Daily Bible Notes: May, 14th
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
Joint heirs with Christ.
Romans 8:17
The boundless realms of His Father’s universe are Christ’s by prescriptive right. As "heir of all things," He is the sole proprietor of the vast creation of God, and He has admitted us to claim the whole as ours, by virtue of that deed of joint-heir-ship which the Lord hath ratified with His chosen people. The golden streets of paradise, the pearly gates, the river of life, the transcendent bliss, and the unutterable glory, are, by our blessed Lord, made over to us for our everlasting possession. All that He has He shares with His people. The crown royal He has placed upon the head of His Church, appointing her a kingdom, and calling her sons a royal priesthood, a generation of priests and kings. He uncrowned Himself that we might have a coronation of glory; He would not sit upon His own throne until He had procured a place upon it for all who overcome by His blood. Crown the head and the whole body shares the honour. Behold here the reward of every Christian conqueror! Christ’s throne, crown, sceptre, palace, treasure, robes, heritage, are yours. Far superior to the jealousy, selfishness, and greed, which admit of no participation of their advantages, Christ deems His happiness completed by His people sharing it. "The glory which thou gavest me have I given them." "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." The smiles of His Father are all the sweeter to Him, because His people share them. The honours of His kingdom are more pleasing, because His people appear with Him in glory. More valuable to Him are His conquests, since they have taught His people to overcome. He delights in His throne, because on it there is a place for them. He rejoices in His royal robes, since over them His skirts are spread. He delights the more in His joy, because He calls them to enter into it.
Evening
He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.
Isaiah 40:11
Who is He of whom such gracious words are spoken? He is THE GOOD SHEPHERD. Why doth He carry the lambs in His bosom? Because He hath a tender heart, and any weakness at once melts His heart . The sighs, the ignorance, the feebleness of the little ones of His flock draw forth His compassion. It is His office , as a faithful High Priest, to consider the weak.
Besides, He purchased them with blood, they are His property : He must and will care for that which cost Him so dear. Then He is responsible for each lamb , bound by covenant engagements not to lose one. Moreover, they are all a part of His glory and reward .
But how may we understand the expression, "He will carry them"?
Sometimes He carries them by not permitting them to endure much trial .
Providence deals tenderly with them. Often they are "carried" by being filled with an unusual degree of love , so that they bear up and stand fast.
Though their knowledge may not be deep, they have great sweetness in what they do know. Frequently He "carries" them by giving them a very simple faith , which takes the promise just as it stands, and believingly runs with every trouble straight to Jesus. The simplicity of their faith gives them an unusual degree of confidence, which carries them above the world. "He carries the lambs in His bosom ." Here is boundless affection . Would He put them in His bosom if He did not love them much? Here is tender nearness : so near are they, that they could not possibly be nearer. Here is hallowed familiarity : there are precious love-passages between Christ and His weak ones. Here is perfect safety : in His bosom who can hurt them?
They must hurt the Shepherd first. Here is perfect rest and sweetest comfort . Surely we are not sufficiently sensible of the infinite tenderness of Jesus!
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Isaiah 6:1-8
1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
3 One called to another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!"
4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies!"
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven."
8 I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"
CALAMITY AS REVEALER
"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord."
He lost a hero, and he found the Lord. He feared because a great pillar had fallen: and he found the Pillar of the universe. He thought everything would topple into disaster, and lo! he felt the strength of the everlasting arms. When Uzziah lived Isaiah had forgotten his Lord. He so depended on the earthly that he had overlooked the heavenly. Uzziah concealed his Lord as a thick veil can hide a face. And when Uzziah died, when the earthly king passed away, the eternal King was revealed; as when by the passing of an earth-born cloud the moon reigns radiant in the open sky.
And thus it is that apparent calamity is often the minister of revelation. The great storm clears the air, and luminous vistas come into view. The howling wind of adversity drives away the earth-born clouds and we see the face of God. Our sorrows prove the occasion of our visions. We see new panoramas through our tears. Bereavement gives us spiritual surprises, and death becomes the servant of life. And so it happens that days which began in gloom end in revelation, and we keep their recurring anniversary with deepening praise.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
May 14th.
Holy Father, I would now consecrate this day's toil. May it all bear the marks of Jesus! May there be nothing of
selfishness about it! May I not injure my brother while I earn my daily bread!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Hosea 6:1
It is the Lord's way to tear before he heals. This is the honest love of his heart, and the sure surgery of his hand. He also bruises before he binds up, or else it would be uncertain work. The law comes before the gospel; the sense of need before the supply of it. Is the reader now under the convincing, crushing hand of the Spirit? Has he received the spirit of bondage again to fear? This is a salutary preliminary to real gospel healing and binding up.
Do not despair, dear heart, but come to the Lord with all thy jagged wounds, black bruises, and running sores. He alone can heal, and he delights to do it. It is our Lord's office to bind up the broken-hearted, and he is gloriously at home at it. Let us not linger, but at once return unto the Lord from whom we have gone astray. Let us show him our gaping wounds, and beseech him to know his own work, and complete it. Will a surgeon make an incision, and then leave his patient to bleed to death? Will the Lord pull down our old house, and then refuse to build us a better one? Dost thou ever wantonly increase the misery of poor anxious souls? That be far from thee, O Lord.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession.
Titus 2:14, R.V.
These facts concerning Christ are not merely indisputable, they are undisputed. There is to be found no man of intelligence, or woman either, who denies the glory of His ideal, His ability to redeem, the marvel of His rule, or the certainty of His power to restore.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Where is your faith?
Luke 8:25
This is an arresting word, taken in relation with the circumstances that called it forth. The story is that of our Lord's putting forth of power to help those who appealed to Him in distress, and then rebuking them for that distress. It is a strange and yet beautiful story, revealing at once the tenderness of His heart, and its highest passion for His own. It is probable that their distress was more than personal. The "we" in their cry "Master, Master, we perish," included Him as well as them. If that boat went down, all went with it - His mission, their hopes, and the great enterprises which He had called them into fellowship with Himself to carry out. To that cry, in tenderness and strength, for their sake, He immediately responded by changing the circumstances from storm to calm, thus proving to them what all the time was true, that "No water can swallow the ship where lies The Master of ocean and earth and skies." Then He asked them, "Where is your faith?" thus rebuking them for their distress, and showing that His desire for them was that they should have such confidence in Him as to be undisturbed amid all disturbances. How often we are over-anxious about the enterprises of our Lord! In the hour of storm we imagine everything is about to perish. Then He ever says to us: "Where is your faith?"
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.