Daily Bible Notes: January, 2nd
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
Continue in prayer.
Colossians 4:2
It is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred Writ is occupied with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts, or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord;" and just as we are about to close the volume, the "Amen" of an earnest supplication meets our ear. Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling Jacob - there a Daniel who prayed three times a day - and a David who with all his heart called upon his God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have multitudes of commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives. If He has said much about prayer, it is because He knows we have much need of it. So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must not cease to pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know thy poverty. Hast thou no mercy to ask of God? Then, may the Lord’s mercy show thee thy misery! A prayerless soul is a Christless soul.
Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father’s face, and live in thy Father’s love. Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of His love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto for this year must be, "Continue in prayer."
Evening
Let the people renew their strength.
Isaiah 41:1
All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing continueth by itself. "Thou renewest the face of the year," was the Psalmist’s utterance.
Even the trees, which wear not themselves with care, nor shorten their lives with labour, must drink of the rain of heaven and suck from the hidden treasures of the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only live because day by day they are full of sap fresh drawn from the earth.Neither can man’s life be sustained without renewal from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste of the body by the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening to the preached Word, or by the soul-fattening table of the ordinances. How depressed are our graces when means are neglected! What poor starvelings some saints are who live without the diligent use of the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live without God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God had begotten it, it would wait upon Him as the flowers wait upon the dew.
Without constant restoration we are not ready for the perpetual assaults of hell, or the stern afflictions of heaven, or even for the strifes within. When the whirlwind shall be loosed, woe to the tree that hath not sucked up fresh sap, and grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots.When tempests arise, woe to the mariners that have not strengthened their mast, nor cast their anchor, nor sought the haven. If we suffer the good to grow weaker, the evil will surely gather strength and struggle desperately for the mastery over us; and so, mayhap, a painful desolation, and a lamentable disgrace may follow. Let us draw near to the footstool of divine mercy in humble entreaty, and we shall realize the fulfillment of the promise, "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Genesis 15:5-18
5 The LORD brought him outside, and said, "Look now towards the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Abram, "So your offspring will be."
6 He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness.
7 He said to Abram, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."
8 He said, "Lord GOD, how will I know that I will inherit it?"
9 He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
10 He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds.
11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.
13 He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.
14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth;
15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."
17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
18 In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
THE LARGER OUTLOOK
"And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven!" The tent was changed for the sky! Abraham sat moodily in his tent: God brought him forth beneath the stars. And that is always the line of the Divine leading. He brings us forth out of our small imprisonments and He sets our feet in a large place. He desires for us height and breadth of view. For "as the heavens are high above the earth" so are His thoughts higher than our thoughts, and His ways than our ways. He wishes us, I say, to exchange the tent for the sky, and to live and move in great, spacious thoughts of His purposes and will.
How is it with our love? Is it a thing of the tent or of the sky? Does it range over mighty spaces seeking benedictions for a multitude? Or does it dwell in selfish seclusion, imprisoned in merely selfish quest? How is it with our prayers? How big are they? Will a tent contain them, or do they move with the scope and greatness of the heavens? Do they just contain our own families, or is China in them, and India, and "the uttermost parts of the earth"? "Look now towards the heavens!" Such must be our outlook if we are the companions of God.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
January 2nd.
My Father, may the world not mould me to-day, but may I be so strong as to help to mould the world.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
Romans 16:20
This promise follows well upon that of yesterday. We are evidently to be conformed to our covenant Head, not only in his being bruised in his heel, but in his conquest of the evil one. Even under our feet is the old dragon to be bruised. The Roman believers were grieved with strife in the church; but their God was "the God of peace," and gave them rest of soul. The arch-enemy tripped up the feet of the unwary, and deceived the hearts of the simple; but he was to get the worst of it, and to be trodden down by those whom he had troubled. This victory would not come to the people of God through their own skill or power; but God himself would bruise Satan. Though it would be under their feet, yet the bruising would be of the Lord alone.
Let us bravely tread upon the tempter! Not only inferior spirits, but the Prince of darkness himself must go down before us. In unquestioning confidence in God, let us look for speedy victory, "Shortly." Happy word! Shortly we shall set our foot on the old serpent! What a joy to crush evil! What dishonour to Satan to have his head bruised by human feet! Let us by faith in Jesus tread the tempter down.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Ye have need of patience, that having done the will of Go, ye may receive the promise.
Hebrews 10:36
Patience is the capacity for being still when all around is tempest-tossed. Patience is the flower of fidelity. If fidelity is the activity of faith, patience is the condition of character resulting therefrom.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.
Matthew 2:13
Like a flash of clear light these words reveal the dark and sinister things of evil. Look at the young Child. He is the Child born to humanity, the Son given by God. Full of all grace and strength, He is the explanation of God's ideal for man, and the unveiling of God's love for man. Look at Herod. He is the very incarnation of pride, of perversity, of pollution. Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him! He will not succeed. It is Herod that will be destroyed, and that by the young Child. But the way to victory will be the way of wounding, of anguish, of death. It is well that all the significance of these things should ever be before us. Herod is still seeking to destroy, and he and his ways may always be discovered by his hatred of the young Child. Everything that threatens childlife, however gorgeously it may be arrayed, however it may employ the language of a false culture, is inherently evil. Herod is Edom - that is materialism, sensuality, the Esau who sells a birthright for a mess of pottage. When children are looked at from the materialistic standpoint only, whether in palace or tenement house, whether amid the debasing luxuries of wealth, or in the squalid miseries of poverty, they are attacked by their most deadly foe. When God came into human life, to reveal us to ourselves, and to unveil Himself to us, He began as a Babe, a young Child, and so compelled us to guard those first years of human experience. The perils are subtle and the destructive forces mighty. Let us not imagine that things have changed. We must go with the Child all the way of witness, and of suffering, if we are to share in His triumphs. But that inevitably means that we must be at war with Herod; and must not have the slightest complicity with his outlook on life, or with his methods. Love of self always means hatred of the Child, and ruthlessness. Love of the Child always means self-emptying and sacrifice. The work of the Shepherd for the lamb is often stern work, demanding the long journey over the mountains, and the fierce and bloody conflict with the marauding and destroying wolf. But it is work with God, and that means that fellowship in His suffering, ever leads to fellowship in His triumph.
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.