Daily Bible Notes: May, 8th
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
She that was healed wist not who it was.
John 5:13
Years are short to the happy and healthy; but thirty-eight years of disease must have dragged a very weary length along the life of the poor impotent man. When Jesus, therefore, healed him by a word, while he lay at the pool of Bethesda, he was delightfully sensible of a change . Even so the sinner who has for weeks and months been paralyzed with despair, and has wearily sighed for salvation, is very conscious of the change when the Lord Jesus speaks the word of power, and gives joy and peace in believing. The evil removed is too great to be removed without our discerning it; the life imparted is too remarkable to be possessed and remain inoperative; and the change wrought is too marvellous not to be perceived. Yet the poor man was ignorant of the author of his cure; he knew not the sacredness of His person, the offices which he sustained, or the errand which brought Him among men. Much ignorance of Jesus may remain in hearts which yet feel the power of His blood. We must not hastily condemn men for lack of knowledge; but where we can see the faith which saves the soul, we must believe that salvation has been bestowed. The Holy Spirit makes men penitents long before He makes them divines; and he who believes what he knows, shall soon know more clearly what he believes. Ignorance is, however, an evil; for this poor man was much tantalized by the Pharisees , and was quite unable to cope with them. It is good to be able to answer gainsayers; but we cannot do so if we know not the Lord Jesus clearly and with understanding. The cure of his ignorance, however, soon followed the cure of his infirmity, for he was visited by the Lord in the temple; and after that gracious manifestation, he was found testifying that "it was Jesus who had made him whole." Lord, if Thou hast saved me, show me Thyself, that I may declare Thee to the sons of men.
Evening
Acquaint now thyself with Him.
Job 22:21
If we would rightly "acquaint ourselves with God, and be at peace," we must know Him as He has revealed Himself, not only in the unity of His essence and subsistence , but also in the plurality of His persons . God said, "Let us make man in our own image" - let not man be content until he knows something of the "us" from whom his being was derived.
Endeavour to know the Father; bury your head in His bosom in deep repentance, and confess that you are not worthy to be called His son; receive the kiss of His love; let the ring which is the token of His eternal faithfulness be on your finger; sit at His table and let your heart make merry in His grace. Then press forward and seek to know much of the Son of God who is the brightness of His Father’s glory, and yet in unspeakable condescension of grace became man for our sakes; know Him in the singular complexity of His nature: eternal God, and yet suffering, finite man; follow Him as He walks the waters with the tread of deity, and as He sits upon the well in the weariness of humanity. Be not satisfied unless you know much of Jesus Christ as your Friend, your Brother, your Husband, your all. Forget not the Holy Spirit ; endeavour to obtain a clear view of His nature and character, His attributes, and His works. Behold that Spirit of the Lord, who first of all moved upon chaos, and brought forth order; who now visits the chaos of your soul, and creates the order of holiness. Behold Him as the Lord and giver of spiritual life, the Illuminator, the Instructor, the Comforter, and the Sanctifier. Behold Him as, like holy unction, He descends upon the head of Jesus, and then afterwards rests upon you who are as the skirts of His garments. Such an intelligent, scriptural, and experimental belief in the Trinity in Unity is yours if you truly know God; and such knowledge brings peace indeed .
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Deuteronomy 11:18-25
18 Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
20 You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates;
21 that your days and your children's days may be multiplied in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.
22 For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you-to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him-
23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the western sea shall be your border.
25 No man will be able to stand before you. The LORD your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, as he has spoken to you.
HOW NOT TO FORGET
If we wish to retain "the word of the Lord" everything depends upon where we keep it. If we just keep it in the mind, a leaky memory may waste the treasure. A Chinese convert declared that he found the best way to remember the word was to do it! The engraved word became character, written upon the fleshy tables of the heart. He incarnated the word, and it became a vital part of his own personality. He lived it and it lived in him. The word became flesh. This is the only really vital "way of remembrance," to convert the word into the primary stuff of the life.
There is a secondary way by which we may help our apprehension of God's word. "Ye shall teach them." Our hold upon a truth is increased while we impart it to others. The gospel becomes more vivid as we proclaim it to our fellow-men. We see it while we explain it. It grips us the more firmly as we use it to grip our children. This is a great law in life. In these matters it is literally true that memory best retains what she gives away. A truth that is never shared is never really possessed. The word that we teach becomes rooted in our own mind.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
May 8th.
My God, help me to look up to the hills to-day. Save me from all downward looking which would lead me into pitiable living.
Give me the lofty look that I may have the elevated life!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
Matthew 20:7
Yes, there is work in Christ's vineyard for old bodies. It is the eleventh hour, and yet he will let us work. What great grace is this! Surely every old man ought to jump at this invitation! After men are advanced in years nobody wants them as servants; they go from shop to shop, and employers look at their grey hairs, and shake their heads. But Jesus will engage old people, and give them good wages too! This is mercy indeed. Lord, help the aged to enlist in thy service without an hour's delay.
But will the Lord pay wages to worn-out old men? Do not doubt it. He says, he will give you what is right if you will work in his field. He will surely give you grace here and glory here-after. He will grant present comfort and future rest; strength equal to your day, and a vision of glory when the night of death comes on. All these the Lord Jesus will as freely give to the aged convert as to one who enters his service in his youth.
Let me tell this to some unsaved old man or old woman, and pray the Lord to bless it, for Jesus' sake. Where can I find such persons? I will be on the look-out for them, and kindly tell them the news.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.
Matthew 6:33
Obedience is the first thing. In the beginning, seek first the kingdom, and when the soul seeks the kingdom by obeying the King, the soul discovers the Father, and discovering the Father obeys more readily, and obeying more readily, has a larger revelation which makes obedience easy and the horizon greater.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Wist ye not that I must be in the things of My Father?
Luke 2:49
These are the first recorded words of our Lord. I resolutely adopt the second marginal reading of the Revised - which is direct translation from the Greek. They were spoken when He was twelve years of age, being then, as Luke so beautifully describes Him, "the boy Jesus." It has often been pointed out that they are very significant as giving the key to the whole of His life and work. The compelling force, the "must" behind all His doing and teaching, was ever the same: the things of His Father. He lived and wrought only to do the will of God. There is, however, another value in them. Because He was "the boy Jesus," a most real and true Boy, we gather from these words not only the inherent grace and truth of His character, but also how careful had been His training from baby-hood. From the annunciation to Mary, and the revelation to Joseph which Matthew records, those two people in a holy fellowship had shared the secret as to that wonderful Child. With what reverent awe and tender solicitude they must have watched His growth and development! And again, because He was a real human Child, they were responsible for all His earliest instruction in "the things of God." The result is seen in this simple, natural, unaffected word, spoken, be it noticed, to both of them: "Knew ye not that I must be in the things of My Father?" The difference between this Boy and our children is admitted; but let us not forget His identity with them. If we remember, we shall ever seek to train them to the same complete conception of life. It is a great thing when as the result of our training and example, our children relate all their lives to God by its "must" of complete surrender.
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.