Daily Bible Notes: June, 1st
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 evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:5
Was it so even in the beginning? Did light and darkness divide the realm of time in the first day? Then little wonder is it if I have also changes in my circumstances from the sunshine of prosperity to the midnight of adversity. It will not always be the blaze of noon even in my soul concerns, I must expect at seasons to mourn the absence of my former joys, and seek my Beloved in the night. Nor am I alone in this, for all the Lord’s beloved ones have had to sing the mingled song of judgment and of mercy, of trial and deliverance, of mourning and of delight. It is one of the arrangements of Divine providence that day and night shall not cease either in the spiritual or natural creation till we reach the land of which it is written, "there is no night there." What our heavenly Father ordains is wise and good.
What, then, my soul, is it best for thee to do? Learn first to be content with this divine order, and be willing, with Job, to receive evil from the hand of the Lord as well as good. Study next, to make the outgoings of the morning and the evening to rejoice . Praise the Lord for the sun of joy when it rises, and for the gloom of evening as it falls. There is beauty both in sunrise and sunset, sing of it, and glorify the Lord. Like the nightingale, pour forth thy notes at all hours. Believe that the night is as useful as the day . The dews of grace fall heavily in the night of sorrow. The stars of promise shine forth gloriously amid the darkness of grief. Continue thy service under all changes. If in the day thy watchword be labour , at night exchange it for watch . Every hour has its duty, do thou continue in thy calling as the Lord’s servant until He shall suddenly appear in His glory. My soul, thine evening of old age and death is drawing near, dread it not, for it is part of the day; and the Lord has said, "I will cover him all the day long."
Evening
He will make her wilderness like Eden.
Isaiah 51:3
Methinks, I see in vision a howling wilderness, a great and terrible desert, like to the Sahara. I perceive nothing in it to relieve the eye, all around I am wearied with a vision of hot and arid sand, strewn with ten thousand bleaching skeletons of wretched men who have expired in anguish, having lost their way in the pitiless waste. What an appalling sight! How horrible! a sea of sand without a bound, and without an oasis, a cheerless graveyard for a race forlorn! But behold and wonder! Upon a sudden, upspringing from the scorching sand I see a plant of renown; and as it grows it buds, the bud expands - it is a rose, and at its side a lily bows its modest head; and, miracle of miracles! as the fragrance of those flowers is diffused the wilderness is transformed into a fruitful field, and all around it blossoms exceedingly, the glory of Lebanon is given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. Call it not Sahara, call it Paradise. Speak not of it any longer as the valley of deathshade, for where the skeletons lay bleaching in the sun, behold a resurrection is proclaimed, and up spring the dead, a mighty army, full of life immortal. Jesus is that plant of renown, and His presence makes all things new. Nor is the wonder less in each individual’s salvation.
Yonder I behold you, dear reader, cast out, an infant, unswathed, unwashed, defiled with your own blood, left to be food for beasts of prey.
But lo, a jewel has been thrown into your bosom by a divine hand, and for its sake you have been pitied and tended by divine providence, you are washed and cleansed from your defilement, you are adopted into heaven’s family, the fair seal of love is upon your forehead, and the ring of faithfulness is on your hand - you are now a prince unto God, though once an orphan, cast away. O prize exceedingly the matchless power and grace which changes deserts into gardens, and makes the barren heart to sing for joy.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Corinthians 12:20-31
20 But now they are many members, but one body.
21 The eye can't tell the hand, "I have no need for you," or again the head to the feet, "I have no need for you."
22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
23 Those parts of the body which we think to be less honourable, on those we bestow more abundant honour; and our unpresentable parts have more abundant propriety;
24 whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honour to the inferior part,
25 that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
26 When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
28 God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers?
30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret?
31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. Moreover, I show a most excellent way to you.
THE BEAUTY OF VARIETY
God's glory is expressed through the harmony of variety. We do not need sameness in order to gain union. I am now looking upon a scene of surpassing loveliness. There are mountains, and sea, and grassland, and trees, and a wide-stretching sky, and white pebbles at my feet. And a white bird has just flown across a little bank of dark cloud. What variety! And when I look closer the variety is infinitely multiplied. Everything blends into everything else. Nothing is out of place. Everything contributes to finished power and loveliness. And so it is in the grander sphere of human life. The glory of humanity is born of the glory of individuals, each one making his own distinctive contribution.
And thus we have need of one another. Every note in the organ is needed for the full expression of noble harmony. Every instrument in the orchestra is required unless the music is to be lame and broken. God has endowed no two souls alike, and every soul is needed to make the music of "the realm of the blest."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
June 1st.
Father of grace, let the light of Thy countenance fall on me. May I walk in the light! May it kindle holy impulse and
chaste desire! May it fill my heart with the love of truth!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
Ecclesiates 11:1
We must not expect to see an immediate reward for all the good we do; nor must we always confine our efforts to places and persons which seem likely to yield us a recompense for our labours. The Egyptian casts his seed upon the waters of the Nile, where it might seem a sheer waste of corn. But in due time the flood subsides, the rice or other grain sinks into the fertile mud, and rapidly a harvest is produced. Let us to-day do good to the unthankful and the evil. Let us teach the careless and the obstinate. Unlikely waters may cover hopeful soil. Nowhere shall our labour be in vain in the Lord.
It is ours to cast our bread upon the waters; it remains with God to fulfil the promise, "Thou shalt find it," He will not let his promise fail. His good word which we have spoken shall live, shall be found, shall be found by us. Perhaps not just yet, but some day we shall reap what we have sown. We must exercise our patience; for perhaps the Lord may exercise it. "After many days," says the Scripture, and in many instances those days run into months and years, and yet the word stands true. God's promise will keep; let us mind that we keep the precept, and keep it this day.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created.
Psalm 104:30
All creation is of God, to the man who lives and walks with Him.
"One Spirit -
His Who wore the platted thorn with bleeding brows
Rules universal nature! Not a flower
But shows some touch, in freckle, streak, or stain,
Of His unrivall'd pencil. He inspires
Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues,
And bathes their eyes with nectar; and includes,
In grains as countless as the seaside sands,
The forms with which He sprinkles all the earth.
Happy who walks with Him, whom what he finds
Of flavour or of scent in fruit or flower,
Or what he views of beautiful or grand
In nature, from the broad majestic oak
To the green blade that twinkles in the sun,
Prompts with remembrance of a present God."
- W. Cowper.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.
Psalms 42:2
This whole Psalm is the song of a soul in trouble; but in the midst of the trouble the singer is speaking to himself in strains of determined hope. In these particular words we have at once a revelation of the uttermost experience of sorrow, and a revelation of the inspiration of hope. Sorrow is always a sense of lack. The sorrow of bereavement is the sense of the loss of the loved one. The sorrow of sickness is the lack of health. The ultimate sorrow is the sense of the lack of God. This was the supreme sorrow of this singer. All his personal suffering was accentuated by his inability to find his way into conscious fellowship with God. The thirst for God is the most terrible thirst. Nothing can assuage it. Thus the cry of anguish is the expression of hope. That is the one and only hope in the hour of this suffering. To find a way back to God, to come and appear before Him is the only cure for the intolerable thirst. Let it, then, be clearly recognized that the chief value of this song is its revelation of God Himself. Even though this troubled soul had lost his sense at the moment of fellowship, he knew God, and, in the midst of the anguish, believed that God would appear for his deliverance. Apart from this knowledge there would have been desire, but no hope. It was his knowledge of God which touched desire with expectation, and so created hope.
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.