Daily Bible Notes: June, 4th
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 kindness and love of God our Saviour.
Titus 3:4
How sweet it is to behold the Saviour communing with His own beloved people! There can be nothing more delightful than, by the Divine Spirit, to be led into this fertile field of delight. Let the mind for an instant consider the history of the Redeemer’s love, and a thousand enchanting acts of affection will suggest themselves, all of which have had for their design the weaving of the heart into Christ, and the intertwisting of the thoughts and emotions of the renewed soul with the mind of Jesus. When we meditate upon this amazing love, and behold the all-glorious Kinsman of the Church endowing her with all His ancient wealth, our souls may well faint for joy.
Who is he that can endure such a weight of love? That partial sense of it which the Holy Spirit is sometimes pleased to afford, is more than the soul can contain; how transporting must be a complete view of it! When the soul shall have understanding to discern all the Saviour’s gifts, wisdom wherewith to estimate them, and time in which to meditate upon them, such as the world to come will afford us, we shall then commune with Jesus in a nearer manner than at present. But who can imagine the sweetness of such fellowship? It must be one of the things which have not entered into the heart of man, but which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Oh, to burst open the door of our Joseph’s granaries, and see the plenty which He hath stored up for us! This will overwhelm us with love. By faith we see, as in a glass darkly, the reflected image of His unbounded treasures, but when we shall actually see the heavenly things themselves, with our own eyes, how deep will be the stream of fellowship in which our soul shall bathe itself! Till then our loudest sonnets shall be reserved for our loving benefactor, Jesus Christ our Lord, whose love to us is wonderful, passing the love of women.
Evening
Received up into glory.
1 Timothy 3:16
We have seen our well-beloved Lord in the days of His flesh, humiliated and sore vexed; for He was "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He whose brightness is as the morning, wore the sackcloth of sorrow as His daily dress: shame was His mantle, and reproach was His vesture. Yet now, inasmuch as He has triumphed over all the powers of darkness upon the bloody tree, our faith beholds our King returning with dyed garments from Edom, robed in the splendour of victory. How glorious must He have been in the eyes of seraphs, when a cloud received Him out of mortal sight, and He ascended up to heaven! Now He wears the glory which He had with God or ever the earth was, and yet another glory above all - that which He has well earned in the fight against sin, death, and hell. As victor He wears the illustrious crown. Hark how the song swells high! It is a new and sweeter song: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, for He hath redeemed us unto God by His blood!" He wears the glory of an Intercessor who can never fail, of a Prince who can never be defeated, of a Conqueror who has vanquished every foe, of a Lord who has the heart’s allegiance of every subject. Jesus wears all the glory which the pomp of heaven can bestow upon Him, which ten thousand times ten thousand angels can minister to Him. You cannot with your utmost stretch of imagination conceive His exceeding greatness; yet there will be a further revelation of it when He shall descend from heaven in great power, with all the holy angels -"Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." Oh, the splendour of that glory! It will ravish His people’s hearts. Nor is this the close, for eternity shall sound His praise, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever!"
Reader, if you would joy in Christ’s glory hereafter, He must be glorious in your sight now. Is He so ?
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Proverbs 8:10-19
10 Receive my instruction rather than silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can't be compared to it.
12 "I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
14 Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.
17 I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.
18 With me are riches, honour, enduring wealth, and prosperity.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, my yield than choice silver.
LIFE'S REAL VALUES
Here is a man who knows the relative values of things. "Instruction is better than silver"; "knowledge rather than choice gold"; "wisdom is better than rubies." He weighs the inherent worth of things, and puts his choice upon the best.
Let me remember that "all is not gold that glitters." The leaden casket is often the shrine of the priceless scroll. The glaring and the theatrical have often a ragged and seamy interior, and won't bear "looking into." A man may have much display and be very lonely; he may have piles of wealth and be destitute of joy. His libraries may cover an acre, and yet he may have no light. And a man may have only "a candle, and a table, and a bed," and he may be the companion of the eternal God.
I would seek these priceless things. And I would "seek them early." I have so often been late in the search. I have given the early moments to seeking the world's silver and gold, and the later weary moments have been idly devoted to God. "They that seek Me early shall find Me." Let me put "first things first." "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
June 4th.
My Father, may the end be more glorious than the beginning! In the evening-tide let there be light. Let Thy forgiveness
remove the clouds. May I renew my broken vows! Amen, and Amen.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.
Malachi 3:17
A day is coming in which the crown jewels of our great King shall be counted, that it may be seen whether they answer to the inventory which his Father gave him. My soul, wilt thou be among the precious things of Jesus? Thou art precious to him if he is precious to thee, and thou shalt be his "in that day," if he is thine in this day.
In the days of Malachi, the chosen of the Lord were accustomed so to converse with each other that their God himself listened to their talk. He liked it so well that he took notes of it; yes, and made a book of it, which he lodged in his Record Office. Pleased with their conversation, he was also pleased with them. Pause, my soul, and ask thyself: If Jesus were to listen to thy talk would he be pleased with it? Is it to his glory and to the edification of the brotherhood? Say, my soul, and be sure thou sayest the truth.
But what will the honour be for us poor creatures to be reckoned by the Lord to be his crown jewels! This honour have all the saints. Jesus not only says, "They are mine," but, "They shall be mine." He bought us, sought us, brought us in, and has so far wrought us to his image, that we shall be fought for by him with all his might.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Be not deceived; God cannot be mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Galatians 6:7
Every man of science will bear testimony to the awful demand that nature makes for purity, and will assert that she has no pity for the unclean.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Things ... touching the king.
Psalms 45:1
The beauty of this Psalm is universally recognized. It is always treated as celebrating a royal wedding. The title refers to it as "A Song of Loves"; Rotherham gives "A royal marriage," as descriptive title: and Kirkpatrick calls it "A nuptial ode." All these descriptions are justified by the context. Nevertheless, its supreme note is given in the words we have emphasized. The first verse consists of the writer's introduction to his song, and in these particular words he gives us the subject on which he wrote. He was speaking of "Things ... touching the king"; and there is more in the Psalm than the wedding. Here again opinions differ as to the particular king to whom reference was made. From the earliest times it has been considered as definitely Messianic; and that by Jewish, as well as Christian expositors. In that way we may study it most profitably. What, then, are the things touching the king which it celebrates? We will endeavour to tabulate them: (1) His beauty and grace of character (verse 2). (2) His equipment and purpose in conflict (verses 3, 4) (3) His power in conflict (verse 5) (4) His victory, and consequent enthronement and glory (verses 6-8). (5) His consort, her devotion, her beauty, her companions (verses 9-15). (6) His seed-royal, reigning in the earth (verse 16). (7) His complete triumph (verse 17). Perhaps nowhere in Old Testament writings do we find a nearer approach to the disclosure of the secret of the Church than in this Psalm. It remained, however, a secret (see Eph. 3:4, 5; Col. 1:26, 27). For us, in the light of the complete unveiling of God's plans and purposes through Christ, this song is full of beauty and value.
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.