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Daily Bible Notes: May, 18th

The following daily bible notes for every day of the year, are taken from six public domain sources:

  1. "Morning and Evening" by Charles H.Spurgeon
  2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by John H.Jowett
  3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
  4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by Charles H.Spurgeon
  5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan
  6. An Evening Meditation from "Searchlights from the Word" by G. Campbell Morgan

1. "Morning and Evening" by C.H.Spurgeon

Morning

In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him.
Colossians 2:9, 10

All the attributes of Christ, as God and man, are at our disposal. All the fulness of the Godhead, whatever that marvellous term may comprehend, is ours to make us complete. He cannot endow us with the attributes of Deity; but He has done all that can be done, for He has made even His divine power and Godhead subservient to our salvation. His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, are all combined for our defence. Arise, believer, and behold the Lord Jesus yoking the whole of His divine Godhead to the chariot of salvation! How vast His grace, how firm His faithfulness, how unswerving His immutability, how infinite His power, how limitless His knowledge! All these are by the Lord Jesus made the pillars of the temple of salvation; and all, without diminution of their infinity, are covenanted to us as our perpetual inheritance. The fathomless love of the Saviour’s heart is every drop of it ours; every sinew in the arm of might, every jewel in the crown of majesty, the immensity of divine knowledge, and the sternness of divine justice, all are ours, and shall be employed for us. The whole of Christ, in His adorable character as the Son of God, is by Himself made over to us most richly to enjoy. His wisdom is our direction, His knowledge our instruction, His power our protection, His justice our surety, His love our comfort, His mercy our solace, and His immutability our trust. He makes no reserve, but opens the recesses of the Mount of God and bids us dig in its mines for the hidden treasures. "All, all, all are yours," saith He, "be ye satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord." Oh! how sweet thus to behold Jesus, and to call upon Him with the certain confidence that in seeking the interposition of His love or power, we are but asking for that which He has already faithfully promised.

Evening

Afterward.
Hebrews 12:11

How happy are tried Christians, afterwards . No calm more deep than that which succeeds a storm. Who has not rejoiced in clear shinings after rain?

Victorious banquets are for well-exercised soldiers. After killing the lion we eat the honey; after climbing the Hill Difficulty, we sit down in the arbour to rest; after traversing the Valley of Humiliation, after fighting with Apollyon, the shining one appears, with the healing branch from the tree of life. Our sorrows, like the passing keels of the vessels upon the sea, leave a silver line of holy light behind them "afterwards." It is peace, sweet, deep peace, which follows the horrible turmoil which once reigned in our tormented, guilty souls. See, then, the happy estate of a Christian!

He has his best things last, and he therefore in this world receives his worst things first. But even his worst things are "afterward" good things, harsh ploughings yielding joyful harvests. Even now he grows rich by his losses, he rises by his falls, he lives by dying, and becomes full by being emptied; if, then, his grievous afflictions yield him so much peaceable fruit in this life, what shall be the full vintage of joy "afterwards" in heaven? If his dark nights are as bright as the world’s days, what shall his days be? If even his starlight is more splendid than the sun, what must his sunlight be?

If he can sing in a dungeon, how sweetly will he sing in heaven! If he can praise the Lord in the fires, how will he extol Him before the eternal throne! If evil be good to him now , what will the overflowing goodness of God be to him then ? Oh, blessed "afterward!" Who would not be a Christian? Who would not bear the present cross for the crown which cometh afterwards? But herein is work for patience, for the rest is not for to-day, nor the triumph for the present, but "afterward." Wait, O soul, and let patience have her perfect work.


2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett

John 9:13-25

13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.

14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see."

16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was division amongst them.

17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, "What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."

18 The Jews therefore didn't believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,

19 and asked them, "Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

20 His parents answered them, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21 but how he now sees, we don't know; or who opened his eyes, we don't know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself."

22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him."

24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."

25 He therefore answered, "I don't know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see."

BLINDED JUDGMENTS

Here is a ceremonialism which is blind to the humane. Its scrupulous ritualisms have dried up its philanthropy. It thinks more of etiquette than equity. It esteems genuflexions more than generosity. It values the husk more than the kernel. It is Sabbatarian but not humanitarian. My God, deliver me from all pious conventionalities which make me indifferent to the ailments and cries of my fellow-men!

And here is a dense prejudice which is blind to the evident. "They did not believe that he had been blind." A prejudice can deflect the judgment, as subtle magnetic currents can deflect the needle. The film of an ecclesiastical prejudice can be so opaque as to make us "blind to facts." We do not "see things as they are." Our perverted eyes give us a crooked world.

And here is a bitter violence which is blind to the glory of the Lord. "We know that this man is a sinner!" And so it comes to that. Our judgments can become so warped that when we look upon Him, "who is the chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely," "there is no beauty that we should desire Him"! And therefore let this be my daily prayer, "Lord, that I might receive my sight!"


3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett

May 18th.
My Father in Heaven, may I live in the consciousness of Thy nearness! May I live as if at any moment the veil may be rent, and I may see Thee face to face! May I be assured that Heaven is only a hairbreadth away, and all its powers are with me!


4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.
Joel 2:25

Yes, those wasted years over which we sigh shall be restored to us. God can give us such plentiful grace that we shall crowd into the remainder of our days as much of service as will be some recompense for those years of unregeneracy over which we mourn in humble penitence.

The locusts of backsliding, worldliness, luke-warmness, are now viewed by us as a terrible plague. Oh that they had never come near us! The Lord in mercy has now taken them away, and we are full of zeal to serve him. Blessed be his name, we can raise such harvests of spiritual graces as shall make our former barrenness to disappear. Through rich grace we can turn to account our bitter experience, and use it to warn others. We can become the more rooted in humility, childlike dependence, and penitent spirituality, by reason of our former shortcomings. If we are the more watchful, zealous, and tender, we shall gain by our lamentable losses. The wasted years, by a miracle of love, can be restored. Does it seem too great a boon? Let us believe for it, and live for it, and we may yet realize it, even as Peter became all the more useful a man after his presumption was cured by his discovered weakness. Lord, aid us by thy grace.


5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.

Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6, R.V.

How often, even amid the shadows of the little while, the faces of the saints are seen lit with the light of the inward glory. Those who, indeed, would shine amid the darkness of the world must be transformed and transfigured by union with God.


6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.

Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?
Luke 12:14

When our Lord thus refused to interfere between this man and his brother in the matter of their inheritance, He did not mean to suggest that He had no interest in these things, or that such matters were outside the realm of His authority. The words which follow clearly reveal His meaning. He warned those who listened, against covetousness, declaring that "things" possessed are not the true strength of life, and enforcing His teaching by the parable of the rich fool. Christ and His Church have nothing to do with dividing things up for men. The Christian message is addressed to men, and deals with their inner life. The man desiring that the inheritance should be divided was as covetous as the man refusing to divide. The word of Christ hit both men alike. If each of them learned the real meaning of life, and sought as its chief endeavour to be "rich toward God," the question of possessions would settle itself. The one would be eager to share, while the other would be careless about receiving. This is Christ's method with all social problems. He never begins with conditions, but with causes. If life is what it ought to be, conduct will be what it should be. To divide property between covetous men is to prepare for future strife. To make men free from covetousness, is to make peace. The word which marks the Christian attitude toward life is not the word divide; it is rather the word share. Christ create the love which is eager to give, to share; rather than to get, to divide.


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.