Daily Bible Notes: October, 17th
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
And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.
1 Samuel 27:1
The thought of David’s heart at this time was a false thought, because he certainly had no ground for thinking that God’s anointing him by Samuel was intended to be left as an empty unmeaning act. On no one occasion had the Lord deserted His servant; he had been placed in perilous positions very often, but not one instance had occurred in which divine interposition had not delivered him. The trials to which he had been exposed had been varied; they had not assumed one form only, but many - yet in every case He who sent the trial had also graciously ordained a way of escape.
David could not put his finger upon any entry in his diary, and say of it, "Here is evidence that the Lord will forsake me," for the entire tenor of his past life proved the very reverse. He should have argued from what God had done for him, that God would be his defender still. But is it not just in the same way that we doubt God’s help? Is it not mistrust without a cause ? Have we ever had the shadow of a reason to doubt our Father’s goodness? Have not His lovingkindnesses been marvellous? Has He once failed to justify our trust? Ah, no! our God has not left us at any time. We have had dark nights, but the star of love has shone forth amid the blackness; we have been in stern conflicts, but over our head He has held aloft the shield of our defence. We have gone through many trials, but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is, that He who has been with us in six troubles, will not forsake us in the seventh. What we have known of our faithful God, proves that He will keep us to the end. Let us not, then, reason contrary to evidence. How can we ever be so ungenerous as to doubt our God? Lord, throw down the Jezebel of our unbelief, and let the dogs devour it.
Evening
He shall gather the lambs with His arm.
Isaiah 40:11
Our good Shepherd has in His flock a variety of experiences, some are strong in the Lord, and others are weak in faith, but He is impartial in His care for all His sheep, and the weakest lamb is as dear to Him as the most advanced of the flock. Lambs are wont to lag behind, prone to wander, and apt to grow weary, but from all the danger of these infirmities the Shepherd protects them with His arm of power. He finds new-born souls, like young lambs, ready to perish - He nourishes them till life becomes vigorous; He finds weak minds ready to faint and die - He consoles them and renews their strength. All the little ones He gathers, for it is not the will of our heavenly Father that one of them should perish. What a quick eye He must have to see them all! What a tender heart to care for them all!
What a far- reaching and potent arm, to gather them all! In His lifetime on earth He was a great gatherer of the weaker sort, and now that He dwells in heaven, His loving heart yearns towards the meek and contrite, the timid and feeble, the fearful and fainting here below. How gently did He gather me to Himself, to His truth, to His blood, to His love, to His church! With what effectual grace did He compel me to come to Himself! Since my first conversion, how frequently has He restored me from my wanderings, and once again folded me within the circle of His everlasting arm! The best of all is, that He does it all Himself personally, not delegating the task of love, but condescending Himself to rescue and preserve His most unworthy servant. How shall I love Him enough or serve Him worthily? I would fain make His name great unto the ends of the earth, but what can my feebleness do for Him? Great Shepherd, add to Thy mercies this one other, a heart to love Thee more truly as I ought.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
1 Chronicles 10:6-14
6 So Saul died with his three sons; and all his house died together.
7 When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.
8 On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
9 They stripped him, and took his head and his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to their idols, and to the people.
10 They put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon.
11 When all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,
12 all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
13 So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the LORD, because of the LORD's word, which he didn't keep; and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to enquire,
14 and didn't enquire of the LORD. Therefore he killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.
NO QUEST OF GOD
"He inquired not of the Lord."
That was where Saul began to go wrong. When quest ceases, conquests cease. "He inquired not"; and this meant loss of light. God will be inquired after. He insists that we draw up the blinds if we would receive the light. If we board up our windows He will not drive the gentle rays through our hindrance. We must ask if we would have. The discipline of inquiry fits us for the counsel of the Lord.
"He inquired not"; and this meant loss of sight. When light fails, sight fails. The ponies in our pits become blind. When a spiritual power is not exercised in the heavenly, it is deprived of its appointed functions. And the tragedy is this, that the blind are deceived into thinking that they still retain their sight. "Ye say, we see!"
"He inquired not"; and this meant loss of might. For "the light of life" is not only illumination; it is inspiration too. It is both light and heat; it confers guidance and dynamic. When a man, therefore, refuses the light he becomes a weakling, and he will meet with disaster in the first tempestuous day.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
October 17th.
My Father in heaven, may all my conduct be hallowed by Thy Spirit! Save me from everything that is vain and mean.
May even the trifles in my life be pervaded by the spirit of holiness! May everything aspire! May everything have wings to lift me nearer Thee!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
He that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.
Proverbs 13:13
Holy awe of God's Word is at a great discount. Men think of themselves as wiser than the Word of the Lord, and sit in judgment upon it. "So did not I, because of the fear of God." We accept the inspired Book as infallible, and prove our esteem by our obedience. We have no terror of the Word, but we have a filial awe of it. We are not in fear of its penalties, because we have a fear of its commands.
This holy fear of the commandment produces the restfulness of humility, which is far sweeter than the recklessness of pride. It becomes a guide to us in our movements; a drag when we are going down-hill, and a stimulus when we are climbing it. Preserved from evil and led into righteousness by our reverence of the command, we gain a quiet conscience, which is a well of wine; a sense of freedom from responsibility, which is as life from the dead; and a confidence of pleasing God, which is heaven below. The ungodly may ridicule our deep reverence for the Word of the Lord; but what of that? The prize of our high calling is a sufficient consolation for us. The rewards of obedience make us scorn the scorning of the scorner.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Galatians 6:14
Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ," by which he meant to say, "I have learned and am living in the power of the lesson, that the only pathway to power is that of the descent to death which must precede the ascent to the throne and the crown and the victory."
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
In that phrase John recorded the full and final impression made upon him and his fellow-disciples by their time of comradeship with Jesus Christ. They were written in all probability long years after that time of comradeship, so far as His bodily presence was concerned, was over. They lived with Him, travelled with Him, listened to His teaching, watched His works, and above all observed Him in all the circumstances of the varied days; and when the whole result needed to be written, John did it by saying, "Full of grace and truth." The description moreover, is given in a yet briefer way by the use of one word in the preceding parenthetical statement, they beheld His glory; and in the whole of that statement the sublimest truth is declared - it was "glory as of the Only begotten from the Father." Here then we find the content of the glory of God. It is the unity of grace and truth. Here then we have the exposition of grace and truth. It is found in Jesus Christ. These two ideas should hold our minds and direct our lives. God is grace, and truth. Not the one without the other; not the other apart from the one. In His government there can be no lowering of the simple and severe standard of Truth; and there is no departure from the purpose and passion of Grace. To say that, is to realize that the Cross was necessitated by the nature of God. Then, when we would know Truth we must know Jesus Christ; and when we would apprehend Grace we must come to Him.
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.