Daily Bible Notes: February, 25th
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
The wrath to come.
Matthew 3:7
It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent itself; to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has passed away, and to note the drops while they glisten like purest diamonds in the sunlight. That is the position of a Christian. He is going through a land where the storm has spent itself upon His Saviour’s head, and if there be a few drops of sorrow falling, they distil from clouds of mercy, and Jesus cheers him by the assurance that they are not for his destruction. But how terrible is it to witness the approach of a tempest: to note the forewarnings of the storm; to mark the birds of heaven as they droop their wings; to see the cattle as they lay their heads low in terror; to discern the face of the sky as it groweth black, and look to the sun which shineth not, and the heavens which are angry and frowning! How terrible to await the dread advance of a hurricane - such as occurs, sometimes, in the tropics - to wait in terrible apprehension till the wind shall rush forth in fury, tearing up trees from their roots, forcing rocks from their pedestals, and hurling down all the dwelling-places of man! And yet, sinner, this is your present position.
No hot drops have as yet fallen, but a shower of fire is coming. No terrible winds howl around you, but God’s tempest is gathering its dread artillery.
As yet the water-floods are dammed up by mercy, but the flood-gates shall soon be opened: the thunderbolts of God are yet in His storehouse, but lo! the tempest hastens, and how awful shall that moment be when God, robed in vengeance, shall march forth in fury! Where, where, where, O sinner, wilt thou hide thy head, or whither wilt thou flee? O that the hand of mercy may now lead you to Christ! He is freely set before you in the gospel: His riven side is the rock of shelter. Thou knowest thy need of Him; believe in Him, cast thyself upon Him, and then the fury shall be overpast for ever.
Evening
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa.
Jonah 1:3
Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade him, Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape from it. There are occasions when God’s servants shrink from duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct? He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of God’s love . When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers should do, our God is with us; and though we have the whole world against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at sea without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, "O my God, where hast Thou gone? How could I have been so foolish as to shun Thy service, and in this way to lose all the bright shinings of Thy face? This is a price too high. Let me return to my allegiance, that I may rejoice in Thy presence." In the next place, Jonah lost all peace of mind . Sin soon destroys a believer’s comfort. It is the poisonous upas tree, from whose leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and peace. Jonah lost everything upon which he might have drawn for comfort in any other case . He could not plead the promise of divine protection, for he was not in God’s ways; he could not say, "Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the discharge of my duty, therefore help me through them." He was reaping his own deeds; he was filled with his own ways. Christian, do not play the Jonah, unless you wish to have all the waves and the billows rolling over your head. You will find in the long run that it is far harder to shun the work and will of God than to at once yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time , for he had to go to Tarshish after all. It is hard to contend with God; let us yield ourselves at once.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Lamentations 3:22-33
22 It is because of The LORD's loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn't fail.
23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul. "Therefore I will hope in him."
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope.
30 Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever.
32 For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
33 For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
THE FRESH EYE
"His compassions fail not: they are new every morning."
We have not to live on yesterday's manna; we can gather it fresh to-day. Compassion becomes stale when it becomes thoughtless. It is new thought that keeps our pity strong. If our perception of need can remain vivid, as vivid as though we had never seen it before, our sympathies will never fail. The fresh eye insures the sensitive heart. And our God's compassions are so new because He never becomes accustomed to our need. He always sees it with an eye that is never dulled by the commonplace; He never becomes blind with much seeing! We can look at a thing so often that we cease to see it. God always sees a thing as though He were seeing it for the first time. "Thou, God, seest me," and "His compassions fail not."
And if my compassions are to be like a river that never knows drought, I must cultivate a freshness of sight. The horrible can lose its horrors. The daily tragedy can become the daily commonplace. My neighbour's needs can become as familiar as my furniture, and I may never see either the one or the other. And therefore must I ask the Lord for the daily gift of discerning eyes. "Lord, that I may receive my sight." And with an always newly-awakened interest may I reveal "the compassions of the Lord!"
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
February 25th.
Great God, may I not be afraid of what the day may bring! May I hide in Thee, and meet everything calmly and confidently,
with perfect and joyful trust!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord.
Isaiah 61:6
This literal promise to Israel belongs spiritually to the seed after the Spirit, namely, to all believers. If we live up to our privileges, we shall live unto God so clearly and distinctly, that men shall see that we are set apart for holy service, and shall name us the priests of the Lord. We may work, or trade, as others do, and yet we may be solely and wholly the ministering servants of God. Our one occupation shall be to present the perpetual sacrifice of prayer, and praise, and testimony, and self-consecration, to the living God by Jesus Christ.
This being our one aim, we may leave distracting concerns to those who have no higher calling. "Let the dead bury their dead." It is written, "Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers." They may manage politics, puzzle out financial problems, discuss science, and settle the last new quibbles of criticism; but we will give ourselves unto such service as becomes those who, like the Lord Jesus, are ordained to a perpetual priesthood.
Accepting this honourable promise as involving a sacred duty, let us put on the vestments of holiness, and minister before the Lord all day long.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: Who went about doing good.
Acts 10:38
No Christian man has any right to attempt to create saintliness of character by hiding himself from the activities of everyday life.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
My Rock.
Psalms 28:1
Here, these words, "My Rock," are directly synonymous with the title Jehovah, and they constitute a proper name. The figurative idea has emerged before in these songs (see 18:2 and 31). In this case the figure is positively employed as a designation for God. This, then, may be an excellent place at which to pause and consider the suggestiveness of the title. It is the one figure which in the realm of Nature suggests abiding strength and immutability. The story of the rocks, as we are able to read it, is the story of the complete victory of principle over passion. At last the fixed is reached, the unchangeable, and so the ultimate in strength. It is a remarkable fact that in all the Old Testament literature, "rock" is reserved as a figure of Deity. It is used for false gods as well as for God, but never for man. The only apparent exception is that in Isaiah, when the prophet declared that a man shall be as a shadow of a rock in a weary land. But when the Messianic value of that passage is recognized, this is proved to be no exception, but rather a prediction incidentally of the deepest fact concerning the Person of the Messiah. All this should be in mind when we consider the words of our Lord, in which He declared that He would build His Church on Rock. To return to the Psalm. Observe how this conception of the character of God as the immutable One, gave this singer perfect confidence in the midst of grave perils, and inspired his prayer for his people.
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.