Daily Bible Notes: July, 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
Tell me I pray thee wherein thy great strength lieth.
Judges 16:6
Where lies the secret strength of faith? It lies in the food it feeds on; for faith studies what the promise is - an emanation of divine grace, an overflowing of the great heart of God; and faith says, "My God could not have given this promise, except from love and grace; therefore it is quite certain His Word will be fulfilled." Then faith thinketh, "Who gave this promise?" It considereth not so much its greatness, as, "Who is the author of it?" She remembers that it is God who cannot lie - God omnipotent, God immutable; and therefore concludeth that the promise must be fulfilled; and forward she advances in this firm conviction. She remembereth, why the promise was given , - namely, for God’s glory, and she feels perfectly sure that God’s glory is safe, that He will never stain His own escutcheon, nor mar the lustre of His own crown; and therefore the promise must and will stand. Then faith also considereth the amazing work of Christ as being a clear proof of the Father’s intention to fulfil His word. "He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Moreover faith looks back upon the past , for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories have given her courage. She remembers that God never has failed her; nay, that He never did once fail any of His children. She recollecteth times of great peril, when deliverance came; hours of awful need, when as her day her strength was found, and she cries, "No, I never will be led to think that He can change and leave His servant now. Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and He will help me still." Thus faith views each promise in its connection with the promise-giver, and, because she does so, can with assurance say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!"
Evening
Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day.
Psalm 25:5
When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a little child upheld by its parent’s helping hand, and he craves to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental teaching is the burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord’s school: four times over in two verses he applies for a scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many professors if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would enquire for the good old ways of God’s own truth, and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and teachable spirits. "For thou art the God of my salvation ." The Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation to His people. Reader, is He the God of your salvation? Do you find in the Father’s election, in the Son’s atonement, and in the Spirit’s quickening, all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely He will not refuse to instruct you in His ways. It is a happy thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in trial. "On Thee do I wait all the day ." Patience is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited for us.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Matthew 11:7-15
7 As these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
8 But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
9 But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.
10 For this is he, of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.'
11 Most certainly I tell you, amongst those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptiser; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.
12 From the days of John the Baptiser until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14 If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.
15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
WHAT MANNER OF MAN?
There are some men who are only as desert reeds! They move to the breath of the desert wind. They bend before it, no matter in what way it may be blowing. They never resist the wind. They never become "hiding places from the wind," stemming a popular drift. They are the victims of passing opinions, and are swayed by the current passions.
And some men are "clothed in soft raiment"! They shrink from the rough fustian, the labourer's cotton smock, the leather suit of George Fox. They are ultra-"finicky." They are afraid of the mire. They touch the sorrows of the world with a timid finger, not with the kindly, healing grasp of a surgeon.
And other men are "prophets"! They have a secret fellowship with the Infinite. When we listen to them it is like putting one's ear to the seashell: we catch the sound of the ocean roll. "The voice of the Great Eternal dwells in their mighty tones."
And others are "children of the Kingdom." They are greater than the old prophets, because the mystic voice has become a Presence, and they have "seen the Lord." The veil has been rent, and they "walk in the light" as "children of light."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
July 8th.
My Lord Christ, may I follow Thee this day with the whole heart! May I not be afraid of the cross! May I be ready for
crucifixion if that be the way of my Lord! May I lose my life to gain it.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Psalms 34:7
We cannot see the angels, but it is enough that they can see us. There is one great Angel of the Covenant, whom not having seen we love, and his eye is always upon us both day and night. He has a host of holy ones under him, and he causes these to be watchers over his saints and to guard them from all ill. If devils do us mischief, shining ones do us service.
Note that the Lord of angels does not come and go, and pay us transient visits, but he and his armies encamp around us. The head-quarters of the army of salvation are where those live whose trust is in the living God. This camp surrounds the faithful, so that they cannot be attacked from any quarter unless the adversary can break through the entrenchments of the Lord of angels. We have a fixed protection, a permanent watch. Sentinelled by the messengers of God, we shall not be surprised by sudden assaults, nor swallowed up by overwhelming forces. Deliverance is promised in this verse - deliverance by the great Captain of our salvation, and that deliverance we shall obtain again and again until our warfare is accomplished and we exchange the field of conflict for the home of rest.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility.
Colossians 2:23
In every instance where men permit themselves to look at sacred things in a frivolous light, there is evil reaction upon the heart and consciousness. They are robbing themselves of that sacred sense of veneration and reverence for God, without which there is no real worship and no acceptable service.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Let each man, wherein he was called, therein abide with God.
1 Corinthians 7:24
The ultimate value of these words is that they teach us that circumstances are of minor importance in saint-ship. They neither help nor hinder the believer in realizing all that grace and truth of character, or that purity and strength in service, which are the outcome of saint-ship. Note the applications of the principle as found in the context. The married or the unmarried; the circumcised or the uncircumcised; the bondservant or the free; in neither case does one condition nor the other affect the fact of saint-ship, either to help or to hinder. On the contrary, the fact of saint-ship changes and qualifies all these conditions. Therefore the idea which has been very prevalent, and is still in some forms persistent, that if we can change our circumstances we may develop our saint-ship, is entirely unwarranted. The experience of the saints has been that the very pressure and friction of conditions which seem to make saint-ship a difficulty, have contributed to the perfecting of Christian character. The secret of life is that it be lived with God. When that is so, the fellowship transfigures the circumstances, and transmutes the forces which hinder into forces that help. How glorious a conception of life this is, that whatever my calling be, of family relationship, of religious training and habit, or of social position, I can remain therein in the company of God, and so make the circumstances of life the occasion of manifesting His glory.
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.