Daily Bible Notes: October, 4th
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
At evening time it shall be light.
Zechariah 14:7
Oftentimes we look forward with forebodings to the time of old age , forgetful that at eventide it shall be light. To many saints, old age is the choicest season in their lives. A balmier air fans the mariner’s cheek as he nears the shore of immortality, fewer waves ruffle his sea, quiet reigns, deep, still and solemn. From the altar of age the flashes of the fire of youth are gone, but the more real flame of earnest feeling remains. The pilgrims have reached the land Beulah, that happy country, whose days are as the days of heaven upon earth. Angels visit it, celestial gales blow over it, flowers of paradise grow in it, and the air is filled with seraphic music.
Some dwell here for years, and others come to it but a few hours before their departure, but it is an Eden on earth. We may well long for the time when we shall recline in its shady groves and be satisfied with hope until the time of fruition comes. The setting sun seems larger than when aloft in the sky, and a splendour of glory tinges all the clouds which surround his going down. Pain breaks not the calm of the sweet twilight of age, for strength made perfect in weakness bears up with patience under it all. Ripe fruits of choice experience are gathered as the rare repast of life’s evening, and the soul prepares itself for rest.
The Lord’s people shall also enjoy light in the hour of death . Unbelief laments; the shadows fall, the night is coming, existence is ending. Ah no, crieth faith, the night is far spent, the true day is at hand. Light is come, the light of immortality, the light of a Father’s countenance. Gather up thy feet in the bed, see the waiting bands of spirits! Angels waft thee away.
Farewell, beloved one, thou art gone, thou wavest thine hand. Ah, now it is light. The pearly gates are open, the golden streets shine in the jasper light.
We cover our eyes, but thou beholdest the unseen; adieu, brother, thou hast light at even-tide, such as we have not yet.
Evening
If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1 John 2:1
"If any man sin, we have an advocate." Yes, though we sin, we have Him still. John does not say, "If any man sin he has forfeited his advocate," but "we have an advocate," sinners though we are. All the sin that a believer ever did, or can be allowed to commit, cannot destroy his interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, as his advocate. The name here given to our Lord is suggestive. "Jesus ." Ah! then He is an advocate such as we need, for Jesus is the name of one whose business and delight it is to save. "They shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." His sweetest name implies His success. Next, it is "Jesus Christ" - Christos, the anointed. This shows His authority to plead. The Christ has a right to plead, for He is the Father’s own appointed advocate and elected priest. If He were of our choosing He might fail, but if God hath laid help upon one that is mighty, we may safely lay our trouble where God has laid His help.
He is Christ, and therefore authorized; He is Christ, and therefore qualified , for the anointing has fully fitted Him for His work. He can plead so as to move the heart of God and prevail. What words of tenderness, what sentences of persuasion will the anointed use when He stands up to plead for me! One more letter of His name remains, "Jesus Christ the righteous ." This is not only His character BUT His plea. It is His character, and if the Righteous One be my advocate, then my cause is good, or He would not have espoused it. It is His plea, for He meets the charge of unrighteousness against me by the plea that He is righteous. He declares Himself my substitute and puts His obedience to my account.
My soul, thou hast a friend well fitted to be thine advocate, He cannot but succeed; leave thyself entirely in His hands.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Isaiah 40:9-28
9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don't be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the LORD's Spirit, or has taught him as his counsellor?
14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skilful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
21 Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? Haven't you been told from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
23 who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
25 "To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?"
28 Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint. He isn't weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
CREATOR AND CREATURE
Let me mark the range of this teaching. "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand.... He shall feed His flock like a shepherd." And let me mark it again. "The Creator of the ends of the earth ... giveth power unto the faint." Almightiness offers itself to carry my burden! The Creator offers Himself to re-create me! I can engage the forces of the universe to help me on my journey. Emerson counselled us to hitch our wagon to a star. We can do better than that. We can hitch it to the Maker of the star! We have something better than an ideal; we have the Light of the world. We are not left to a radiant abstraction; we have a gracious God.
The water flows from the Welsh hills to every house in Birmingham. Rich and poor alike share the bounty of the mountains. The wealth of the mountains comes to the common thirst. And everybody, too, may have the water from the everlasting hills. "The water that I shall give him shall be in him." The river of life will flow to every soul of man.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
October 4th.
Lord Jesus, wilt Thou this day enable me to reveal the power of a meek and dutiful spirit? Let Thy light shine within me,
that I may be an ambassador for Thee in the radiance of my countenance. May I speak for Thee in the power of a saintly life!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And I, if I be iifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
John 12:32
Come, ye workers, be encouraged. You fear that you cannot draw a congregation. Try the preaching of a crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour; for this is the greatest "draw" that was ever yet manifested among men. What drew you to Christ but Christ? What draws you to him now but his own blessed self? If you have been drawn to religion by anything else, you will soon be drawn away from it; but Jesus has held you, and will hold you even to the end. Why, then, doubt his power to draw others? Go with the name of Jesus to those who have hitherto been stubborn, and see if it does not draw them.
No sort of man is beyond this drawing power. Old and young, rich and poor, ignorant and learned, depraved or amiable - all men shall feel the attractive force. Jesus is the one magnet. Let us not think of any other. Music will not draw to Jesus, neither will eloquence, logic, ceremonial, or noise. Jesus himself must draw men to himself; and Jesus is quite equal to the work in every case. Be not tempted by the quackeries of the day; but as workers for the Lord work in his own way, and draw with the Lord's own cords. Draw to Christ, and draw by Christ, for then Christ will draw by you.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The God of peace himself sanctify you wholly.
1 Thessalonians 5:23, R.V.
Lord Jesus, from today let me more than ever be a gatherer of Thine. Prevent me from scattering. Do this, Lord, by taking more complete possession of me than ever before. To this end I yield to Thee all I am, and have, and hope for, in order that through me some part of Thy kingdom may come and Thy will be done. Amen.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Who in hope believed against hope.
Romans 4:18
That account of Abraham's mental attitude, as the result of the promise of God to him, is also a description of the experience of all those who live by faith in Him. Hope is always, the expectation of good things to come, with a corresponding activity toward the realization of them. There can be no hope where there are no grounds of expectation. To Abraham there were no grounds of expectation in circumstances that he should have an heir. They absolutely denied the possibility. Nevertheless he hoped. Upon what grounds? Those of "the promise of God." To the man who believed in God, they were sufficient; and therefore he hoped, that is, he expected that the thing would happen, and he ordered his life accordingly. That is the very genius of the life of faith. All the great things for which we look are impossible things by the standards of circumstances. If we compute the possibilities of realization upon the basis of things seen, ours is the most hopeless of enterprises. For the bringing to birth of the new order, man is dead, and woman is barren. But if we reckon with God, then we are the most hopeful of all men. He has promised, and no word of His can be void of power. Therefore we hope against hope. When there is no ground for expectation in circumstances, we find it in God; and thus with jubilant songs we cheer the night, and journey toward the Day of God.
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.