Daily Bible Notes: March, 31st
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
With His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted every here and there among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration, and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Saviour was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this of the Roman lictors was probably the most severe of His flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep over His poor stricken body.
Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon Him without tears, as He stands before you the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the lily for innocence, and red as the rose with the crimson of His own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed healing which His stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms. "See how the patient Jesus stands, Insulted in His lowest case!
Sinners have bound the Almighty’s hands, And spit in their Creator’s face.
With thorns His temples gor’d and gash’d Send streams of blood from every part; His back’s with knotted scourges lash’d.
But sharper scourges tear His heart."
We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our business calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune with Him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost Him so dear.
Evening
And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
2 Samuel 21:10
If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period, shall we weary of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied? Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone! She bore the heats of summer, the night dews and the rains, unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes: her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Rizpah thus endure, and shall we start at the first little inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the wild beasts, with courage unusual in her sex, and will not we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus’ sake? These her children were slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept and watched: what ought we to do who have by our sins crucified our Lord? Our obligations are boundless, our love should be fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should be our business, to protect His honour our occupation, to abide by His cross our solace. Those ghastly corpses might well have affrighted Rizpah, especially by night, but in our Lord, at whose cross-foot we are sitting, there is nothing revolting, but everything attractive. Never was living beauty so enchanting as a dying Saviour. Jesus, we will watch with Thee yet awhile, and do Thou graciously unveil Thyself to us; then shall we not sit beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Matthew 27:38-50
38 Then there were two robbers crucified with him, one on his right hand and one on the left.
39 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads,
40 and saying, "You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"
41 Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said,
42 "He saved others, but he can't save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.
43 He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' "
44 The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?" That is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
47 Some of them who stood there, when they heard it, said, "This man is calling Elijah."
48 Immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.
49 The rest said, "Let him be. Let's see whether Elijah comes to save him."
50 Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
AT THE CROSS!
Let me listen to the ribald jeers which were flung upon my Lord. And let me listen, not as a judge, but as one who has been in the company of the callous crowd. For I, too, have mocked Him! I have said: "Hail, King!" and I have bowed before Him, but it has been mock and empty homage! I have sung: "Crown Him Lord of all!" but there has been no real recognition of His sovereignty; mine has been a mock coronation. From the seat of the mocker, deliver me, good Lord!
And let me stand near the cross while that awful voice of desolation rends the heavens. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" In that agonizing cry I am led to the real heart of the atonement. My Saviour was standing where His believers will never stand. That was the real death, the death of an inconceivable abandonment. And "He died for me!" He so died in order that I may never taste death. "He that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."
Every believer will go to sleep, and through a short sleep he will wake in the glory of the Eternal Presence. But he will never die: no, never die!
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
March 31st.
My God, help me to know the sin that most easily besets me. May I not be taken off my guard! May my eyes be open! May I see
the tempter even a long way off! May I be ready armed, strong in Thy grace!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep
thy foot from being taken.
Proverbs 3:25, 26
When God is abroad in judgments, he would not have his people alarmed. He has not come forth to harm, but to defend the righteous.
He would have them manifest courage. We who enjoy the presence of God ought to display presence of mind. Since the Lord himself may suddenly come, we ought not to be surprised at anything sudden. Serenity under the rush and roar of unexpected evils is a precious gift of divine love.
The Lord would have his chosen display discrimination, so that they may see that the desolation of the wicked is not a real calamity to the universe. Sin alone is evil; the punishment which follows thereupon is as a preserving salt to keep society from putrefying. We should be far more shocked at the sin which deserves hell, than at the hell which comes out of sin.
So, too, should the Lord's people exhibit great quietness of spirit. Satan and his serpent seed are full of all subtilty; but those who walk with God shall not be taken in their deceitful snares. Go on, believer in Jesus, and let the Lord be thy confidence.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Lovest thou me more than these?
John 21:15
As long as hope is set upon service it is not fixed upon Christ, and He should hold full and absolute possession of our hearts. Our lives may be so occupied with things good in themselves that we do not see the King.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Take ... the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
Ephesians 6:17
The life of the saint, in this world to the end, will be one of conflict; and the conflict will be more keen because it is waged against the dark forces of the underworld, "the spiritual hosts of wickedness." Towards the close of this letter, Paul dealt with this matter, recognizing the inevitability of the conflict, understanding its fierceness, and giving a description of the armour by the use of which the saint is not only to stand, but also to withstand, and having done all, to stand. In this description all the weapons are defensive, save one. The only offensive weapon is "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." The weapon itself is the Word of God. Here the familiar phrase stands in its lonely splendour, and for us connotes all that it truly stands for. It is first the will of God as it is made known to men. It is therefore centrally and supremely the Son of God, in Whom that will has been completely and finally spoken to men. It is therefore the body of the writings through which, and through which alone, we know anything about Him. Notice carefully that the Apostle here claims that this is the sword of the Spirit. It is the one weapon by which He attacks and puts to flight the hosts of wickedness which fight against God and against man. Let us put perfect confidence in it; and, moreover, let us learn to use it with skill. It is the weapon by which we may attack and defeat all the evil forces which are massed against us in our spiritual conflict.
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.