Daily Bible Notes: July, 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
He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
Genesis 39:12
In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper’s prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.
This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent’s wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me to-day than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!
Evening
In their affliction they will seek Me early.
Hosea 5:15
Losses and adversities are frequently the means which the great Shepherd uses to fetch home His wandering sheep; like fierce dogs they worry the wanderers back to the fold. There is no making lions tame if they are too well fed; they must be brought down from their great strength, and their stomachs must be lowered, and then they will submit to the tamer’s hand; and often have we seen the Christian rendered obedient to the Lord’s will by straitness of bread and hard labour. When rich and increased in goods many professors carry their heads much too loftily, and speak exceeding boastfully. Like David, they flatter themselves, "My mountain standeth fast; I shall never be moved." When the Christian groweth wealthy, is in good repute, hath good health, and a happy family, he too often admits Mr. Carnal Security to feast at his table, and then if he be a true child of God there is a rod preparing for him. Wait awhile, and it may be you will see his substance melt away as a dream. There goes a portion of his estate - how soon the acres change hands. That debt, that dishonoured bill - how fast his losses roll in, where will they end? It is a blessed sign of divine life if when these embarrassments occur one after another he begins to be distressed about his backslidings, and betakes himself to his God.
Blessed are the waves that wash the mariner upon the rock of salvation!
Losses in business are often sanctified to our soul’s enriching. If the chosen soul will not come to the Lord full-handed, it shall come empty. If God, in His grace, findeth no other means of making us honour Him among men, He will cast us into the deep; if we fail to honour Him on the pinnacle of riches, He will bring us into the valley of poverty. Yet faint not, heir of sorrow, when thou art thus rebuked, rather recognize the loving hand which chastens, and say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Revelation 21:22-27
22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.
23 The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
24 The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
25 Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there),
26 and they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it so that they may enter.
27 There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
NO TEMPLE THEREIN
"And I saw no temple therein!"
And that because it was all temple! "Every place was hallowed ground." There was no merely localized Presence, because the Presence was universal. God was realized everywhere, and therefore the little meeting-tent had vanished, and in place of the measurable tabernacle there were the immeasurable and God-filled heavens.
Even here on earth I can measure my spiritual growth by the corresponding enlargement of my temple. What is the size of my sanctuary? Am I moving toward the time when nothing shall be particularly hallowed because all will be sanctified? Are the six days of the week becoming increasingly like the seventh, until people can see no difference between my Monday manners and my Sunday mood? And how about places? Do I still speak of "religion being religion," and "business being business," or is something of the sanctuary getting into my shop, and is the exchange becoming a side-chapel of the Temple?
"And the Lamb is the light thereof." When we have done with the local temple we can dispose of its candles. When we pass out of the twilight into the morning "the stars retire." The fore-gleams will change into the wondrous glory of the ineffable day.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
July 25th.
Great God, teach me to walk before Thee in reverence and godly fear. Save me from flippancy. May no frivolity intrude
into my communion with Thee! May my Spirit be ever upon its knees! May I never lose sight of the great white throne!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
Daniel 12:13
We cannot understand all the prophecies, but yet we regard them with pleasure, and not with dismay. There can be nothing in the Father's decree which should justly alarm his child. Though the abomination of desolation be set up, yet the true believer shall not be defiled; rather shall he be purified, and made white, and tried. Though the earth be burned up no smell of fire shall come upon the chosen. Amid the crash of matter, and the wreck of worlds, the Lord Jehovah will preserve his own.
Calmly resolute in duty, brave in conflict, patient in suffering, let us go our way, keeping to our road, and neither swerving from it nor loitering in it. The end will come; let us go our way till it does.
Rest will be ours. All other things swing to and fro, but our foundation standeth sure. God rests in his love, and, therefore, we rest in it. Our peace is, and ever shall be, like a river. A lot in the heavenly Canaan is ours, and we shall stand in it, come what may. The God of Daniel will give a worthy portion to all who dare to be decided for truth and holiness as Daniel was. No den of lions shall deprive us of our sure inheritance.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
His kingdom ruleth over all.
Psalm 103:19
We are not called upon to compare the Church as she is with what she should be, or as she is with what she was; but rather the Church as she is today with any empire, apart from her, which the world has ever seen. There is nothing in past or present history to compare with the rule of Jesus over His own.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
We take thought for things honourable ... in the sight of men.
2 Corinthians 8:21
This is a principle which should ever be observed in all the business and financial matters of the Christian Church. The subject was that of the collecting of funds. Titus was appointed to this work, but he was not to go alone. Paul, in conjunction with the churches interested, appointed another to go with him; and the reason was that all the monetary matters of the churches should be dealt with in such a way as to give no ground of suspicion to men of the world. Christian men will act in all these matters in the sight of their Lord, and that to other Christians is sufficient guarantee of their integrity and uprightness. But men of the world do not understand that. They look for the guarantees of the oversight of man by man. They are not prepared to accept the view that a man who trusts in God is to be trusted. Therefore it is the business of the Christian community to do its business in such a way that these men of the world shall have no cause to suspect anything contrary to righteousness in its affairs. This is at once a tribute to the supremacy of righteousness, and an acknowledgment of the fact that men are able to appreciate that which is righteous. Titus and the one appointed to act with him needed no watching in order to make them straight-forward; but the fact that they were so, needed to be vindicated to all men. Therefore they were to travel and to act together. This is very practical, and very important. It is the warrant for the careful auditing of all Church accounts.
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.