Daily Bible Notes: June, 9th
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 Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.
Psalm 126:3
Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has vouchsafed them. But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state, will come forward joyously, and say, "I will speak, not about myself, but to the honour of my God. He hath brought me up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings: and He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad." Such an abstract of experience as this is the very best that any child of God can present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have our corruptions, and mournfully do we know this, but it is quite as true that we have an all-sufficient Saviour, who overcomes these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion. In looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the Slough of Despond, and have crept along the Valley of Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we have been through them safely and profitably; we have not remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who has brought us "out into a wealthy place." The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until now.
Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life’s song, "He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."
Evening
Search the Scriptures.
John 5:39
The Greek word here rendered search signifies a strict, close, diligent, curious search, such as men make when they are seeking gold, or hunters when they are in earnest after game. We must not rest content with having given a superficial reading to a chapter or two, but with the candle of the Spirit we must deliberately seek out the hidden meaning of the word. Holy Scripture requires searching - much of it can only be learned by careful study. There is milk for babes, but also meat for strong men. The rabbis wisely say that a mountain of matter hangs upon every word, yea, upon every title of Scripture. Tertullian exclaims, "I adore the fulness of the Scriptures." No man who merely skims the book of God can profit thereby; we must dig and mine until we obtain the hid treasure. The door of the word only opens to the key of diligence. The Scriptures claim searching . They are the writings of God, bearing the divine stamp and imprimatur - who shall dare to treat them with levity? He who despises them despises the God who wrote them. God forbid that any of us should leave our Bibles to become swift witnesses against us in the great day of account. The word of God will repay searching . God does not bid us sift a mountain of chaff with here and there a grain of wheat in it, but the Bible is winnowed corn - we have but to open the granary door and find it.
Scripture grows upon the student. It is full of surprises. Under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to the searching eye it glows with splendour of revelation, like a vast temple paved with wrought gold, and roofed with rubies, emeralds, and all manner of gems. No merchandise like the merchandise of Scripture truth. Lastly, the Scriptures reveal Jesus : "They are they which testify of Me." No more powerful motive can be urged upon Bible readers than this: he who finds Jesus finds life, heaven, all things. Happy he who, searching his Bible, discovers his Saviour.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 3
1 LORD, how my adversaries have increased! Many are those who rise up against me.
2 Many there are who say of my soul, "There is no help for him in God." Selah.
3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry to the LORD with my voice, and he answers me out of his holy hill. Selah.
5 I laid myself down and slept. I awakened; for the LORD sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of people who have set themselves against me on every side.
7 Arise, LORD! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the LORD. May your blessing be on your people. Selah.
THE STORY OF A SORROWFUL SOUL
This tearful little psalm tells me where a sorrowful soul found a place of help and consolation. He resorted to God.
"Thou art a shield about me." He got the Lord between him and his circumstances. There is nothing else subtle enough to interpose. Our hurtful circumstances are so invasive and so immediate that only God can come between us and them. But when God gets in between we are immune. "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear."
"Thou art my glory." And that is an honour that need never be stained. My worldly glory can be besmirched. An evil man throws mud, and my poor reputation is gone. "There's always somebody ready to believe it!" But my glory with God, and in God - man's mud cannot touch that fair fame! Even Absalom cannot defile that resplendent robe.
"Thou art the lifter-up of my head." The flower is "looking up" again! In the Lord's presence we recover our lost spirits. "He restoreth my soul." "And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
June 9th.
My Lord, teach me how to bear the cross. May I not choose the easy way, and turn my back upon the needful yoke! Save me
from sluggishness. Keep me alert and daring. May I lose my life for others!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
Zephaniah 3:12
When true religion is ready to die out among the wealthy it finds a home among the poor of this world, rich in faith. The Lord has even now his faithful remnant. Am I one of them?
Perhaps it is because men are afflicted and poor that they learn to trust in the name of the Lord. He that hath no money must try what he can do on trust. He whose own name is good for nothing in his own esteem, acts wisely to rest in another name, even that best of names, the name of Jehovah. God will always have a trusting people, and these will be an afflicted and poor people. Little as the world thinks of them, their being left in the midst of a nation is the channel of untold blessings to it. Here we have the conserving salt which keeps in check the corruption which is in the world through lust.
Again the question comes home to each one of us, Am I one of them? Am I afflicted by the sin within me and around me? Am I poor in spirit, poor spiritually in my own judgment? Do I trust in the Lord? That is the main business. Jesus reveals the name, the character, the person of God; am I trusting in him? If so, I am left in this world for a purpose. Lord help me to fulfil it.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment.
Philippians 1:9, R.V.
Loss of first love to Christ will inevitably issue in loss of love to the brethren, and cannot fail to dry up the rivers of compassion toward the outside world. It is the first love of the saint that is the true light that shines in a dark place.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
God even God hath spoken.
Psalms 50:1
This Psalm is highly dramatic. The first six verses constitute a prologue descriptive of the coming of God to judge His people. Of that prologue this is the introductory sentence, and it is the key to the Psalm. The main movement is that of the record of two speeches of God. The first (verses 7-15) is in condemnation of formalism. The second (verses 16-21) is in condemnation of hypocrisy. All ends with an epilogue (verses 22, 23), emphasizing the teaching of the Psalm. The first sentence has certainly lost something of its force by translation. We are helped if we transliterate rather than translate. Then the sentence reads: "El, Elohim, Jehovah hath spoken.' Thus three names are employed. El stands for the might of God simply and absolutely. Elohim, the plural form, intensifies that idea; and in use always connotes the wisdom of God as well as His might. Jehovah is the title by which He is ever revealed in His grace. This, then, is the God Who speaks, and the things said have ultimate authority, and irresistible appeal, when this is remembered. This is the meaning of the words in the epilogue: "Now consider this, ye that forget God." Let us then lay to heart the things that God says in this Psalm. He condemns the formalities of religion, when men neglect to offer the sacrifices of praise, and cease to pray. He condemns the hypocrisy of those who repeat the words of His law, and violate its teaching in their dealing with their fellow-men. Formalism is a sin against God. Hypocrisy is its outcome, a sin against man, and so still against God.
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.