Daily Bible Notes: June, 21st
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
Thou art fairer than the children of men.
Psalm 45:2
The entire person of Jesus is but as one gem, and His life is all along but one impression of the seal. He is altogether complete; not only in His several parts, but as a gracious all-glorious whole. His character is not a mass of fair colours mixed confusedly, nor a heap of precious stones laid carelessly one upon another; He is a picture of beauty and a breastplate of glory. In Him, all the "things of good repute" are in their proper places, and assist in adorning each other. Not one feature in His glorious person attracts attention at the expense of others; but He is perfectly and altogether lovely.
Oh, Jesus! Thy power, Thy grace, Thy justice, Thy tenderness, Thy truth, Thy majesty, and Thine immutability make up such a man, or rather such a God-man, as neither heaven nor earth hath seen elsewhere. Thy infancy, Thy eternity, Thy sufferings, Thy triumphs, Thy death, and Thine immortality, are all woven in one gorgeous tapestry, without seam or rent. Thou art music without discord; Thou art many, and yet not divided; Thou art all things, and yet not diverse. As all the colours blend into one resplendent rainbow, so all the glories of heaven and earth meet in Thee, and unite so wondrously, that there is none like Thee in all things; nay, if all the virtues of the most excellent were bound in one bundle, they could not rival Thee, Thou mirror of all perfection. Thou hast been anointed with the holy oil of myrrh and cassia, which Thy God hath reserved for Thee alone; and as for Thy fragrance, it is as the holy perfume, the like of which none other can ever mingle, even with the art of the apothecary; each spice is fragrant, but the compound is divine. "Oh, sacred symmetry! oh, rare connection Of many perfects, to make one perfection!
Oh, heavenly music, where all parts do meet In one sweet strain, to make one perfect sweet!"
Evening
The foundation of God standeth sure.
2 Timothy 2:19
The foundation upon which our faith rests is this, that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." The great fact on which genuine faith relies is, that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," and that "Christ also hath suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God"; "Who Himself bare our sins in His own body on the tree"; "For the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." In one word, the great pillar of the Christian’s hope is substitution . The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the guilty, Christ being made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, Christ offering up a true and proper expiatory and substitutionary sacrifice in the room, place, and stead of as many as the Father gave Him, who are known to God by name, and are recognized in their own hearts by their trusting in Jesus - this is the cardinal fact of the gospel. If this foundation were removed, what could we do? But it standeth firm as the throne of God. We know it; we rest on it; we rejoice in it; and our delight is to hold it, to meditate upon it, and to proclaim it, while we desire to be actuated and moved by gratitude for it in every part of our life and conversation. In these days a direct attack is made upon the doctrine of the atonement. Men cannot bear substitution.
They gnash their teeth at the thought of the Lamb of God bearing the sin of man. But we, who know by experience the preciousness of this truth, will proclaim it in defiance of them confidently and unceasingly. We will neither dilute it nor change it, nor fritter it away in any shape or fashion. It shall still be Christ, a positive substitute , bearing human guilt and suffering in the stead of men. We cannot, dare not, give it up, for it is our life, and despite every controversy we feel that "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Matthew 21:1-16
1 When they came near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, "Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and immediately he will send them."
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
6 The disciples went, and did just as Jesus commanded them,
7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them.
8 A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road.
9 The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
10 When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"
11 The multitudes said, "This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
12 Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers' tables and the seats of those who sold the doves.
13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers!"
14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the son of David!" they were indignant,
16 and said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" Jesus said to them, "Yes. Did you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?' "
ROOM FOR THE SAPLINGS
"Children crying in the temple, saying Hosanna!"
Children's voices mingling in the sounds of holy praise! A little child can share in the consecrated life. Young hearts can offer love pure as a limpid spring. Their sympathy is as responsive as the most sensitive harp, and yields to the touch of the tenderest joy and grief. No wonder the Lord "called little children unto Him"! They were unto Him as gracious streams, and as flowers of the field.
Let the loving Saviour have our children. Let there be no waiting for maturer years. Maturity may bring the impaired faculty and the embittered emotion. Let Him have things in their beginnings, the seeds and the saplings. Let Him have life before it is formed, before it is "set" in foolish moulds. Let us consecrate the cradle, and the good Lord will grow and nourish His saints.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
June 21st.
Holy God, may I glorify Thee to-day! I May I do my work as though I were engaged in worship! May I be looking for the
Son of Man! If He should find me at my common toil, may I be well-pleasing to Him! May He see my devotion in the ordinary day!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.
Judges 4:9
Rather an unusual text, but there may be souls in the world that may have faith enough to grasp it. Barak, the man, though called to the war, had little stomach for the fight unless Deborah would go with him, and so the Lord determined to make it a woman's war. By this means he rebuked the slackness of the man, and gained for himself the more renown, and cast the more shame upon the enemies of his people.
The Lord can still use feeble instrumentalities. Why not me? He may use persons who are not commonly called to great public engagements. Why not you? The woman who slew the enemy of Israel was no Amazon, but a wife who tarried in her tent. She was no orator, but a woman who milked the cows and made butter. May not the Lord use any one of us to accomplish his purpose? Somebody may come to the house to-day, even as Sisera came to Jael's tent. Be it ours, not to slay him, but to save him. Let us receive him with great kindness, and then bring forth the blessed truth of salvation by the Lord Jesus, our great Substitute, and press home the command, "Believe and live." Who knoweth but some stout-hearted sinner may be slain by the gospel to-day?
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
Luke 9:56
It is the great work of Christ to heal the wounds, to make dissensions cease, and to bring the world around Himself into a sacred brotherhood, in the Fatherhood of God.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
My soul waiteth only upon God.
Psalms 62:2
The emphatic word is only. Note its repetition: "He only is my Rock" (verse 2); "for God only" (verse 5); "He only is my Rock" (verse 6). Whatever the occasion of its writing, its editorial placing after the one recording the prayer, "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I," is very significant. That was a cry resulting from a consciousness of the insufficiency of self, and a confidence in the sufficiency of God as the Rock of refuge. In this the burden is, that the soul finds what it needs in none other than God, and it seems to follow the figure of the Rock in interpretation of the sufficiency which is found in Him. Glance through the Psalm, and the values of God as Rock will be seen radiantly set forth. "My Rock ... my salvation ... my high tower" (verse 2); these same words are repeated (verse 6); "The Rock ... my strength ... my refuge" (verse 7). In view of this, the singer calls upon his soul to be silent only for God, and at last declares the double truth he has learned concerning God. The words, "God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this," might fittingly be rendered, "God hath spoken one thing; two things have I heard." These two things are immediately stated: "That power belongeth unto God; also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth lovingkindness." These are the two things concerning God which had been revealed to his waiting soul, those, namely, of His power and His loving-kindness. Because of these the trusting soul is safe, both with regard to opposing foes and to weakness and failure personally. The power of God is more than the strength of the adversaries; the mercy of God is equal to dealing with all the need of the failing soul. Because God only is our Rock, let us ever be silent only for 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.