Daily Bible Notes: March, 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
Why sit we here until we die?
2 Kings 7:3
Dear reader, this little book was mainly intended for the edification of believers, but if you are yet unsaved, our heart yearns over you: and we would fain say a word which may be blessed to you. Open your Bible, and read the story of the lepers, and mark their position, which was much the same as yours. If you remain where you are you must perish; if you go to Jesus you can but die. "Nothing venture, nothing win," is the old proverb, and in your case the venture is no great one. If you sit still in sullen despair, no one can pity you when your ruin comes; but if you die with mercy sought, if such a thing were possible, you would be the object of universal sympathy. None escape who refuse to look to Jesus; but you know that, at any rate, some are saved who believe in Him, for certain of your own acquaintances have received mercy: then why not you? The Ninevites said, "Who can tell?" Act upon the same hope, and try the Lord’s mercy. To perish is so awful, that if there were but a straw to catch at, the instinct of self-preservation should lead you to stretch out your hand. We have thus been talking to you on your own unbelieving ground, we would now assure you, as from the Lord, that if you seek Him He will be found of you. Jesus casts out none who come unto Him. You shall not perish if you trust Him; on the contrary, you shall find treasure far richer than the poor lepers gathered in Syria’s deserted camp. May the Holy Spirit embolden you to go at once, and you shall not believe in vain. When you are saved yourself, publish the good news to others. Hold not your peace; tell the King’s household first, and unite with them in fellowship; let the porter of the city, the minister, be informed of your discovery, and then proclaim the good news in every place. The Lord save thee ere the sun goes down this day.
Evening
Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
Genesis 8:9
Wearied out with her wanderings, the dove returns at length to the ark as her only resting place. How heavily she flies - she will drop - she will never reach the ark! But she struggles on. Noah has been looking out for his dove all day long, and is ready to receive her. She has just strength to reach the edge of the ark, she can hardly alight upon it, and is ready to drop, when Noah puts forth his hand and pulls her in unto him. Mark that: "pulled her in unto him ." She did not fly right in herself, but was too fearful, or too weary to do so. She flew as far as she could, and then he put forth his hand and pulled her in unto him. This act of mercy was shown to the wandering dove, and she was not chidden for her wanderings. Just as she was she was pulled into the ark. So you, seeking sinner, with all your sin, will be received. "Only return" - those are God’s two gracious words -"only return." What! nothing else? No, "only return." She had no olive branch in her mouth this time, nothing at all but just herself and her wanderings; but it is "only return," and she does return, and Noah pulls her in. Fly, thou wanderer; fly thou fainting one, dove as thou art, though thou thinkest thyself to be black as the raven with the mire of sin, back, back to the Saviour. Every moment thou waitest does but increase thy misery; thine attempts to plume thyself and make thyself fit for Jesus are all vanity. Come thou to Him just as thou art. "Return, thou backsliding Israel." He does not say, "Return, thou repenting Israel" (there is such an invitation doubtless), but "thou backsliding one," as a backslider with all thy backslidings about thee, Return, return, return! Jesus is waiting for thee! He will stretch forth His hand and "pull thee in" - in to Himself, thy heart’s true home.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 11:1-16
1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.
2 It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.
3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, "Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick."
4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified by it."
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let's go into Judea again."
8 The disciples asked him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you. Are you going there again?"
9 Jesus answered, "Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn't stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn't in him."
11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, "Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep."
12 The disciples therefore said, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.
14 So Jesus said to them plainly then, "Lazarus is dead.
15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let's go to him."
16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go also, that we may die with him."
SICKNESS AMONG CHRIST'S FRIENDS
And so sickness can enter the circle of the friends of the Lord. "He whom Thou lovest is sick." My sicknesses do not mean that I have lost His favour. The shadow is His, as well as the sunshine. When He removes me from the glare of boisterous health it may be because of some spiritual fern which needs the ministry of the shade. "This sickness is ... for the glory of God." Something beautiful will spring out of the shadowed seclusion, something which shall spread abroad the name and fame of God.
And, therefore, I do not wonder at the Lord's delay. He did not hasten away to the sick friend: "He abode two days still in the same place where He was." Shall I put it like this: the awaking bulbs were not yet ready for the brighter light - just a little more shade! We are impatient to get healthy; the Lord desires that we become holy. Our physical sickness is continued in order that we may put on spiritual strength.
And there are others besides sick Lazarus concerned in the sickness: "I am glad for your sakes I was not there." The disciples were included in the divine scheme. Their spiritual welfare was to be affected by it. Let me ever remember that the circle affected by sickness is always wider than the patient's bed. And may God be glorified in all!
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
March 13th.
Gracious God, mercifully take the rent and sin-stained past into the circle of Thy forgiveness. Wipe out the influence of
its sore defeats. Deliver me from its guilt and give me peace.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send
thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Jeremiah 1:6,7
Jeremiah was young and felt a natural shrinking when sent upon a great errand by the Lord; but he who sent him would not have him say, "I am a child." What he was in himself must not be mentioned, but lost in the consideration that he was chosen to speak for God. He had not to think out and invent a message, nor to choose an audience: he was to speak what God commanded, and speak where God sent him, and this he would be enabled to do in strength not his own.
Is it not so with some young preacher, or teacher who may read these lines? God knows how young you are, and how slender are your knowledge and experience; but if he chooses to send you, it is not for you to shrink from the heavenly call, God will magnify himself in your feebleness. If you were as old as Methuselah, how much would your years help you? If you were as wise as Solomon, you might be equally as wilful as he. Keep you to your message and it will be your wisdom; follow your marching orders and they will be your discretion.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Colossians 1:9
You only discover the will of God as you obey it the moment you do discover it.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The earth beareth fruit of herself.
Mark 4:28
The statement shows the reign of man's responsibility and impotence. In the matter of harvest man has things he can do, and those he cannot do. He can sow. He can reap. These are necessary. Apart from sowing there is no harvest. Apart from reaping the harvest is wasted. Beyond these his place is that of weakness and of waiting. His waiting is not that of restlessness. He goes quietly on with his life, sleeping and rising. His confidence rests upon two things: first, his having done his appointed task; and secondly, the certainty that work is being done which is outside the realm of his power, for "the earth beareth fruit of herself." The statement does not exclude God. The earth is full of His glory. All the wonderful processes of death into life which go forward without fail within the embrace of the soil are operations of the power of God. While they are active, man must wait. And Jesus said: "So is the Kingdom of God." This clearly defines the realm of our responsibility. We must sow. We must reap. There our operations cease. The mightiest work is Divine. The soil in which we sow is the realm in which God alone can work. But it is for us to know that He is working there, even through the long wintry days when the results of our toil are not yet visible. Happy indeed are we if we learn to work in our appointed places, and then to wait in the double assurance of our limitation and of His power.
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.