Daily Bible Notes: January, 8th
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 iniquity of the holy things.
Exodus 28:38
What a veil is lifted up by these words, and what a disclosure is made! It will be humbling and profitable for us to pause awhile and see this sad sight. The iniquities of our public worship, its hypocrisy, formality, lukewarmness, irreverence, wandering of heart and forgetfulness of God, what a full measure have we there! Our work for the Lord, its emulation, selfishness, carelessness, slackness, unbelief, what a mass of defilement is there! Our private devotions, their laxity, coldness, neglect, sleepiness, and vanity, what a mountain of dead earth is there! If we looked more carefully we should find this iniquity to be far greater than appears at first sight.
Dr. Payson, writing to his brother, says, "My parish, as well as my heart, very much resembles the garden of the sluggard; and what is worse, I find that very many of my desires for the melioration of both, proceed either from pride or vanity or indolence. I look at the weeds which overspread my garden, and breathe out an earnest wish that they were eradicated. But why? What prompts the wish? It may be that I may walk out and say to myself, ‘In what fine order is my garden kept!’ This is pride . Or, it may be that my neighbours may look over the wall and say, ‘How finely your garden flourishes!’ This is vanity. Or I may wish for the destruction of the weeds, because I am weary of pulling them up. This is indolence." So that even our desires after holiness may be polluted by ill motives. Under the greenest sods worms hide themselves; we need not look long to discover them. How cheering is the thought, that when the High Priest bore the iniquity of the holy things he wore upon his brow the words, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD:" and even so while Jesus bears our sin, He presents before His Father’s face not our unholiness, but his own holiness. O for grace to view our great High Priest by the eye of faith!
Evening
Thy love is better than wine.
Song of Solomon 1:2
Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ . He has enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of life, he can be glad both in God’s gifts and God’s works; but in all these separately, yea, and in all of them added together, he doth not find such substantial delight as in the matchless person of his Lord Jesus. He has wine which no vineyard on earth ever yielded; he has bread which all the corn-fields of Egypt could never bring forth. Where can such sweetness be found as we have tasted in communion with our Beloved? In our esteem, the joys of earth are little better than husks for swine compared with Jesus, the heavenly manna. We would rather have one mouthful of Christ’s love, and a sip of his fellowship, than a whole world full of carnal delights. What is the chaff to the wheat? What is the sparkling paste to the true diamond? What is a dream to the glorious reality? What is time’s mirth, in its best trim, compared to our Lord Jesus in His most despised estate? If you know anything of the inner life, you will confess that our highest, purest, and most enduring joys must be the fruit of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. No spring yields such sweet water as that well of God which was digged with the soldier’s spear. All earthly bliss is of the earth earthy, but the comforts of Christ’s presence are like Himself, heavenly. We can review our communion with Jesus, and find no regrets of emptiness therein; there are no dregs in this wine, no dead flies in this ointment. The joy of the Lord is solid and enduring. Vanity hath not looked upon it, but discretion and prudence testify that it abideth the test of years, and is in time and in eternity worthy to be called "the only true delight." For nourishment, consolation, exhilaration, and refreshment, no wine can rival the love of Jesus. Let us drink to the full this evening.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Kings 8:54-61
54 It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, he arose from before the LORD's altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out towards heaven.
55 He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56 "Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant.
57 May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us or forsake us;
58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.
59 Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day requires;
60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD himself is God. There is no one else.
61 "Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as it is today."
HE IS FAITHFUL!
"There hath not failed one word of all His good promise." Supposing one word had failed, how then? If one golden promise had turned out to be counterfeit, how then? If the ground had yielded anywhere we should have been fearful and suspicious at every part of the road. If the bell of God's fidelity had been broken anywhere the music would have been destroyed. But not one word has failed. The road has never given way in time of flood. Every bell of heaven is perfectly sound, and the music is full and glorious. "God is faithful, who also will do it."
"God is love," and "love never faileth." The lamp will not die out at the midnight. The fountain will not fail us in the wilderness. The consolations will not be wanting in the hour of our distresses. Love will have "all things ready." "He has promised, and shall He not do it?" All the powers of heaven are pledged to the fulfilment of the smallest word of grace. We can never be deserted! "God cannot deny Himself." Every word of His will unburden its treasure at the appointed hour, and I shall be rich with the strength of my God.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
January 8th.
My Father, may my song of thanksgiving be new every morning! May my sense of Thy mercy be ever fresh, that my praise may
flow like a gladdening river!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" - Matthew 5:8
Purity, even purity of heart, is the main thing to be aimed at. We need to be made clean within through the Spirit and the Word, and then we shall be clean without by consecration and obedience. There is a close connection between the affections and the understanding: if we love evil, we cannot understand that which is good. If the heart is foul, the eye will be dim. How can those men see a holy God who love unholy things?
What a privilege it is to see God here! A glimpse of him is heaven below! In Christ Jesus the pure in heart behold the Father. We see him, his truth, his love, his purpose, his sovereignty, his covenant character, yea, we see himself in Christ. But this is only apprehended as sin is kept out of the heart. Only those who aim at godliness can cry, "Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord." The desire of Moses, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory," can only be fulfilled in us as we purify ourselves from all iniquity. We shall "see him as he is"; and "every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." The enjoyment of present fellowship and the hope of the beatific vision are urgent motives for purity of heart and life. Lord, make us pure in heart, that we may see thee!
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.
Proverbs 1:5
False culture has repeatedly attempted, with self-satisfied cynicism, to treat with indifference the Christ of God, only to find that He takes hold upon all the domain of true culture and rules supremely over it.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases.
Matthew 8:17
This word takes us beyond the teachings of our Lord, to a record of the marvels which He wrought. As we read we are impressed, and rightly so, with the ease with which He dealt with all the need and suffering of men. In these words, quoted from Isaiah, Matthew suddenly reminds us of another side of truth concerning these doings of the Lord. If His word and touch brought instant deliverance to men, it was because in a great mystery of grace He suffered in order to save. Every wonder of healing was made possible by the profounder wonder of atonement. Our infirmities pass from us, and our diseases cease to vex us, because He takes our sins, and bears them. This is a truth that we should ever bear in mind. The giving of God to us is bounteous and super-abounding, but it is never cheap. The blessings we receive from Him are most precious, because most costly. They are hallmarked with Blood. The water from the well of Bethlehem is the red wine that comes from Calvary. It is as we remember that tremendous fact that we are able to render to Him, our adorable Redeemer, the praise and honour due to His Name. When we drink the wine and eat the bread, let us never permit ourselves to forget the wormwood and the gall! When our pains are eased, let us reverently remember the pains which He bore. Thus shall we ever render Him the worship which is His due.
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.