Daily Bible Notes: March, 2nd
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
But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his ax, and his mattock.
1 Samuel 13:20
We are engaged in a great war with the Philistines of evil. Every weapon within our reach must be used . Preaching, teaching, praying, giving, all must be brought into action, and talents which have been thought too mean for service, must now be employed. Coulter, and axe, and mattock, may all be useful in slaying Philistines; rough tools may deal hard blows, and killing need not be elegantly done, so long as it is done effectually. Each moment of time, in season or out of season; each fragment of ability, educated or untutored; each opportunity, favourable or unfavourable, must be used, for our foes are many and our force but slender. Most of our tools want sharpening ; we need quickness of perception, tact, energy, promptness, in a word, complete adaptation for the Lord’s work.
Practical common sense is a very scarce thing among the conductors of Christian enterprises. We might learn from our enemies if we would, and so make the Philistines sharpen our weapons . This morning let us note enough to sharpen our zeal during this day by the aid of the Holy Spirit.
See the energy of the Papists, how they compass sea and land to make one proselyte, are they to monopolize all the earnestness? Mark the heathen devotees, what tortures they endure in the service of their idols! are they alone to exhibit patience and self-sacrifice? Observe the prince of darkness, how persevering in his endeavours, how unabashed in his attempts, how daring in his plans, how thoughtful in his plots, how energetic in all! The devils are united as one man in their infamous rebellion, while we believers in Jesus are divided in our service of God, and scarcely ever work with unanimity. O that from Satan’s infernal industry we may learn to go about like good Samaritans, seeking whom we may bless!
Evening
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Ephesians 3:8
The apostle Paul felt it a great privilege to be allowed to preach the gospel.
He did not look upon his calling as a drudgery, but he entered upon it with intense delight. Yet while Paul was thus thankful for his office, his success in it greatly humbled him. The fuller a vessel becomes, the deeper it sinks in the water. Idlers may indulge a fond conceit of their abilities, because they are untried; but the earnest worker soon learns his own weakness. If you seek humility, try hard work ; if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for Jesus. If you would feel how utterly powerless you are apart from the living God, attempt especially the great work of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, and you will know, as you never knew before, what a weak unworthy thing you are. Although the apostle thus knew and confessed his weakness, he was never perplexed as to the subject of his ministry. From his first sermon to his last, Paul preached Christ, and nothing but Christ. He lifted up the cross, and extolled the Son of God who bled thereon. Follow his example in all your personal efforts to spread the glad tidings of salvation, and let "Christ and Him crucified" be your ever recurring theme. The Christian should be like those lovely spring flowers which, when the sun is shining, open their golden cups, as if saying, "Fill us with thy beams!" but when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, they close their cups and droop their heads. So should the Christian feel the sweet influence of Jesus; Jesus must be his sun, and he must be the flower which yields itself to the Sun of Righteousness. Oh! to speak of Christ alone, this is the subject which is both "seed for the sower, and bread for the eater." This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the master-key to the heart of the hearer.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 10:11-18
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.
13 The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn't care for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I'm known by my own;
15 even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
17 Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father."
THE POWER OF THE CROSS
"I lay down my life." In that supreme sacrifice all other sacrifices turn pale. In the power of that sacrifice the blackest guilt finds forgiveness. Its energies seek out the ruined and desolate life with glorious offer of renewal. When the Lord laid down His life the entire race found a new beginning. Our hope is born at the Cross. It is there that "the burden of our sin rolls away." In His night we find daybreak. When He said, "It is finished," our soul could sing, "Life is begun."
And so pilgrims gather at the Cross. Songs are heard there, the "sweetest ever sung by mortal tongues." And the power of the Cross never wanes. Its glorious grace reaches the soul to-day as in the earliest days. It inspires the despairing heart. It transforms the mind. It remakes the tissues of the will. There is no shattered power that the power of the Cross cannot restore. "We are complete in Him."
- "In the Cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
March 2nd.
Holy God, I would present my body to Thee. May I regard it as the temple of the Holy Ghost! Help me to revere the laws of health
as the very thoughts and commands of God.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may he in secret and thy Father which seeth in
secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:3, 4
No promise is made to those who give to the poor to be seen of men. They have their reward at once, and cannot expect to be paid twice.
Let us hide away our charity; - yes, hide it even from ourselves. Give so often and so much as a matter of course, that you no more take note that you have helped the poor than that you have eaten your regular meals. Do your alms without even whispering to yourself, "How generous I am!" Do not thus attempt to reward yourself. Leave the matter with God, who never fails to see, to record, and to reward. Blessed is the man who is busy in secret with his kindness: he finds a special joy in his unknown benevolences. This is the bread, which eaten by stealth, is sweeter than the banquets of kings. How can I indulge myself to-day with this delightful luxury? Let me have a real feast of tenderness and flow of soul.
Here and hereafter the Lord, himself, will personally see to the rewarding of the secret giver of alms. This will be in his own way and time; and he will choose the very best. How much this promise means it will need eternity to reveal.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
We challenge the world today, and we say that Jesus of the New Testament, the Jesus of virgin birth, of virtuous life, of vicarious dying, and of victorious resurrection, stands amid this age, with all its fierce light, its boasted civilization, and its new psychology, facile princeps, the crowned Lord, because of the supernal glory of His own character.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
I will bless the Lord at all times.
Psalms 34:1
It is impossible to escape from the feeling of surprise when this Psalm is studied, if first the title has been read. The title is as follows: "A Psalm of David; when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed." The record of that event is found in 1 Sam. 21. There does seem to be incongruity between David feigning madness to save his life, and this exalted outpouring of praise to God as the Great Deliverer. As a result of this apparent incongruity, most modern commentators dismiss the title as spurious. But is that action warranted? Is it not rather a perfect revelation of the state of soul into which a man would be brought, when he found himself delivered, not only from the foes he feared, but also from his fears (see verse 4), and so from the necessity for the supremely unworthy expedient to which he had resorted in the case referred to? After David left the court of Achish, he went to Adullam. For a time he was there alone, at least until his brethren and his father's house went down to him. It is easy to understand how, in the quietness and solemnity of that cave of refuge, he recovered, and that with new power, his sense of the Divine care and wisdom and might and sufficiency. So he sang, and his song commenced: "I will bless Jehovah at all times." In itself it was a resolve to remember and rejoice in his God continually. Such remembrance and such rejoicing must ever make impossible the necessity for the resort to the methods of unworthiness. So the song is not only a glorious expression of praise, which is available to us. It is that, but it is also a corrective, reminding us ever that our gladness in our God should save us from the expedients which are unworthy of Him, and so of those who are His.
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.