Daily Bible Notes: May, 16th
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
Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
1 Timothy 6:17
Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw His hand. As long as there is a vessel of grace not yet full to the brim, the oil shall not be stayed. He is a sun ever-shining; He is manna always falling round the camp; He is a rock in the desert, ever sending out streams of life from His smitten side; the rain of His grace is always dropping; the river of His bounty is ever-flowing, and the well-spring of His love is constantly overflowing. As the King can never die, so His grace can never fail. Daily we pluck His fruit, and daily His branches bend down to our hand with a fresh store of mercy. There are seven feast-days in His weeks, and as many as are the days, so many are the banquets in His years. Who has ever returned from His door unblessed? Who has ever risen from His table unsatisfied, or from His bosom un-emparadised? His mercies are new every morning and fresh every evening. Who can know the number of His benefits, or recount the list of His bounties? Every sand which drops from the glass of time is but the tardy follower of a myriad of mercies. The wings of our hours are covered with the silver of His kindness, and with the yellow gold of His affection. The river of time bears from the mountains of eternity the golden sands of His favour. The countless stars are but as the standard bearers of a more innumerable host of blessings.
Who can count the dust of the benefits which He bestows on Jacob, or tell the number of the fourth part of His mercies towards Israel? How shall my soul extol Him who daily loadeth us with benefits, and who crowneth us with loving-kindness? O that my praise could be as ceaseless as His bounty! O miserable tongue, how canst thou be silent? Wake up, I pray thee, lest I call thee no more my glory, but my shame. "Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake right early."
Evening
And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle, and your beasts.
2 Kings 3:16,17
The armies of the three kings were famishing for want of water: God was about to send it, and in these words the prophet announced the coming blessing. Here was a case of human helplessness : not a drop of water could all the valiant men procure from the skies or find in the wells of earth.
Thus often the people of the Lord are at their wits’ end; they see the vanity of the creature, and learn experimentally where their help is to be found. Still the people were to make a believing preparation for the divine blessing ; they were to dig the trenches in which the precious liquid would be held. The church must by her varied agencies, efforts, and prayers, make herself ready to be blessed; she must make the pools, and the Lord will fill them. This must be done in faith, in the full assurance that the blessing is about to descend. By-and-by there was a singular bestowal of the needed boon . Not as in Elijah’s case did the shower pour from the clouds, but in a silent and mysterious manner the pools were filled. The Lord has His own sovereign modes of action: He is not tied to manner and time as we are, but doeth as He pleases among the sons of men. It is ours thankfully to receive from Him, and not to dictate to Him. We must also notice the remarkable abundance of the supply - there was enough for the need of all. And so it is in the gospel blessing; all the wants of the congregation and of the entire church shall be met by the divine power in answer to prayer; and above all this, victory shall be speedily given to the armies of the Lord.
What am I doing for Jesus? What trenches am I digging? O Lord, make me ready to receive the blessing which Thou art so willing to bestow.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Matthew 10:24-31
24 "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord.
25 It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
26 Therefore don't be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known.
27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.
28 Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
29 "Aren't two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father's will,
30 but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Therefore don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.
THE DETAILS OF PROVIDENCE
"The very hairs of your head are all numbered."
Providence goes into details. Sometimes, in our human intercourse, we cannot see the trees for the wood. We cannot see the individual sheep for the flock. We cannot see the personal soul for the masses. We are blinded by the bigness of things; we cannot see the individual blades of grass because of the field.
Now God's vision is not general, it is particular. There are no "masses" to the Infinite. "He calleth His own sheep by name." The single one is seen as though he alone possessed the earth. When God looks at the wood He sees every tree. When He looks at the race He sees every man.
And, therefore, I need not fear that "my way is overlooked by my God." He knows every turning. He knows just where the strain begins at the hill. He knows the perils of every descent. He knows every happening along the road. He knows every letter that came to me by this morning's post. He knows every visitor who knocks at the door of my life, whether the visitor come at the high noon or at the midnight. "There is nothing hid." "The very hairs of your head are all numbered."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
May 16th.
Heavenly Father, I pray for the restoration of my lost sense of wonder. I have ceased to wonder at Thy mercies, and
the riches of Thy grace. Renew the lost power. May I see the wonderful in the commonplace, and may my daily
bread move me into fervent praise!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Matthew 5:7
It is not meet that the man who will not forgive should be forgiven, nor shall he who will not give to the poor have his own wants relieved. God will measure to us with our own bushels, and those who have been hard masters and hard creditors, will find that the Lord will deal hardly with them. "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy."
This day let us try to give and to forgive. Let us mind the two bears - bear and forbear. Let us be kind, and gentle, and tender. Let us not put harsh constructions upon men's conduct, nor drive hard bargains, nor pick foolish quarrels, nor be difficult to please. Surely we wish to be blessed, and we also want to obtain mercy: let us be merciful, that we may have mercy. Let us fulfil the condition, that we may earn the beatitude. Is it not a pleasant duty to be kind? Is there not much more sweetness in it than in being angry and ungenerous? Why, there is a blessedness in the thing itself! Moreover, the obtaining of mercy is a rich reward. What but sovereign grace could suggest such a promise as this? We are merciful to our fellow-mortal in pence, and the Lord forgives us "all that debt."
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The Lord is King for ever and ever.
Psalm 10:16
The history of human sin is the history of man's attempt to deny the Divine Kingship, and to resist its claims. In spite of all this terrible history of rebellion and failure, God has not resigned His throne, He has not abandoned His sceptre, He has not yielded the reins of government ... His right to reign does not depend upon the vote of a crowd.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.
Luke 10:21
Luke has a time note here which is significant. He says: "In that same hour." The seventy had returned, naturally rejoicing at the true success that had followed their mission. In that joy there was a subtle element of peril, against which He had warned them. It was that of the sense of their ability, in His Name, to exorcise evil spirits. In the most holy work there always lurks this danger of the glorification of the self-life. In contrast, the rejoicing is seen in its inspiration and its reason. Its inspiration was that of His perfect fellowship with His Father in the understanding which came to Him by the Holy Spirit. Its reason was that of the will of His Father to bide the counsels and powers of His grace from merely human cleverness, and to reveal them to the simple-hearted, to babes, to such as these seventy were. And surely, in this sense also, the ancient word has application and fulfilment: "The joy of Jehovah is your strength." We may test our strength by discovering the reason of our joy. If there enters into our joy the element of self-glorying, in never so small a degree, by that much are we weakened. If our joy is caused by the wisdom and grace of our God, then our service will be of prevailing power.
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.