Daily Bible Notes: February, 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
And David enquired of the Lord.
2 Samuel 5:23
When David made this enquiry he had just fought the Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put them to flight. Note, however, that when they came a second time, David did not go up to fight them without enquiring of the Lord. Once he had been victorious, and he might have said, as many have in other cases, "I shall be victorious again; I may rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I shall triumph yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord’s hands?" Not so, David. He had gained one battle by the strength of the Lord; he would not venture upon another until he had ensured the same. He enquired, "Shall I go up against them?"
He waited until God’s sign was given. Learn from David to take no step without God. Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped, if we would let our Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well avoid, if we would leave to His sovereign will to choose and to command. The Puritan said, "As sure as ever a Christian carves for himself, he’ll cut his own fingers;" this is a great truth. Said another old divine, "He that goes before the cloud of God’s providence goes on a fool’s errand;" and so he does. We must mark God’s providence leading us; and if providence tarries, tarry till providence comes. He who goes before providence, will be very glad to run back again. "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go," is God’s promise to His people. Let us, then, take all our perplexities to Him, and say, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Leave not thy chamber this morning without enquiring of the Lord.
Evening
Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil [or, the evil one].
Luke 11:4
What we are taught to seek or shun in prayer, we should equally pursue or avoid in action. Very earnestly, therefore, should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the path of obedience, that we may never tempt the devil to tempt us. We are not to enter the thicket in search of the lion. Dearly might we pay for such presumption. This lion may cross our path or leap upon us from the thicket, but we have nothing to do with hunting him. He that meeteth with him, even though he winneth the day, will find it a stern struggle. Let the Christian pray that he may be spared the encounter. Our Saviour, who had experience of what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished His disciples -"Pray that ye enter not into temptation."
But let us do as we will, we shall be tempted; hence the prayer "deliver us from evil." God had one Son without sin; but He has no son without temptation. The natural man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards, and the Christian man is born to temptation just as certainly. We must be always on our watch against Satan, because, like a thief, he gives no intimation of his approach. Believers who have had experience of the ways of Satan, know that there are certain seasons when he will most probably make an attack, just as at certain seasons bleak winds may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a double guard by fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet it. Prevention is better than cure: it is better to be so well armed that the devil will not attack you, than to endure the perils of the fight, even though you come off a conqueror. Pray this evening first that you may not be tempted, and next that if temptation be permitted, you may be delivered from the evil one.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 62
1 My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from him.
2 He alone is my rock, my salvation, and my fortress. I will never be greatly shaken.
3 How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
4 They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
5 My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honour is with God. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah.
9 Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.
10 Don't trust in oppression. Don't become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don't set your heart on them.
11 God has spoken once; twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God.
12 Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work.
THE ROCK AND THE BOWING WALL
Here are two symbols by which the psalmist describes the confidence of the righteous. "He only is my rock." Only yesterday I had the shelter of a great rock on a storm-swept mountain side. The wind tore along the heights, driving the rain like hail, but in the opening of the rock our shelter was complete.
And the second symbol is this: "He is my high place." The high place is the home of the chamois, out of reach of the arrow. "Flee as a bird to your mountain!" Get beyond the hunter's range! Our security is found in loftiness. It is our unutterable privilege to live in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Such is the confidence of the righteous.
In this psalm there is also another pair of symbols describing the futility of the wicked. The wicked is "as a bowing wall." The wall is out of perpendicular, out of conformity with the truth of the plumb-line, and it will assuredly topple into ruin. So is it with the wicked: he is building awry, and he will fall into moral disaster. He is also "as a tottering fence." The wind and the rain dislodge the fence, it rots at its foundations, and one day it lies prone upon the ground.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
February 9th.
My Father, guide me in the way of life. Help me to perceive that the broad way leads to bondage, and its apparent ease will
bring me into eternal pain. Help me to know the right and to love it.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my
name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
Zechariah 13:9
Grace transmutes us into precious metal, and then the fire and the furnace follow as a necessary consequence. Do we start at this? Would we sooner be accounted worthless, that we might enjoy repose, like the stones of the field? This would be to choose the viler part: like Esau, to take the pottage, and give up the covenant portion. No, Lord; we will gladly be cast into the furnace rather than be cast out from thy presence!
The fire only refines, it does not destroy. We are to be brought through the fire, not left in it. The Lord values his people as silver, and therefore he is at pains to purge away their dross. If we are wise, we shall rather welcome the refining process than decline it. Our prayer will be that our alloy may be taken from us rather than that we should be withdrawn from the crucible.
O Lord, thou triest us indeed! We are ready to melt under the fierceness of the flame. Still, this is thy way, and thy way is the best. Sustain us under the trial, and complete the process of our purifying, and we will be thine for ever and ever.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
John 4:24
The true ideal of worship is that of man communing with God. Through what forms that worship expresses itself is of little moment. Christ does not call the Church at Sardis to abandon these, but to stablish them by making them instinct with life.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The words of Jehovah are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, purified seven times.
Psalms 12:6
The Psalm is burdened with the singer's sense of the darkness of the circumstances in the midst of which he found himself. On every hand he was conscious of dishonesty, deceit, and the power of evil. The song opens and closes on this note. But its heart consists of an affirmation of faith in God. This faith fastens upon what God has said; and upon the fact that the words of God are pure words. That is to say, that God is a God of Truth. The affirmation is intended to put the words of God into complete contrast to those of the men who "speak falsehood," who speak "with flattering lip and a double heart." The figure employed is of the strongest. Silver purified seven times has in it no trace of alloy. So are the words of God. This is ever the sure resting-place of those who know God. Over and over again, hours have come which have seemed to be characterized by the ceasing of godly men, by the failure of the faithful from among the children of men. In all such hours the soul may rest assured as to the issue ; for the Word of God has clearly declared the will and purpose of God to be that of the triumph of good over evil, of truth over falsehood, of righteousness over every form of wickedness. The Word of the Lord is the Word of Eternal Truth; it abideth for ever. In it there is nothing of dissimulation, duplicity, deceit. It is never void. It must accomplish that which He pleases. Here, then, is our place of quietness and confidence, whatever the appearances of the hour may be. The Word of Jehovah is not to be tested by them; but they are to be tried by the Word of Jehovah.
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.