Daily Bible Notes: May, 30th
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
Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines.
Song of Solomon 2:15
A little thorn may cause much suffering. A little cloud may hide the sun.
Little foxes spoil the vines; and little sins do mischief to the tender heart.
These little sins burrow in the soul, and make it so full of that which is hateful to Christ, that He will hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with us. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable. Jesus will not walk with His people unless they drive out every known sin. He says, "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love." Some Christians very seldom enjoy their Saviour’s presence. How is this? Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child to be separated from his father. Art thou a child of God, and yet satisfied to go on without seeing thy Father’s face? What! thou the spouse of Christ, and yet content without His company! Surely, thou hast fallen into a sad state, for the chaste spouse of Christ mourns like a dove without her mate, when he has left her. Ask, then, the question, what has driven Christ from thee? He hides His face behind the wall of thy sins. That wall may be built up of little pebbles, as easily as of great stones. The sea is made of drops; the rocks are made of grains: and the sea which divides thee from Christ may be filled with the drops of thy little sins; and the rock which has well nigh wrecked thy barque, may have been made by the daily working of the coral insects of thy little sins. If thou wouldst live with Christ, and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship with Christ, take heed of "the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes."
Jesus invites you to go with Him and take them. He will surely, like Samson, take the foxes at once and easily. Go with Him to the hunting.
Evening
That henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:6
Christian, what hast thou to do with sin? Hath it not cost thee enough already ? Burnt child, wilt thou play with the fire? What! when thou hast already been between the jaws of the lion, wilt thou step a second time into his den? Hast thou not had enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all thy veins once, and wilt thou play upon the hole of the asp, and put thy hand upon the cockatrice’s den a second time? Oh, be not so mad! so foolish! Did sin ever yield thee real pleasure? Didst thou find solid satisfaction in it? If so, go back to thine old drudgery, and wear the chain again, if it delight thee. But inasmuch as sin did never give thee what it promised to bestow, but deluded thee with lies, be not a second time snared by the old fowler - be free, and let the remembrance of thy ancient bondage forbid thee to enter the net again! It is contrary to the designs of eternal love , which all have an eye to thy purity and holiness; therefore run not counter to the purposes of thy Lord. Another thought should restrain thee from sin. Christians can never sin cheaply ; they pay a heavy price for iniquity. Transgression destroys peace of mind, obscures fellowship with Jesus, hinders prayer, brings darkness over the soul; therefore be not the serf and bondman of sin. There is yet a higher argument: each time you "serve sin" you have "Crucified the Lord afresh, and put Him to an open shame ." Can you bear that thought? Oh! if you have fallen into any special sin during this day, it may be my Master has sent this admonition this evening, to bring you back before you have backslidden very far. Turn thee to Jesus anew; He has not forgotten His love to thee; His grace is still the same. With weeping and repentance, come thou to His footstool, and thou shalt be once more received into His heart; thou shalt be set upon a rock again, and thy goings shall be established.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Corinthians 2:7-12
7 But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written, "Things which an eye didn't see, and an ear didn't hear, which didn't enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him."
10 But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For who amongst men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God's Spirit.
12 But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.
FINDING THE DEEP THINGS
"The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
The deep things of God cannot be discovered by unaided reason. "Eye hath not seen:" they are not to be apprehended by the artistic vision. "Ear hath not heard:" they are not unveiled amid the discussion of the philosophic schools. "Neither hath entered into the heart of man:" even poetic insight cannot discern them. All the common lights fail in this realm. We need another illumination, even that provided by the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit is offered unto us "that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
And here we have the reason why so many uncultured people are spiritually wiser than many who are learned. They lack talent, but they have grace. They lack accomplishments, but they have the Holy Ghost. They lack the telescope, but they have the sunlight. They are not scholars, but they are saints. They may not be theologians, but they have true religion. And so they have "the open vision." They "walk with God," and "the deep things of God" are made known to their souls.
We must put first things first. We may be busy polishing our lenses when our primary and fundamental need is light. It is not a gift that we require, but a Friend.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
May 30th.
My Saviour, may my fellowship with Thee to-day be very real! May I enter into the secrets of the Lord!
May I discover riches which have hitherto been hidden from me! Give me the purity of heart that can see Thee.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Matthew 26:64
Ah, Lord, thou wast in thy lowest state when before thy persecutors thou wast made to stand like a criminal! Yet the eyes of thy faith could see beyond thy present humiliation into thy future glory. What words are these, "Nevertheless - hereafter"! I would imitate thy holy foresight, and in the midst of poverty, or sickness, or slander, I also would say, "Nevertheless - hereafter." Instead of weakness, thou hast all power; instead of shame, all glory; instead of derision, all worship. Thy cross has not dimmed the splendour of thy crown, neither has the spittle marred the beauty of thy face. Say, rather, thou art the more exalted and honoured because of thy sufferings.
So, Lord, I also would take courage from the "hereafter." I would forget the present tribulation in the future triumph. Help thou me by directing me into thy Father's love and into thine own patience, so that when I am derided for thy name I may not be staggered, but think more and more of the hereafter, and, therefore, all the less of to-day. I shall be with thee soon and behold thy glory. Wherefore, I am not ashamed, but say in my inmost soul, "Nevertheless - hereafter."
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:10
Man was made for the God Who declares that His creature shall have none other God before Him. He will be the God and the centre of every man, and the very nature of man's being makes the demand a reasonable one.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
While He blessed them, He parted from them.
Luke 24:51
The last attitude and activity of the risen Lord of which the disciples were conscious as He left them to ascend to His Father, were those of the uplifted hands and the uttering of a beatitude. This is a perpetual sign. Thus He remains until He comes again, His hands uplifted, and His lips pronouncing the blessedness of His own. Behold those hands! In them are the sacred signs of His love and His all-conquering grace. Listen to His blessing! It is more than the expression of a desire on His part for the happiness of His own. It is a declaration of His ability to give them the only true happiness. While we see those uplifted hands, there can be no room for doubt or fear, when other menacing hands are stretched out to harm us or vex us. Whether in life or death, in adversity or prosperity, in sorrow or in joy, we know by that token that we are safe. While we hear His voice pronouncing the blessing, it matters not what voices slander or curse, we know that our peace and joy are assured. What wonder that they return to Jerusalem - as hostile to them as to Him - with great joy! Let us never lose sight of that wonderful vision. The clouds will enwrap Him, and the bodily sight end, but the spirit will know that beyond the clouds, and beyond the physical manifestation, He ever lives, with hands that argue our safety out-stretched, and with words that ensure our blessedness upon His lips.
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.