Daily Bible Notes: November, 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
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul.
Lamentations 3:24
It is not "The Lord is partly my portion," nor "The Lord is in my portion"; but He Himself makes up the sum total of my soul’s inheritance.
Within the circumference of that circle lies all that we possess or desire.
The Lord is my portion. Not His grace merely, nor His love, nor His covenant, but Jehovah Himself. He has chosen us for His portion, and we have chosen Him for ours. It is true that the Lord must first choose our inheritance for us, or else we shall never choose it for ourselves; but if we are really called according to the purpose of electing love, we can sing - "Lov’d of my God for Him again With love intense I burn; Chosen of Him ere time began, I choose Him in return."
The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us. It is not easy to satisfy man’s desires. When he dreams that he is satisfied, anon he wakes to the perception that there is somewhat yet beyond, and straightway the horse-leech in his heart cries, "Give, give." But all that we can wish for is to be found in our divine portion, so that we ask, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." Well may we "delight ourselves in the Lord" who makes us to drink of the river of His pleasures. Our faith stretches her wings and mounts like an eagle into the heaven of divine love as to her proper dwelling-place. "The lines have fallen to us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage." Let us rejoice in the Lord always; let us show to the world that we are a happy and a blessed people, and thus induce them to exclaim, "We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."
Evening
Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty.
Isaiah 33:17
The more you know about Christ the less will you be satisfied with superficial views of Him; and the more deeply you study His transactions in the eternal covenant, His engagements on your behalf as the eternal Surety, and the fulness of His grace which shines in all His offices, the more truly will you see the King in His beauty. Be much in such outlooks.
Long more and more to see Jesus. Meditation and contemplation are often like windows of agate, and gates of carbuncle, through which we behold the Redeemer. Meditation puts the telescope to the eye, and enables us to see Jesus after a better sort than we could have seen Him if we had lived in the days of His flesh. Would that our conversation were more in heaven, and that we were more taken up with the person, the work, the beauty of our incarnate Lord. More meditation, and the beauty of the King would flash upon us with more resplendence. Beloved, it is very probable that we shall have such a sight of our glorious King as we never had before, when we come to die . Many saints in dying have looked up from amidst the stormy waters, and have seen Jesus walking on the waves of the sea, and heard Him say, "It is I, be not afraid." Ah, yes! when the tenement begins to shake, and the clay falls away, we see Christ through the rifts, and between the rafters the sunlight of heaven comes streaming in. But if we want to see face to face the "King in His beauty" we must go to heaven for the sight, or the King must come here in person. O that He would come on the wings of the wind! He is our Husband, and we are widowed by His absence; He is our Brother dear and fair, and we are lonely without Him.
Thick veils and clouds hang between our souls and their true life: when shall the day break and the shadows flee away? Oh, long-expected day, begin!
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Acts 4:13-22
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled. They recognised that they had been with Jesus.
14 Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred amongst themselves,
16 saying, "What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can't deny it.
17 But so that this spreads no further amongst the people, let's threaten them, that from now on they don't speak to anyone in this name."
18 They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves,
20 for we can't help telling the things which we saw and heard."
21 When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that which was done.
22 For the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
THE MAKING OF A BRAVE MAN
Here is a marvellous transformation! I have been wondering at the littleness of the denier, and now this same denier is making the world wonder by his majestic boldness! His one resource is now the risen Christ, and his one moral standard is "whether it be right!" Once he quailed before an accusing maid; now he stands undaunted before the rulers of the earth. How has it all come about?
He has been to the empty tomb. The awe of the resurrection is upon his spirit. Through the once blind cul-de-sac of the grave he has seen the King and the great white throne.
And he has been by the lake on the morning of reconciliation. The live coal from the altar of his Lord's love has touched him and has purged away the uncleanness of his denial.
And he has been in the upper room at Pentecost, and the mighty Spirit has come upon him like wind and flame, endowing him with forceful and enthusiastic character. Now he can dare for God, now he can work for God, now he can burn for God! And this is how he has been transformed.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
November 16th.
My Father I would be led into the secret presence to-day. May I see new meanings in old words! May new light shine out
of the old page! May I feel as never before the beauty of the truth! May I be wooed into a deeper devotion! May I become more like Thee!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn.
Isaiah 54;17
There is great clatter in the forges and smithies of the enemy. They are making weapons wherewith to smite the saints. They could not even do as much as this if the Lord of saints did not allow them; for he has created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire. But see how busily they labour! How many swords and spears they fashion! It matters nothing, for on the blade of every weapon you may read this inscription: It shall not prosper.
But now listen to another noise: it is the strife of tongues. Tongues are more terrible instruments than can be made with hammers and anvils, and the evil which they inflict cuts deeper and spreads wider. What will become of us now? Slander, falsehood, insinuation, ridicule - these are poisoned arrows; how can we meet them? The Lord God promises us that, if we cannot silence them, we shall, at least, escape from being ruined by them. They condemn us for the moment, but we shall condemn them at last, and for ever. The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped, and their falsehoods shall be turned to the honour of those good men who suffered by them.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Ye think ye have eternal life ... and ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
John 5:39,40
The most difficult thing to get a man to believe is the thing which he thinks he does believe. You believe in God - you live, and move, and have your being in Him. Believe that - believe that only, believe that supremely, and then begin life in that belief. And in that belief, believe above everything else that
Hell is nigh, but God is nigher, Circling you with hosts of fire.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalms 91:1
This Psalm has neither title nor inscription. There have not been wanting those who have held that it also was written by Moses, as was the previous one. Whereas this is mere supposition, it is impossible to escape the sense of relationship between them. It is most likely that some later singer wrote it as a personal testimony to the truth of the former song. That, was human and generic; its personal pronouns were plural. This, is personal and individual; its personal pronouns are singular. It celebrates the security and satisfaction of the soul homed in God. Moses spoke of God as the dwelling-place, the habitation, the home of man. This singer seems to accept that great idea, and then to speak of the most central chamber of the dwelling-place, referring to it as the Secret Place, and describing its complete security by employing the figure of the mother-bird as he refers to "The Shadow of the Almighty." Moreover, it should be remembered that the true interpretation of this song must be sought in spiritual rather than material experience. Children of God are not always immune from physical plague and pestilence; but they are ever guarded from destructive spiritual forces as they dwell in the secret place of the Most High. As we read this wonderful song of the olden time, we remember how through Christ we are admitted to the closest fellowship with God. In Him, our Redeemer and Lord, we may dwell indeed in the secret place of the Most High.
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.