Daily Bible Notes: February, 24th
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
I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
Ezekiel 34:26
Here is sovereign mercy -"I will give them the shower in its season." Is it not sovereign, divine mercy? - for who can say, "I will give them showers," except God? There is only one voice which can speak to the clouds, and bid them beget the rain. Who sendeth down the rain upon the earth? Who scattereth the showers upon the green herb? Do not I, the Lord? So grace is the gift of God, and is not to be created by man. It is also needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain?
As absolutely needful is the divine blessing. In vain you labour, until God the plenteous shower bestows, and sends salvation down. Then, it is plenteous grace . "I will send them showers." It does not say, "I will send them drops," but "showers." So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, He usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we want plenteous grace to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and at last to land us in heaven.
We cannot do without saturating showers of grace. Again, it is seasonable grace . "I will cause the shower to come down in his season ." What is thy season this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. "As thy days so shall thy strength be." And here is a varied blessing. "I will give thee showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God’s blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send "showers of blessing." Look up to-day, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering.
Evening
O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy upon Jerusalem?... And the Lord answered the angel... with good words and comfortable words.
Zechariah 1:12,13
What a sweet answer to an anxious enquiry! This night let us rejoice in it.
O Zion, there are good things in store for thee; thy time of travail shall soon be over; thy children shall be brought forth; thy captivity shall end.
Bear patiently the rod for a season, and under the darkness still trust in God, for His love burneth towards thee. God loves the church with a love too deep for human imagination: He loves her with all His infinite heart.
Therefore let her sons be of good courage; she cannot be far from prosperity to whom God speaketh "good words and comfortable words."
What these comfortable words are the prophet goes on to tell us: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy." The Lord loves His church so much that He cannot bear that she should go astray to others; and when she has done so, He cannot endure that she should suffer too much or too heavily. He will not have his enemies afflict her: He is displeased with them because they increase her misery. When God seems most to leave His church, His heart is warm towards her. History shows that whenever God uses a rod to chasten His servants, He always breaks it afterwards, as if He loathed the rod which gave his children pain. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." God hath not forgotten us because He smites - His blows are no evidences of want of love. If this is true of His church collectively , it is of necessity true also of each individual member . You may fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: He who counts the stars, and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting His own children. He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature He ever made, or the only saint He ever loved. Approach Him and be at peace.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Lamentations 3:1-9
1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
3 Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
5 He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
7 He has walled me about, so that I can't go out. He has made my chain heavy.
8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
MOVING TOWARDS DAYBREAK
"He hath brought me into darkness, but not into light."
But a man may be in darkness, and yet in motion toward the light. I was in the darkness of the subway, and it was close and oppressive, but I was moving toward the light and fragrance of the open country. I entered into a tunnel in the Black Country in England, but the motion was continued, and we emerged amid fields of loveliness. And therefore the great thing to remember is that God's darknesses are not His goals; His tunnels are means to get somewhere else. Yes, His darknesses are appointed ways to His light. In God's keeping we are always moving, and we are moving towards Emmanuel's land, where the sun shines, and the birds sing night and day.
There is no stagnancy for the God-directed soul. He is ever guiding us, sometimes with the delicacy of a glance, sometimes with the firmer ministry of a grip, and He moves with us always, even through "the valley of the shadow of death." Therefore, be patient, my soul! The darkness is not thy bourn, the tunnel is not thy abiding home! He will bring thee out into a large place where thou shalt know "the liberty of the glory of the children of God."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
February 24th.
I pray that I may this day live in the consciousness that I am a child of God. Help me to think so highly of my relationship that I
shall do nothing mean or unworthy. Keep Thou my feet.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 15:7
Note well, that we must hear Jesus speak if we expect him to hear us speak. If we have no ear for Christ, he will have no ear for us. In proportion as we hear we shall be heard.
Moreover, what is heard must remain, must live in us, and must abide in our character as a force and a power. We must receive the truths which Jesus taught, the precepts which he issued, and the movements of his Spirit within us; or we shall have no power at the mercy-seat.
Suppose our Lord's words to be received, and to abide in us, what a boundless field of privilege is opened up to us! We are to have our will in prayer, because we have already surrendered our will to the Lord's command. Thus are Elijahs trained to handle the keys of heaven, and lock or loose the clouds. One such man is worth a thousand common Christians. Do we humbly desire to be intercessors for the church and the world, and like Luther to be able to have what we will of the Lord? Then we must bow our ear to the voice of the Well-beloved, and treasure up his words, and carefully obey them. He had need "hearken diligently" who would pray effectually.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
When sacred things lose power, precious things lose blessing. When faith is dead, hope becomes dread ... The promise which produced a thrill of joy becomes a thought of terror to the men who have fallen out of harmony with the Lord and Master.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Lead me in a plain path.
Psalms 27:11
This Psalm is the song of a soul in danger. In its first movement that danger is recognized, but the singer is confident in God. He celebrates in language of great beauty the certainty of his triumph. It is not prayer, but praise. Then there' is a sudden change. The confidence is not abandoned, but the consciousness of the danger becomes more acute, and the supposition arises that the face of God might be hidden. Under stress created by this thought, prayer takes the place of praise, and the singer pours out his petitions. Among them this one occurs, that he may be led in a plain path. The simplest meaning of the word rendered plain, is level, or even. The words immediately following, "because of mine enemies," help us to catch the real thought of the petition. The word enemies is rendered by Thirtle "watchful foes," and that exactly conveys the idea. It is that of enemies lying in ambush, waiting to catch him unawares, to attack him treacherously. The plain path for which he asks is one, travelling along which there shall be no pitfalls or lurking places for these foes. This is a prayer we may all pray. It is not a request for an easy path, a smooth highway. That would be a selfish and unworthy prayer. It is rather a prayer that the way may be such that we may discover with clearness, and in which we may not be surprised by those who are set upon our destruction. The song ends with the singer's counsel to his own soul, and it is 'characterized by the highest wisdom. To wait for Jehovah is ever to find the plain path, however rough that path may be.
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.