Daily Bible Notes: March, 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
My grace is sufficient for thee.
2 Corinthians 12:9
If none of God’s saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has not where to lay his head, who yet can say, "Still will I trust in the Lord," or when we see the pauper starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh! what honour it reflects on the gospel. God’s grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers.
Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring - that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as He is pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: it is a calm night - I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So with the Spirit’s work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was. The master-works of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties, stedfast, unmoveable, - "Calm mid the bewildering cry, Confident of victory."
He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for His failing you, never dream of it - hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.
Evening
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.
Psalm 36:8
Sheba’s queen was amazed at the sumptuousness of Solomon’s table. She lost all heart when she saw the provision of a single day; and she marvelled equally at the company of servants who were feasted at the royal board.
But what is this to the hospitalities of the God of grace? Ten thousand thousand of his people are daily fed; hungry and thirsty, they bring large appetites with them to the banquet, but not one of them returns unsatisfied; there is enough for each, enough for all, enough for evermore.
Though the host that feed at Jehovah’s table is countless as the stars of heaven, yet each one has his portion of meat. Think how much grace one saint requires, so much that nothing but the Infinite could supply him for one day; and yet the Lord spreads His table, not for one, but many saints, not for one day, but for many years; not for many years only, but for generation after generation. Observe the full feasting spoken of in the text, the guests at mercy’s banquet are satisfied, nay, more "abundantly satisfied;" and that not with ordinary fare, but with fatness, the peculiar fatness of God’s own house; and such feasting is guaranteed by a faithful promise to all those children of men who put their trust under the shadow of Jehovah’s wings. I once thought if I might but get the broken meat at God’s back door of grace I should be satisfied; like the woman who said, "The dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master’s table;" but no child of God is ever served with scraps and leavings; like Mephibosheth, they all eat from the king’s own table. In matters of grace, we all have Benjamin’s mess - we all have ten times more than we could have expected, and though our necessities are great, yet are we often amazed at the marvellous plenty of grace which God gives us experimentally to enjoy.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 14:15-31
15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, that he may be with you forever:
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world can't receive; for it doesn't see him and doesn't know him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him."
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?"
23 Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
24 He who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words. The word which you hear isn't mine, but the Father's who sent me.
25 I have said these things to you while still living with you.
26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.
27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
28 You heard how I told you, 'I go away, and I come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said 'I am going to my Father;' for the Father is greater than I.
29 Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.
30 I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let's go from here.
THE GREAT COMPANION
And so even the road is to have the home-feeling in it. "I will not leave you orphans." Yes; there is to be something of home even in the way to it. I find something of Devonshire even in Dorsetshire; Shropshire gives me a taste of Wales. My Lord will not leave me comfortless. Heaven runs over, and I find its bounty before I arrive at its gate. The "Valley of Baca" becomes "a well."
And there are to be wonderful visions to speed the pilgrim's feet. "I will manifest Myself unto him." At unexpected corners the glory will break! We shall be assuming that we have picked up a common traveller, and suddenly we shall discover it is the Lord, for He will be made known to us "in the breaking of bread." And at many "risings" of the road, where the climbing is stiff and burdensome, we shall be inspired with many a glorious view, and we shall see "the land that is very far off."
The one condition is, that I keep His word. If I am obedient, He will appear unto me, and the humdrum road will shine with miracles of grace.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
March 4th.
Gracious Father, give me the spirit of meekness. Save me from all harshness, intolerance, and pride. May I delight to use my strength
in carrying my neighbour's cross!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Them that honour me I will honour.
1 Samuel 2:30
Do I make the honour of God the great object of my life and the rule of my conduct? If so, he will honour me. I may for a while receive no honour from man, but God will himself put honour upon me in the most effectual manner. In the end it will be found the surest way to honour to be willing to be put to shame for conscience sake.
Eli had not honoured the Lord by ruling his household well, and his sons had not honoured the Lord by behaviour worthy of their sacred office, and therefore the Lord did not honour them, but took the high-priesthood out of their family, and made young Samuel to be ruler in the land instead of any of their line. If I would have my family ennobled, I must honour the Lord in all things. God may allow the wicked to win worldly honours; but the dignity which he himself gives, even glory, honour, and immortality, he reserves for those who by holy obedience take care to honour him.
What can I do this day to honour the Lord? I will promote his glory by my spoken testimony, and by my practical obedience. I will also honour him with my substance, and by offering to him some special service. Let me sit down and think how I can honour him, since he will honour me.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 6:14
O wondrous Cross! Therein sin rejected the King and grace crowned Him. Therein sin destroyed the Priest, and grace, through the Priest, made atonement. Therein sin silenced the voice of the Prophet, and grace caught up the message and repeated it to all the race, for a new law of life and love.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
O continue Thy lovingkindness unto them that knew Thee.
Psalms 36:10
Thus opens the prayer with which the Psalm closes, and it is the natural and restful conclusion to the contrast preceding it. That is a contrast between the man who lives without the fear of God, and the God in Whom the righteous man is trusting. The description of the evil man is graphic. He has by some means persuaded himself that God does not interfere with men. Consequently he has no fear of God, enthrones himself at the centre of his own being, and goes in the way of wickedness in thought and in action. The contrast is not between that man and the man who fears God, but rather, as we have said, between that manner of life and the conception of God which inspires the contrary way of life. God is set forth in His lovingkindness, in His righteousness, in His faithfulness, in all His goodness to men. The prayer is for the continued manifestation of that lovingkindness to those who know this God. Thus the contrast becomes personal. On the one hand are the men who have no fear of God. On the other are those who know Him. The difference is radical, and all the life is affected. To lose the fear of God is to go in every way of wickedness, and ultimately to inevitable destruction (see last verse). To know God is to worship Him, and in His ways to find refuge, satisfaction, life, and light. In the ultimate words of Jesus: "This is life eternal, that they should know Thee 'the only true God, and Him Whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ."
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.