties of life, and of hostile forces; but completely confident in God. The meditation closes with words expressing the singer's determination to lie down and sleep; and giving the reason for this determination. This reason is declared in these last words of the Psalm. We are in danger of missing something of their beauty by treating the word "alone" as though it meant only, and relating it to Jehovah, as though it meant that only Jehovah could do this. While that is true, it is not what the singer meant. The thought of the word alone is "in loneliness," or as Rotherham renders it "in seclusion"; and the word refers to the one who is going to sleep. This is a glorious conception of sleep. Jehovah gathers the trusting soul into a place of safety by taking it away from all the things which trouble or harass. The difficulties and dangers, the mocking foes and opposing forces, are all excluded by Jehovah; and the tried and tired child of His love is pavilioned in His peace. The soul trusting completely in God, may ever lie down under the wing of the night singing:-

• Upon God's Will I lay me down
  As child upon its mother's breast;
  No silken couch, nor softest bed,
  Could ever give me such deep rest.

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.