Daily Bible Notes: March, 5th
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
Let us not sleep, as do others.
1 Thessalonians 5:6
There are many ways of promoting Christian wakefulness. Among the rest, let me strongly advise Christians to converse together concerning the ways of the Lord. Christian and Hopeful, as they journeyed towards the Celestial City, said to themselves, "To prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse." Christian enquired, "Brother, where shall we begin?" And Hopeful answered, "Where God began with us." Then Christian sang this song - "When saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither, And hear how these two pilgrims talk together; Yea, let them learn of them, in any wise, Thus to keep open their drowsy slumb’ring eyes.
Saints’ fellowship, if it be managed well, Keeps them awake, and that in spite of hell."
Christians who isolate themselves and walk alone, are very liable to grow drowsy. Hold Christian company, and you will be kept wakeful by it, and refreshed and encouraged to make quicker progress in the road to heaven.
But as you thus take "sweet counsel" with others in the ways of God, take care that the theme of your converse is the Lord Jesus. Let the eye of faith be constantly looking unto Him; let your heart be full of Him; let your lips speak of His worth. Friend, live near to the cross, and thou wilt not sleep. Labour to impress thyself with a deep sense of the value of the place to which thou art going . If thou rememberest that thou art going to heaven, thou wilt not sleep on the road. If thou thinkest that hell is behind thee, and the devil pursuing thee, thou wilt not loiter. Would the manslayer sleep with the avenger of blood behind him, and the city of refuge before him? Christian, wilt thou sleep whilst the pearly gates are open - the songs of angels waiting for thee to join them - a crown of gold ready for thy brow? Ah! no; in holy fellowship continue to watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.
Evening
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Psalm 35:3
What does this sweet prayer teach me? It shall be my evening’s petition; but first let it yield me an instructive meditation. The text informs me first of all that David had his doubts ; for why should he pray, "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation," if he were not sometimes exercised with doubts and fears? Let me, then, be of good cheer, for I am not the only saint who has to complain of weakness of faith. If David doubted, I need not conclude that I am no Christian because I have doubts. The text reminds me that David was not content while he had doubts and fears , but he repaired at once to the mercy-seat to pray for assurance; for he valued it as much fine gold. I too must labour after an abiding sense of my acceptance in the Beloved, and must have no joy when His love is not shed abroad in my soul. When my Bridegroom is gone from me, my soul must and will fast. I learn also that David knew where to obtain full assurance . He went to his God in prayer, crying, "Say unto my soul I am thy salvation." I must be much alone with God if I would have a clear sense of Jesus’ love.
Let my prayers cease, and my eye of faith will grow dim. Much in prayer, much in heaven; slow in prayer, slow in progress. I notice that David would not be satisfied unless his assurance had a divine source . "Say unto my soul." Lord, do Thou say it! Nothing short of a divine testimony in the soul will ever content the true Christian. Moreover, David could not rest unless his assurance had a vivid personality about it. "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." Lord, if Thou shouldst say this to all the saints, it were nothing, unless Thou shouldst say it to me. Lord, I have sinned; I deserve not Thy smile; I scarcely dare to ask it; but oh! say to my soul, even to my soul, "I am thy salvation." Let me have a present, personal, infallible, indisputable sense that I am Thine, and that Thou art mine.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
2 Corinthians 5:1-9
1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
2 For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
3 if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked.
4 For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.
THE TENT AND THE BUILDING
At present we live in a tent - "the earthly house of this tabernacle." And often the tent is very rickety. There are rents through which the rain enters, and it trembles ominously in the great storm. Some tents are frail from the very beginning, half-rotten when they are put up, and they have no defence even against the breeze. But even the strongest tent becomes weather-worn and threadbare, and in the long run it "falls in a heap!" And what then?
We shall exchange the frail tent for the solid house! "If the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." When we are unclothed we shall find ourselves clothed with our house which is from heaven. The glory of this transition can only be confessed by "the saints in light." To awake, and discover that the creaking, breaking cords are left behind, that all the leakages are over, that we are no longer exposed to the cutting wind, that pain is passed, and sickness, and death - this must be a wonder of inconceivable ecstasy!
And "absent from the body" we shall be "present with the Lord."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
March 5th.
Mighty God, I would begin the work of the day with Thee. May my weakness be wedded to Thy power, and whatsoever Thy
will may be, may I have the strength to do it with ease and pure delight!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
He blesseth the habitation of the just.
Proverbs 3:33
He fears the Lord, and therefore he comes under the divine protection even as to the roof which covers himself and his family. His home is an abode of love, a school of holy training, and a place of heavenly light. In it there is a family altar where the name of the Lord is daily had in reverence. Therefore the Lord blesses his habitation. It may be a humble cottage or a lordly mansion; but the Lord's blessing comes because of the character of the inhabitant, and not because of the size of the dwelling.
That house is most blest in which the master and mistress are God-fearing people; but a son or daughter or even a servant may bring a blessing on a whole household. The Lord often preserves, prospers, and provides for a family for the sake of one or two in it, who are "just" persons in his esteem, because his grace has made them so. Beloved, let us have Jesus for our constant guest, even as the sisters of Bethany had, and then we shall be blessed indeed.
Let us look to it that in all things we are just - in our trade, in our judgment of others, in our treatment of neighbours, and in our own personal character. A just God cannot bless unjust transactions.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
In me ... dwelleth no good thing.
Romans 7:18
In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead.
Colossians 2:9
We are to tell men we fail, but the One Who never failed took our place. You cannot get away from the words "vicarious atonement."
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Fret not.
Psalms 37:1
This sharp and definite command is a fitting introduction to the whole Psalm. The problem with which it deals is that of the apparent prosperity of the wicked. It is an ancient and also a modern cause of much disquietness. The ways and works of wickedness do seem to be prosperous, and those who are pursuing the ways of rectitude are often perturbed by this fact. In this Psalm the singer calls upon all such to think again, and to set all the appearances of the hour in the light of the truth about God, and in the light of Time. God is governing, and that in the interest of those who are walking in the ways of righteousness. Those who trust in Him, delight in Him, commit their way to Him, and rest in Him, are always vindicated and delivered. The test is found in Time. All the apparent prosperity of the wicked is transient; it passes and perishes, as do the wicked themselves. The reward of those who know and obey Jehovah is sure and permanent. Retribution and recompense are under the Divine control. There can be no escape from the one, in the case of the wicked; and no failure of the other, in that of the good. Therefore, there is no need to fret - to worry - to be incensed and perturbed when the way of wickedness seems to be the way of prosperity. Presently the singer repeats the charge, and adds the significant statement that such fretting tends to evildoing (verse 8). There is nothing more pernicious than the sense of irritation caused by narrow outlooks upon life. The prevention and the cure of such irritation is ever that of a true knowledge of God, and the consequent cairn and confident appeal to Time. In its march, God and righteousness and the trusting soul are always vindicated.
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.