Daily Bible Notes: February, 13th
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
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God.
1 John 3:1,2
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Consider who we were, and what we feel ourselves to be even now when corruption is powerful in us, and you will wonder at our adoption. Yet we are called "the sons of God ." What a high relationship is that of a son, and what privileges it brings! What care and tenderness the son expects from his father, and what love the father feels towards the son! But all that , and more than that, we now have through Christ. As for the temporary drawback of suffering with the elder brother, this we accept as an honour: "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." We are content to be unknown with Him in His humiliation, for we are to be exalted with Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God ." That is easy to read, but it is not so easy to feel. How is it with your heart this morning?
Are you in the lowest depths of sorrow? Does corruption rise within your spirit, and grace seem like a poor spark trampled under foot? Does your faith almost fail you? Fear not, it is neither your graces nor feelings on which you are to live: you must live simply by faith on Christ. With all these things against us, now - in the very depths of our sorrow, wherever we may be - now , as much in the valley as on the mountain, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." "Ah, but," you say, "see how I am arrayed! my graces are not bright; my righteousness does not shine with apparent glory." But read the next: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him ." The Holy Spirit shall purify our minds, and divine power shall refine our bodies, then shall we see Him as He is .
Evening
There is therefore now no condemnation.
Romans 8:1
Come, my soul, think thou of this. Believing in Jesus, thou art actually and effectually cleared from guilt; thou art led out of thy prison. Thou art no more in fetters as a bond-slave; thou art delivered now from the bondage of the law; thou art freed from sin, and canst walk at large as a freeman, they Saviour’s blood has procured thy full discharge. Thou hast a right now to approach thy Father’s throne. No flames of vengeance are there to scare thee now; no fiery sword; justice cannot smite the innocent. Thy disabilities are taken away: thou wast once unable to see thy Father’s face: thou canst see it now. Thou couldst not speak with Him: but now thou hast access with boldness. Once there was a fear of hell upon thee; but thou hast no fear of it now, for how can there be punishment for the guiltless? He who believeth is not condemned, and cannot be punished.
And more than all, the privileges thou mightst have enjoyed, if thou hadst never sinned, are thine now thou art justified. All the blessings which thou wouldst have had if thou hadst kept the law, and more, are thine, because Christ has kept it for thee. All the love and the acceptance which perfect obedience could have obtained of God, belong to thee, because Christ was perfectly obedient on thy behalf, and hath imputed all His merits to thy account, that thou mightst be exceeding rich through Him, who for thy sake became exceeding poor. Oh! How great the debt of love and gratitude thou owest to thy Saviour! "A debtor to mercy alone, Of covenant mercy I sing; Nor fear with Thy righteousness on, My person and offerings to bring:
The terrors of law and of God, With me can have nothing to do; My Saviour’s obedience and blood Hide all my transgressions from view."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Leviticus 19:11-18
11 " 'You shall not steal. " 'You shall not lie. " 'You shall not deceive one another.
12 " 'You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
13 " 'You shall not oppress your neighbour, nor rob him. " 'The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
14 " 'You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.
15 " 'You shall do no injustice in judgement. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favouritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbour in righteousness.
16 " 'You shall not go around as a slanderer amongst your people. " 'You shall not endanger the life of your neighbour. I am the LORD.
17 " 'You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbour, and not bear sin because of him.
18 " 'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD.
GRUDGES
"Thou shalt not bear any grudge."
How searching is that demand upon the soul! My forgiveness of my brother is to be complete. No sullenness is to remain, no sulky temper which so easily gives birth to thunder and lightning. There is to be no painful aloofness, no assumption of a superiority which rains contempt upon the offender. When I forgive, I am not to carry any powder forward on the journey. I am to empty out all my explosives, all my ammunition of anger and revenge. I am not to "bear any grudge."
I cannot meet this demand. It is altogether beyond me. I might utter words of forgiveness, but I cannot reveal a clear, bright, blue sky without a touch of storm brewing anywhere. But the Lord of grace can do it for me. He can change my weather. He can create a new climate. He can "renew a right spirit within me," and in that holy atmosphere nothing shall live which seeks to poison and destroy. Grudges shall die "like cloud-spots in the dawn." Revenge, that awful creation of the unclean, feverish soul, shall give place to goodwill, the strong genial presence which makes its home in the new heart.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
February 13th.
My Father, I bring my sins to Thee. Wipe their influence out of my soul, and their name out of the book of
Thy remembrance, for Christ's sake.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Blessed shalt thou be in the field.
Deuteronomy 28:3
So was Isaac blessed when he walked therein at eventide to meditate. How often has the Lord met us when we have been alone! The hedges and the trees can bear witness to our joy. We look for such blessedness again.
So was Boaz blessed when he reaped his harvest, and his workmen met him with benedictions. May the Lord prosper all who drive the plough! Every farmer may urge this promise with God, if indeed he obeys the voice of the Lord God.
We go to the field to labour as father Adam did; and since the curse fell on the soil through the sin of Adam the first, it is a great comfort to find a blessing through Adam the second.
We go to the field for exercise, and we are happy in the belief that the Lord will bless that exercise, and give us health, which we will use to his glory.
We go to the field to study nature, and there is nothing in a knowledge of the visible creation which may not be sanctified to the highest uses by the divine benediction.
We have at last to go to the field to bury our dead; yea, others will in their turn take us to God's acre in the field: but we are blessed, whether weeping at the tomb, or sleeping in it.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
We journeyed ... and went through all that great and terrible wilderness ... as Jehovah our God commanded us.
Deuteronomy 1:19
The divine government is a disturbing element. My duty is so to live that I shall be ready to be disturbed at any moment when God pleases.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I have no good beyond Thee.
Psalms 16:2
This is the first Psalm headed "Michtam." There are five others (56-60). The meaning is obscure. Thirtle says: "The term, Michtam, seems best explained by a personal or private prayer or meditation." This one is attributed to David, but nothing can be said decisively as to the time of its writing. As a whole it is a song of exultant confidence. In its opening petition the consciousness of danger is revealed, but this is the occasion for a glad confession of assurance in the deliverance of God. Whoever wrote it, and under whatever circumstances, its final value is that it is distinctly Messianic. Peter (Acts 2:25-31) and Paul (Acts 13:34-37) not only quote it in reference to our Lord, but argue its Messianic intention. The words we have emphasized reveal the deep secret of this holy confidence. The singer declared that he knew no well-being apart from God-Jehovah, as his sovereign Lord. Only of our Lord Jesus Christ, as an expression of unvarying experience, was this ever true. The will of God was His delight, His meat, His one and only passion: and that as surely in His death as in His life. Therefore, to quote Peter: "It was not possible that He should be holden of it" (that is, death). The measure in which, through His infinite grace, we are enabled to say in very truth, "We have no good beyond Thee," is the measure in which - whatever the perils opposing us, or the apparent calamities overtaking us - we may also be confident in the deliverance of God. In life, and all its experiences, through death itself, we shall be delivered and brought to His presence, in which is fullness of joy, and to His right hand, where are pleasures for evermore.
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.