Daily Bible Notes: March, 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
Ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone.
John 16:32
Few had fellowship with the sorrows of Gethsemane. The majority of the disciples were not sufficiently advanced in grace to be admitted to behold the mysteries of "the agony." Occupied with the passover feast at their own houses, they represent the many who live upon the letter, but are mere babes as to the spirit of the gospel. To twelve, nay, to eleven only was the privilege given to enter Gethsemane and see "this great sight." Out of the eleven, eight were left at a distance; they had fellowship, but not of that intimate sort to which men greatly beloved are admitted. Only three highly favoured ones could approach the veil of our Lord’s mysterious sorrow: within that veil even these must not intrude; a stone’s-cast distance must be left between. He must tread the wine-press alone , and of the people there must be none with Him. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, represent the few eminent, experienced saints, who may be written down as "Fathers;" these having done business on great waters, can in some degree measure the huge Atlantic waves of their Redeemer’s passion. To some selected spirits it is given, for the good of others, and to strengthen them for future, special, and tremendous conflict, to enter the inner circle and hear the pleadings of the suffering High Priest; they have fellowship with Him in his sufferings, and are made conformable unto His death. Yet even these cannot penetrate the secret places of the Saviour’s woe. "Thine unknown sufferings" is the remarkable expression of the Greek liturgy: there was an inner chamber in our Master’s grief, shut out from human knowledge and fellowship. There Jesus is "left alone ." Here Jesus was more than ever an "Unspeakable gift!" Is not Watts right when he sings - "And all the unknown joys he gives, Were bought with agonies unknown."
Evening
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Job 38:31
If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy we cannot restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns aloft, and the year is bound in winter’s fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine appointment, neither can the whole race of men effect a change therein. Lord, what is man?
In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man’s power is limited on all hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad His delights in the soul, none can disturb; all the cunning and malice of men are ineffectual to stay the genial quickening power of the Comforter. When He deigns to visit a church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour. God wills it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty, or in justice, bind up a man so that he is in soul bondage, who can give him liberty? He alone can remove the winter of spiritual death from an individual or a people. He looses the bands of Orion, and none but He. What a blessing it is that He can do it. O that He would perform the wonder to-night. Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin. I cannot with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and dulness, but all things are possible with Thee. I need celestial influences, the clear shinings of Thy love, the beams of Thy grace, the light of Thy countenance, these are the Pleiades to me. I suffer much from sin and temptation, these are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work wonders in me, and for me. Amen.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Isaiah 52:1-12
1 Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
2 Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem! Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!
3 For the LORD says, "You were sold for nothing; and you will be redeemed without money."
4 For the Lord GOD says: "My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
5 "Now therefore, what do I do here," says the LORD, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock," says the LORD, "and my name is blasphemed continually all day long.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks. Behold, it is I."
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
8 Your watchmen lift up their voice. Together they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the LORD returns to Zion.
9 Break out into joy! Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Go out from amongst her! Cleanse yourselves, you who carry the LORD's vessels.
12 For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
IN THE GOLDEN CITY
And so these are the glories of the golden city. There is wakefulness. "Awake! awake!" In the golden city none will be asleep. Everybody will be bright-eyed, clear-minded, looking upon all beautiful things with fresh and ready receptiveness. "The eyes of them that see shall not be dim."
There is strength. "Put on thy strength!" There will be no broken wills in the golden city, and no broken hearts. No one will walk with a limp! Everybody will go with a brave stride as to the strains of a band. And no one will tire of living, and the inhabitant never says, "I am sick."
And there is beauty. "Put on thy beautiful garments." Bare strength might not be attractive. But strength clothed in beauty is a very gracious thing. The tender mosses on the granite make it winsome. Strength is companionable when it is united with grace. In the golden city there will be tender sentiment as well as rigid conviction.
And these glories will be our defence. A positive virtue is our best rampart against vice. A robust health is the best protection against the epidemic. "The prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
March 21st.
My Father, let the light of Thy countenance shine upon me to-day. May it burn out of me all that is mean and unworthy, and woo
into strength all that is gracious and true!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumbled.
Proverbs 3:23
That is to say, if we follow the ways of wisdom and holiness we shall be preserved in them. He who travels by daylight along the highway is under the king's protection. There is a way for every man, namely, his own proper calling in life, and if we devoutly walk therein in the fear of God he will preserve us from evil. We may not travel luxuriously, but we shall walk safely. We may not be able to run like young men, but we shall be able to walk like good men.
Our greatest danger lies in ourselves: our feeble foot is so sadly apt to stumble. Let us ask for more moral strength that our tendency to slip may be overcome. Some stumble because they do not see the stone in the way: divine grace enables us to perceive sin, and so to avoid it. Let us plead this promise, and trust in him who upholds his chosen.
Alas! our worst peril is our own carelessness, but against this the Lord Jesus has put us on our guard, saying, "Watch and pray."
Oh for grace to walk this day without a single stumble! It is not enough that we do not actually fall; our cry should be that we may not make the smallest slip with our feet, but may at the last adore him "who is able to keep us from stumbling."
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it; because it shall be revealed by fire.
1 Corinthians 3:13
There is a tree planted by the river. The running stream waters its roots, and the summer sunshine falling upon it makes it spring to green and beauty; and here is a field of stubble; and the same sun that touches the tree by the river to beauty, burns the stubble with its scorching rays.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Have ye not read even this scripture?
Mark 12:10
A reference to the previous chapter (verse 27) will show that our Lord addressed these words to "the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders." That is to say, they were spoken to the religious, moral, and civil rulers - that is, to men who were certainly familiar with the Sacred Scriptures. It is impossible to suppose they had not read the words He quoted, many, many times. That it was a familiar passage is suggested by our Lord's use of the word "even" in His asking of the question. And yet, according to His meaning, they had not read this Scripture. Here, then, emerges a matter of supreme importance concerning the reading of Scripture, and that more especially in the case of such as are devoted to the work of teaching and interpretation. A Scripture is not read rightly when its words are known. Nor is it read until God's meaning is discovered. These men were face to face with the events in which the great principle declared in these words was being carried out; and they were blind to the events in their real significance, because they had never truly read the words with unprejudiced minds, and so under the illumination of the Spirit of God. We are constantly in peril of the same superficial and harmful reading of the Sacred Writings. Therefore we should never come to them without a due sense of our own weakness, and in complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
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.