Daily Bible Notes: June, 13th
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
Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Revelation 22:17
Jesus says, "take freely." He wants no payment or preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous emotions. If you have no good feelings, if you be but willing, you are invited; therefore come! You have no belief and no repentance, - come to Him, and He will give them to you. Come just as you are, and take "Freely," without money and without price. He gives Himself to needy ones. The drinking fountains at the corners of our streets are valuable institutions; and we can hardly imagine any one so foolish as to feel for his purse, when he stands before one of them, and to cry, "I cannot drink because I have not five pounds in my pocket." However poor the man is, there is the fountain, and just as he is he may drink of it. Thirsty passengers, as they go by, whether they are dressed in fustian or in broadcloth, do not look for any warrant for drinking; its being there is their warrant for taking its water freely. The liberality of some good friends has put the refreshing crystal there and we take it, and ask no questions. Perhaps the only persons who need go thirsty through the street where there is a drinking fountain, are the fine ladies and gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty, but cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain: so they ride by with parched lips. Oh, how many there are who are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to Christ! "I will not be saved," they say, "in the same way as the harlot or the swearer." What! go to heaven in the same way as a chimney sweep. Is there no pathway to glory but the path which led the thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud boasters must remain without the living water; but, "WHOSOEVER WILL, LET HIM TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY ."
Evening
Remove far from me vanity and lies.
Proverbs 30:8
"O my God, be not far from me." Psalm 38:21.
Here we have two great lessons - what to deprecate and what to supplicate. The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness nearest to Christ. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes are fixed on vanity - he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness elsewhere, but he cannot. I do not blame ungodly men for rushing to their pleasures. Why should I? Let them have their fill. That is all they have to enjoy. A converted wife who despaired of her husband was always very kind to him, for she said, "I fear that this is the only world in which he will be happy, and therefore I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can in it." Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere than the insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the world.
Vain pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls. We have heard of a philosopher who, while he looked up to the stars, fell into a pit; but how deeply do they fall who look down . Their fall is fatal. No Christian is safe when his soul is slothful, and his God is far from him. Every Christian is always safe as to the great matter of his standing in Christ, but he is not safe as regards his experience in holiness, and communion with Jesus in this life. Satan does not often attack a Christian who is living near to God.
It is when the Christian departs from his God, becomes spiritually starved, and endeavours to feed on vanities, that the devil discovers his vantage hour. He may sometimes stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his Master’s service, but the battle is generally short: he who slips as he goes down into the Valley of Humiliation, every time he takes a false step invites Apollyon to assail him. O for grace to walk humbly with our God!
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Psalms 97
1 The LORD reigns! Let the earth rejoice! Let the multitude of islands be glad!
2 Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 A fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries on every side.
4 His lightning lights up the world. The earth sees, and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness. All the peoples have seen his glory.
7 Let all them be shamed who serve engraved images, who boast in their idols. Worship him, all you gods!
8 Zion heard and was glad. The daughters of Judah rejoiced because of your judgements, LORD.
9 For you, LORD, are most high above all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods.
10 You who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Be glad in the LORD, you righteous people! Give thanks to his holy Name.
CLOUDED BUT NOT LOST!
"Clouds and darkness are round about Him."
When Lincoln had been assassinated, and word of the tragedy came to New York, "the people were in a state of mind which urges to violence." A man appeared on the balcony of one of the newspaper offices, waving a small flag, and a clear voice rang through the air: "Fellow-citizens! Clouds and darkness are round about Him! His pavilion is dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies! Justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne! Fellow-citizens, God reigns!" It was the voice of General Garfield.
That voice proclaimed the divine sovereignty, even when the heavens were black with the menace of destruction. Lincoln had been assassinated, but God lived! Human confusion does not annihilate His throne. God liveth! "The firm foundation standeth sure." This is the only rock to stand upon when the clouds have gathered, and the waters are out, and the great deeps are broken up. God's sceptre does not fall from His grasp, nor is snatched by alien hands. The throne abideth. Joy will rise from the apparent chaos as springs are unsealed by the earthquake. He will bring fortune out of misfortune; the darkness shall be the hiding-place of His grace.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
June 13th.
My Saviour, may I be conformed to Thy death, that I may know the power of Thy resurrection! May I be lifted out of my
dead self, and rise into newness of life! May this day be to me an Easter day!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
Isaiah 27:3
When the Lord himself speaks in his own proper person rather than through a prophet, the word has a peculiar weight to believing minds. It is Jehovah himself who is the keeper of his own vineyard; he does not trust it to any other, but he makes it his own personal care. Are they not well kept whom God himself keeps?
We are to receive gracious watering, not only every day and every hour, "but every moment." How we ought to grow! How fresh and fruitful every plant should be! What rich clusters the vines should bear!
But disturbers come; little foxes and the boar. Therefore, the Lord himself is our guardian, and that at all hours, both "night and day." What, then, can harm us? Why are we afraid? He tends, he waters, he guards; what more do we need?
Twice in this verse the Lord says, "I will." What truth, what power, what love, what immutability we find in the great "I will" of Jehovah! Who can resist his will? If he says "I will," what room is there for doubt? With an "I will" of God we can face all the hosts of sin, death, and hell. O Lord, since thou sayest, "I will keep thee," I reply, "I will praise thee!"
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I am God ... declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.
Isaiah 46:9,10
We are in danger of living too much in the present, and of looking upon Divine activities as if they were haphazard or accidental, as our own always are, save as we are under control of the Spirit of God.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The Lord is of them that uphold my soul.
Psalms 54:4
The title of this Psalm relates it to the days when David was being persecuted by Saul, and the Ziphites basely betrayed him by discovering his hiding place to his enemy. It is a real song of faith in that it first appeals for the help of God; and then confidently affirms that such help will be forthcoming. The words which we have chosen for emphasis are arresting. Expositors seem anxious to modify them. One says, for instance, that this does not mean that God was "as one upholder among many, but Chief Mover and Upholder of them all"; and another suggests that we render: "The Lord is the Upholder of my soul." Now both these things are true, but there is no need to try and escape the plain meaning of the statement, which is accurately conveyed by this translation, and perhaps even more force-fully rendered by Rotherham thus: "My Sovereign Lord is among the upholders of my soul." The title used of God was Adonai, with the distinct meaning thus expressed by Rotherham - "my Sovereign Lord." The statement recognizes the help of human friends, but accounts for it by the presence among them of God, Who as Sovereign Lord guides and commands them. A reference to the story itself (1 Sam. 23) tells how Jonathan went to David "in the wood and strengthened his hand in God," even before the treachery of the Ziphites. Here, perhaps, is the secret of this song of faith. Through Jonathan, David was strengthened in God. In his song he recognized the overruling of God in the action of his friend. It was a true recognition. God acts through our friends.
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.