Daily Bible Notes: July, 28th
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
So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before Thee.
Psalm 73:22
Remember this is the confession of the man after God’s own heart; and in telling us his inner life, he writes, "So foolish was I, and ignorant." The word "foolish ," here, means more than it signifies in ordinary language.
David, in a former verse of the Psalm, writes, "I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked," which shows that the folly he intended had sin in it. He puts himself down as being thus "foolish," and adds a word which is to give intensity to it; "so foolish was I." How foolish he could not tell. It was a sinful folly, a folly which was not to be excused by frailty, but to be condemned because of its perverseness and wilful ignorance, for he had been envious of the present prosperity of the ungodly, forgetful of the dreadful end awaiting all such. And are we better than David that we should call ourselves wise! Do we profess that we have attained perfection, or to have been so chastened that the rod has taken all our wilfulness out of us? Ah, this were pride indeed! If David was foolish, how foolish should we be in our own esteem if we could but see ourselves! Look back, believer: think of your doubting God when He has been so faithful to you - think of your foolish outcry of "Not so, my Father," when He crossed His hands in affliction to give you the larger blessing; think of the many times when you have read His providences in the dark, misinterpreted His dispensations, and groaned out, "All these things are against me," when they are all working together for your good!
Think how often you have chosen sin because of its pleasure, when indeed, that pleasure was a root of bitterness to you! Surely if we know our own heart we must plead guilty to the indictment of a sinful folly; and conscious of this "foolishness," we must make David’s consequent resolve our own - "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel ."
Evening
Who went about doing good.
Acts 10:38
Few words, but yet an exquisite miniature of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are not many touches, but they are the strokes of a master’s pencil. Of the Saviour and only of the Saviour is it true in the fullest, broadest, and most unqualified sense. "He went about doing good." From this description it is evident that He did good personally . The evangelists constantly tell us that He touched the leper with His own finger, that He anointed the eyes of the blind, and that in cases where He was asked to speak the word only at a distance, He did not usually comply, but went Himself to the sick bed, and there personally wrought the cure. A lesson to us, if we would do good, to do it ourselves. Give alms with your own hand; a kind look, or word, will enhance the value of the gift. Speak to a friend about his soul; your loving appeal will have more influence than a whole library of tracts. Our Lord’s mode of doing good sets forth His incessant activity ! He did not only the good which came close to hand, but He "went about" on His errands of mercy. Throughout the whole land of Judea there was scarcely a village or a hamlet which was not gladdened by the sight of Him. How this reproves the creeping, loitering manner, in which many professors serve the Lord.
Let us gird up the loins of our mind, and be not weary in well doing. Does not the text imply that Jesus Christ went out of His way to do good ? "He went about doing good." He was never deterred by danger or difficulty. He sought out the objects of His gracious intentions. So must we. If old plans will not answer, we must try new ones, for fresh experiments sometimes achieve more than regular methods. Christ’s perseverance , and the unity of His purpose, are also hinted at, and the practical application of the subject may be summed up in the words, "He hath left us an example that we should follow in His steps."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
14 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.
15 He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
16 Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
18 But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
ALL THINGS NEW!
Here is a new constraint! "The love of Christ constraineth me." The love of Christ carries me along like a crowd. I am taken up in its mighty movement and swept along the appointed road! Or it arrests me, and makes me its willing prisoner. It lays a strong hand upon me, and I have no option but to go. A gracious "necessity is laid upon me." I must!
And here is a new world. "Old things are passed away." The man who is the prisoner of the Lord's love will find himself in new and wonderful scenery. Everything will wear a new face - God, man, self, the garden, the sky, the sea! We shall look at all things through love-eyes, and it is amazing in what new light a great love will set familiar things! Commonplaces become beautiful when looked at through the lens of Christian love. When we "walk in love" our eyes are anointed with "the eye-salve" of grace.
And here is a new service. "We are ambassadors ... for Christ." When we see our Lord through love-eyes, and then our brother, we shall yearn to serve our brother in Christ. We shall intensely long to tell the love-story of the Lord our Saviour. What we have seen, with confidence we tell.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
July 28th.
My Father in Heaven, make me feel strong in Thy grace to-day. May I discharge my duty in the spirit of exuberant health!
May I feel abundantly equal to all my tasks! May I be more than conqueror through Him who loves me!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
1 Peter 5:6
This is tantamount to a promise: if we will bow down, the Lord will lift us up. Humility leads to honour: submission is the way to exaltation. That same hand of God which presses us down is waiting to raise us up when we are prepared to bear the blessing. We stoop to conquer. Many cringe before men, and yet miss the patronage they crave; but he that humbles himself under the hand of God shall not fail to be enriched, uplifted, sustained, and comforted by the evergracious One. It is a habit of Jehovah to cast down the proud, and lift up the lowly.
Yet there is a time for the Lord's working. We ought now to humble ourselves, even at this present moment; and we are bound to keep on doing so whether the Lord lays his afflicting hand upon us or not. When the Lord smites, it is our special duty to accept the chastisement with profound submission. But as for the Lord's exaltation of us, that can only come "in due time," and God is the best judge of that day and hour. Do we cry out impatiently for the blessing? Would we wish for untimely honour? What are we at? Surely we are not truly humbled, or we should wait with quiet submission. So let us do.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth.
Romans 14:21, R.V.
Every prohibition of God, and every command He lays upon men, have their reason in His good will toward men ... Love prohibits that which, if permitted, would blight the life and mar the pleasure. It is also true that every commandment calling to paths of duty is the outbreathing of God.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Anxiety for all the churches.
2 Corinthians 11:28
That was the central anxiety, burden, care, of this great Apostle. As we have seen more than once in reading this letter, he knew much of affliction. There were many causes for anxiety. In this chapter another paragraph occurs in which he referred to perils and travails connected with the work of the ministry. Then he described them as "those things that are without," or as an alternative marginal reading has it, "the things that come out of course." They were incidental things. That which pressed upon him daily, from which he had no escape, which constituted the central anxiety of all his days, was the need of all the churches. What that meant in the case of Paul is understood as we think of the churches he had planted, and of those to whom his letters were written. They were widely scattered, and very diversified in their experiences, attainments, needs; but he carried them all in his heart, and laboured for them in prayer, and in every way possible. That is true Christian ministry. We make a modern application of the principle by saying that while denominational loyalty may be, and within limits certainly is, an excellent thing, it must never be allowed to exclude other churches from our spiritual anxiety. In matters of ecclesiastical government, and of theological opinion, we may be separated from other communions; but in the deepest fact of the unity of the Spirit, we are one with them. Therefore we must pray for all, and so far as is possible, labour for all.
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.