Daily Bible Notes: October, 19th
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
Babes in Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:1
Are you mourning, believer, because you are so weak in the divine life: because your faith is so little, your love so feeble? Cheer up, for you have cause for gratitude. Remember that in some things you are equal to the greatest and most full-grown Christian . You are as much bought with blood as he is. You are as much an adopted child of God as any other believer. An infant is as truly a child of its parents as is the full-grown man. You are as completely justified, for your justification is not a thing of degrees: your little faith has made you clean every whit. You have as much right to the precious things of the covenant as the most advanced believers, for your right to covenant mercies lies not in your growth, but in the covenant itself; and your faith in Jesus is not the measure, but the token of your inheritance in Him. You are as rich as the richest, if not in enjoyment, yet in real possession. The smallest star that gleams is set in heaven; the faintest ray of light has affinity with the great orb of day. In the family register of glory the small and the great are written with the same pen. You are as dear to your Father’s heart as the greatest in the family. Jesus is very tender over you. You are like the smoking flax; a rougher spirit would say, "put out that smoking flax, it fills the room with an offensive odour!" but the smoking flax He will not quench. You are like a bruised reed; and any less tender hand than that of the Chief Musician would tread upon you or throw you away, but He will never break the bruised reed. Instead of being downcast by reason of what you are, you should triumph in Christ. Am I but little in Israel? Yet in Christ I am made to sit in heavenly places. Am I poor in faith? Still in Jesus I am heir of all things. Though "less than nothing I can boast, and vanity confess." yet, if the root of the matter be in me I will rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the God of my salvation.
Evening
God, my Maker, who giveth songs in the night.
Job 35:10
Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest or sends home a loaded argosy. It is easy enough for an Aeolian harp to whisper music when the winds blow - the difficulty is for music to swell forth when no wind is stirring. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is skilful who sings when there is not a ray of light to read by - who sings from his heart. No man can make a song in the night of himself; he may attempt it, but he will find that a song in the night must be divinely inspired. Let all things go well, I can weave songs, fashioning them wherever I go out of the flowers that grow upon my path; but put me in a desert, where no green thing grows, and wherewith shall I frame a hymn of praise to God? How shall a mortal man make a crown for the Lord where no jewels are? Let but this voice be clear, and this body full of health, and I can sing God’s praise: silence my tongue, lay me upon the bed of languishing, and how shall I then chant God’s high praises, unless He Himself give me the song? No, it is not in man’s power to sing when all is adverse, unless an altar-coal shall touch his lip. It was a divine song, which Habakkuk sang, when in the night he said, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Then, since our Maker gives songs in the night , let us wait upon Him for the music. O Thou chief musician, let us not remain songless because affliction is upon us, but tune Thou our lips to the melody of thanksgiving.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Luke 12:35-40
35 "Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.
36 Be like men watching for their lord, when he returns from the wedding feast; that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him.
37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will dress himself, make them recline, and will come and serve them.
38 They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so.
39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into.
40 Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don't expect him."
READY!
"Let your loins be girded about."
Loose garments can be very troublesome. An Oriental robe, if left ungirdled, entangles the feet, or is caught by the wind and hinders one's goings. And therefore the wearer binds the loose attire together with a girdle, and makes it firm and compact about his body. And loose principles can be more dangerous than loose garments. Indefinite opinions, caught by the passing wind of popular caprice, are both a peril and a burden. Many people go through life with loose beliefs and purposes, and they never arrive at any glorious goal. "Let your loins be girded about." Bind your loose thinkings together with the girdle of truth into firm and saving conviction.
"And your lights burning."
Be ready for the emergency. When the darkness falls, don't have to hasten away to buy oil. Look after your resources, and be competent to meet the crisis when it comes. Let the light of conscience be burning with clear flame, like a brilliant lighthouse on a dangerous shore. Let the light of love be burning, like a lamp which sends its friendly, cheery beams to the pilgrims of the night. "Our sufficiency is of God," and the oil of grace will keep the lights burning through the longest night.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
October 19th.
My Father, may I become a more fervent lover of the truth as is in Jesus! Save me from indifference.
Save me from that familiarity which sees no wonder in His life and death. May I walk with reverence, that new visions may ever break upon my eyes!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
I will correct thee in measure.
Jeremiah 30:11
To be left uncorrected would be a fatal sign: it would prove that the Lord had said, "He is given unto idols, let him alone." God grant that such may never be our portion! Uninterrupted prosperity is a thing to cause fear and trembling. As many as God tenderly loves he rebukes and chastens: those for whom he has no esteem he allows to fatten themselves without fear, like bullocks for the slaughter. It is in love that our heavenly Father uses the rod upon his children.
Yet see, the correction is "in measure": he gives us love without measure, but chastisement "in measure." As under the old law no Israelite could receive more than the "forty stripes save one," which ensured careful counting and limited suffering, so is it with each afflicted member of the household of faith - every stroke is counted. It is the measure of wisdom, the measure of sympathy, the measure of love, by which our chastisement is regulated. Far be it from us to rebel against appointments so divine. Lord, if thou standest by to measure the bitter drops into my cup, it is for me cheerfully to take that cup from thy hand, and drink according to thy directions, saying "Thy will be done."
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.
Hebrews 6:9
To say, "I have been crucified with Christ," and then to have a heart that never feels the throb of the world's agony, is to lie. If indeed I have been crucified with Him, then by that Cross I know the world's sin and love the world; by that Cross I know the world's sorrow and my life must be poured out in order to help save the world.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
This is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light.
John 3:19
Here the word judgment has the sense of condemnation, the verdict and sentence against men; and so the principle is revealed upon which men are judged. It is always that of the coming of light, and the opportunity which it creates. The coming of Christ was the coming of light. In Him we know the truth about God, and about ourselves. Thus in Him we know the truth about our relationship to God, and what our life ought to be. The special truth about God revealed in Him, is that of the Divine love, which makes possible, at infinite cost, the healing and restoration of those who have sinned and failed to realize the meaning of their own lives. That is the burden of the context. If men refuse to avail themselves of this Divine grace, they are by that refusal declining to walk in the light, and so are condemned. The reason why men love darkness is that they desire the things which the light condemns. Here is the mystery of lawlessness. It knows that the things of darkness are things of destruction, and yet for the momentary experience it deliberately rejects the things of light which are the things of life. And here each soul stands alone. The light is shining. Shall we come to it and walk in it? Or shall we shun it and walk in darkness? The choice is personal. But the verdict is already found. Upon our answer depends whether we are condemned or justified.
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.