Daily Bible Notes: January, 15th
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
Do as thou hast said.
2 Samuel 7:25
God’s promises were never meant to be thrown aside as waste paper; He intended that they should be used. God’s gold is not miser’s money, but is minted to be traded with. Nothing pleases our Lord better than to see His promises put in circulation; He loves to see His children bring them up to Him, and say, "Lord, do as Thou hast said." We glorify God when we plead His promises. Do you think that God will be any the poorer for giving you the riches He has promised? Do you dream that He will be any the less holy for giving holiness to you? Do you imagine He will be any the less pure for washing you from your sins? He has said "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Faith lays hold upon the promise of pardon, and it does not delay, saying, "This is a precious promise, I wonder if it be true?" but it goes straight to the throne with it, and pleads, "Lord, here is the promise, ‘Do as Thou hast said.’" Our Lord replies, "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." When a Christian grasps a promise, if he do not take it to God, he dishonours Him; but when he hastens to the throne of grace, and cries, "Lord, I have nothing to recommend me but this, ‘Thou hast said it;’" then his desire shall be granted. Our heavenly Banker delights to cash His own notes. Never let the promise rust. Draw the word of promise out of its scabbard, and use it with holy violence. Think not that God will be troubled by your importunately reminding Him of His promises. He loves to hear the loud outcries of needy souls. It is His delight to bestow favours. He is more ready to hear than you are to ask. The sun is not weary of shining, nor the fountain of flowing. It is God’s nature to keep His promises; therefore go at once to the throne with "Do as Thou hast said."
Evening
But I give myself unto prayer.
Psalm 109:4
Lying tongues were busy against the reputation of David, but he did not defend himself; he moved the case into a higher court, and pleaded before the great King Himself. Prayer is the safest method of replying to words of hatred. The Psalmist prayed in no cold-hearted manner, he gave himself to the exercise - threw his whole soul and heart into it - straining every sinew and muscle, as Jacob did when wrestling with the angel. Thus, and thus only, shall any of us speed at the throne of grace. As a shadow has no power because there is no substance in it, even so that supplication, in which a man’s proper self is not thoroughly present in agonizing earnestness and vehement desire, is utterly ineffectual, for it lacks that which would give it force. "Fervent prayer," says an old divine, "like a cannon planted at the gates of heaven, makes them fly open." The common fault with the most of us is our readiness to yield to distractions. Our thoughts go roving hither and thither, and we make little progress towards our desired end. Like quicksilver our mind will not hold together, but rolls off this way and that. How great an evil this is! It injures us, and what is worse, it insults our God. What should we think of a petitioner, if, while having an audience with a prince, he should be playing with a feather or catching a fly?
Continuance and perseverance are intended in the expression of our text.
David did not cry once, and then relapse into silence; his holy clamour was continued till it brought down the blessing. Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation. As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we addict ourselves to prayer. We must be immersed in prayer as in our element, and so pray without ceasing. Lord, teach us so to pray that we may be more and more prevalent in supplication.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 115
1 Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your loving kindness, and for your truth's sake.
2 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God, now?"
3 But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
5 They have mouths, but they don't speak. They have eyes, but they don't see.
6 They have ears, but they don't hear. They have noses, but they don't smell.
7 They have hands, but they don't feel. They have feet, but they don't walk, neither do they speak through their throat.
8 Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.
9 Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.
12 The LORD remembers us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear the LORD, both small and great.
14 May the LORD increase you more and more, you and your children.
15 Blessed are you by the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but he has given the earth to the children of men.
17 The dead don't praise the LORD, neither any who go down into silence;
18 but we will bless the LORD, from this time forward and forever more. Praise the LORD!
THE MINISTRY OF PRAISE
"The Lord hath been mindful of us: He will bless us." In that joyful assurance there is both retrospect and prospect. There is the trodden pathway of Providence, and there is the star of hope! The eyes are steadied and refreshed in sacred memories, and then they gaze into the future with serene and happy confidence. And so the Ebenezer of the soul becomes both a thanksgiving and a reconsecration.
Now perhaps our hopes are thin because our praises are scanty. Perhaps our expectations are clouded because our memories are dim. There is nothing so quickens hope as a journey among the mercies of our yesterdays. The heart lays aside its fears amid the accumulated blessings of our God. Worries pass away like cloudlets in the warmth of a summer's morning. And the recollections of God's goodness always make summer even in the wintriest day.
Now I see why the New Testament is so urgent in the matter of praise. Without praise many other virtues and graces cannot be born. Without praise they have no breath of life. Praise quickens a radiant company of heavenly presences, and among them is the shining spirit of hope.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
January 15th.
My Lord, Thou hast mercifully brought me to another day. May I begin and end it in service and praise! May I wait for Thee
in the way of Thy commandments! May I find in obedience the joy of the Lord!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
Psalms 9:18
Poverty is a hard heritage; but those who trust in the Lord are made rich by faith. They know that they are not forgotten of God; and though it may seem that they are overlooked in his providential distribution of good things, they look for a time when all this shall be righted. Lazarus will not always lie among the dogs at the rich man's gate, but he will have his recompense in Abraham's bosom.
Even now the Lord remembers his poor but precious sons. "I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me," said one of old; and it is even so. The godly poor have great expectations. They expect the Lord to provide them all things necessary for this life and godliness; they expect to see all things working for their good; they expect to have all the closer fellowship with their Lord, who had not where to lay his head; they expect his Second Advent, and to share its glory. This expectation cannot perish, for it is laid up in Christ Jesus, who liveth for ever; and because he lives, it shall live also. The poor saint singeth many a song which the rich sinner cannot understand. Wherefore, let us, when we have short commons below, think of the royal table above.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
Isaiah 21:11
What of the night, O watchman.
Set to mark the dawn of day?
The wind blows fair from the morning star,
And the shadows flee away.
Dark are the vales, but the mountains glow
As the light its splendour flings,
And the Sun of Righteousness comes up
With healing in His wings.
--W. Robertson Nicoll.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Every plant which My heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up.
Matthew 15:13
In order to understand this saying of Jesus, we must carefully note its setting. He had been denouncing the Pharisees for making void the Word of God because of their tradition. His disciples observed and reported to Him the fact that the Pharisees were offended. To them He said that every plant, which was not of His Father's planting, should be rooted up. Here, then, we find the test of all human teaching however well-intentioned. If it be not based upon and rooted in the Word of God, or if it depart in any degree from the true intention of that Word, it is without pity to be rooted up. By this test we need ever to try our traditions, customs, habits, rules, regulations. Man is always in danger of destroying the very thing he desires to safeguard, when he adds to the simplest things of the Divine revelation. This was exactly the story of Pharisaism. Starting with a passion for the Law of God, it had attempted to preserve and enforce it by the addition of rules and burdens, which were intolerable, and which, positively in many applications, destroyed the sanction of the original Law. Christianity has often suffered from the same method. We are strangely in danger of being in bondage to human opinion, interpretation, and requirement. From all such it is our duty to break away, when for a moment, or by a hair's breadth, they relegate us to a distance from the will of God.
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.