Daily Bible Notes: May, 11th
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
I am with you alway.
Matthew 28:20
It is well there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever with us. It is well there is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life. O my soul, set not thine affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures, but set thine heart upon Him who abides for ever faithful to thee. Build not thine house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world, but found thy hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure. My soul, I charge thee, lay up thy treasure in the only secure cabinet; store thy jewels where thou canst never lose them. Put thine all in Christ; set all thine affections on His person, all thy hope in His merit, all thy trust in His efficacious blood, all thy joy in His presence, and so thou mayest laugh at loss, and defy destruction.
Remember that all the flowers in the world’s garden fade by turns, and the day cometh when nothing will be left but the black, cold earth. Death’s black extinguisher must soon put out thy candle. Oh! how sweet to have sunlight when the candle is gone! The dark flood must soon roll between thee and all thou hast; then wed thine heart to Him who will never leave thee; trust thyself with Him who will go with thee through the black and surging current of death’s stream, and who will land thee safely on the celestial shore, and make thee sit with Him in heavenly places for ever. Go, sorrowing son of affliction, tell thy secrets to the Friend who sticketh closer than a brother. Trust all thy concerns with Him who never can be taken from thee, who will never leave thee, and who will never let thee leave Him, even "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." "Lo, I am with you alway," is enough for my soul to live upon, let who will forsake me.
Evening
Only be thou strong and very courageous.
Joshua 1:7
Our God’s tender love for His servants makes Him concerned for the state of their inward feelings. He desires them to be of good courage. Some esteem it a small thing for a believer to be vexed with doubts and fears, but God thinks not so. From this text it is plain that our Master would not have us entangled with fears. He would have us without carefulness, without doubt, without cowardice. Our Master does not think so lightly of our unbelief as we do. When we are desponding we are subject to a grievous malady, not to be trifled with, but to be carried at once to the beloved Physician. Our Lord loveth not to see our countenance sad. It was a law of Ahasuerus that no one should come into the king’s court dressed in mourning: this is not the law of the King of kings, for we may come mourning as we are; but still He would have us put off the spirit of heaviness, and put on the garment of praise, for there is much reason to rejoice. The Christian man ought to be of a courageous spirit, in order that he may glorify the Lord by enduring trials in an heroic manner. If he be fearful and fainthearted, it will dishonour his God . Besides, what a bad example it is . This disease of doubtfulness and discouragement is an epidemic which soon spreads amongst the Lord’s flock. One downcast believer makes twenty souls sad. Moreover, unless your courage is kept up Satan will be too much for you . Let your spirit be joyful in God your Saviour, the joy of the Lord shall be your strength, and no fiend of hell shall make headway against you: but cowardice throws down the banner.
Moreover, labour is light to a man of cheerful spirit; and success waits upon cheerfulness . The man who toils, rejoicing in his God, believing with all his heart, has success guaranteed. He who sows in hope shall reap in joy; therefore, dear reader, "be thou strong, and very courageous."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Exodus 4:1-9
1 Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.' "
2 The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."
3 He said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.
4 The LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand, and take it by the tail." He stretched out his hand, and took hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.
5 "This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."
6 The LORD said furthermore to him, "Now put your hand inside your cloak." He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.
7 He said, "Put your hand inside your cloak again." He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh.
8 "It will happen, if they will not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
9 It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."
BUT----!
"And Moses answered and said, But----"
We know that "but." God has heard it from our lips a thousand times. It is the response of unbelief to the divine call. It is the reply of fear to the divine command. It is the suggestion that the resources are inadequate. It is a hint that God may not have looked all round. He has overlooked something which our own eyes have seen. The human "buts" in the Scriptural stories make an appalling record.
"Lord, I will follow Thee, but----" There is something else to be attended to before discipleship can begin. Obedience is not primary: it must wait for something else. And so our obedience is not a straight line: it is crooked and circuitous; it takes the way of by-path meadow instead of the highway of the Lord. We do not wait upon the Lord's pleasure; we make Him wait upon ours.
There need be no "buts" in our relationship to the King's will. Everything has been foreseen. Nothing will take the Lord by surprise. The entire field has been surveyed, and the preparations are complete. When the Lord says to thee or me, "I will send thee," every provision has been made for the appointed task. "I will not fail thee."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
May 11th.
Holy Spirit, illumine my mind to-day. Deliver me from all obscurity in my thinking about right and wrong. May my thought
be as clear as the noontide! In Thy light may I see light! May I walk in the light!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
Genesis 49:19
Some of us have been like the tribe of Gad. Our adversaries for a while were too many for us, they came upon us like a troop. Yes, and for the moment they overcame us; and they exulted greatly because of their temporary victory. Thus they only proved the first part of the family heritage to be really ours, for Christ's people like Dan, shall have a troop overcoming them. This being overcome is very painful, and we should have despaired if we had not by faith believed the second line of our father's benediction, "He shall overcome at the last." "All's well that ends well," said the world's poet; and he spoke the truth. A war is to be judged, not by first successes or defeats, but by that which happens "at the last." The Lord will give to truth and righteousness victory "at the last"; and, as Mr. Bunyan says, that means for ever, for nothing can come after the last.
What we need is patient perseverance in well-doing, calm confidence in our glorious Captain. Christ, our Lord Jesus, would teach us his holy art of setting the face like a flint to go through with work or suffering till we can say, "It is finished." Hallelujah. Victory! Victory! We believe the promise. "He shall overcome at the last."
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
In his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings.
1 Timothy 6:15
We believe that the King is doing work preparatory to His coming. He is gathering out His Church ... The light of this truth falls upon the chaos and unrest of our age - arming of nations, mutual distrust, "wars, and rumours of wars." Man is failing in governmental power, and the hope of the world is that Jesus will come to rule within the lines of His own royal policy.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
Luke 5:21
This was a question asked by the enemies of our Lord, and it was asked in connection with their charging Him with blasphemy because He had said to a man: "Thy sins are forgiven thee." It is a startling and suggestive situation. The theology of these men was correct; their application was wrong. It is true that none can forgive sins, save God. There is a sense in which a man can, and indeed ought to forgive sin committed against him by his brother man. But it is a very limited sense, being peculiarly relative and personal. In the deeper nature of sin no man can absolve his brother. The Psalmist in the olden days uttered a profound truth when, in the midst of his penitential outpouring, he said: "Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned." Therefore it is God alone Who can forgive. Thus the word of Jesus to this man was the word of God, and His word of forgiveness is always the word of God. Only as that is so, can the heart of sinning men be satisfied. When my brother forgives me for the wrong I have done him, I am thankful to him, but this forgiveness has not lifted the burden from my conscience, nor cleansed the stain from my soul. When God forgives, He does both. Our rest in the sense of forgiveness is always created by the certainty that it is the gift of the grace of God.
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.