Daily Bible Notes: September, 2nd
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
But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell Him of her.
Mark 1:30
Very interesting is this little peep into the house of the Apostolic Fisherman. We see at once that household joys and cares are no hindrance to the full exercise of ministry, nay, that since they furnish an opportunity for personally witnessing the Lord’s gracious work upon one’s own flesh and blood, they may even instruct the teacher better than any other earthly discipline. Papists and other sectaries may decry marriage, but true Christianity and household life agree well together. Peter’s house was probably a poor fisherman’s hut, but the Lord of Glory entered it, lodged in it, and wrought a miracle in it. Should our little book be read this morning in some very humble cottage, let this fact encourage the inmates to seek the company of King Jesus. God is oftener in little huts than in rich palaces. Jesus is looking round your room now, and is waiting to be gracious to you. Into Simon’s house sickness had entered, fever in a deadly form had prostrated his mother-in-law, and as soon as Jesus came they told Him of the sad affliction, and He hastened to the patient’s bed. Have you any sickness in the house this morning? You will find Jesus by far the best physician, go to Him at once and tell Him all about the matter.
Immediately lay the case before Him. It concerns one of His people, and therefore will not be trivial to Him. Observe, that at once the Saviour restored the sick woman; none can heal as He does. We may not make sure that the Lord will at once remove all disease from those we love, but we may know that believing prayer for the sick is far more likely to be followed by restoration than anything else in the world; and where this avails not, we must meekly bow to His will by whom life and death are determined. The tender heart of Jesus waits to hear our griefs, let us pour them into His patient ear.
Evening
Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
John 4:48
A craving after marvels was a symptom of the sickly state of men’s minds in our Lord’s day; they refused solid nourishment, and pined after mere wonder. The gospel which they so greatly needed they would not have; the miracles which Jesus did not always choose to give they eagerly demanded. Many nowadays must see signs and wonders, or they will not believe. Some have said in their heart, "I must feel deep horror of soul, or I never will believe in Jesus." But what if you never should feel it, as probably you never may? Will you go to hell out of spite against God, because He will not treat you like another? One has said to himself, "If I had a dream, or if I could feel a sudden shock of I know not what, then I would believe." Thus you undeserving mortals dream that my Lord is to be dictated to by you! You are beggars at His gate, asking for mercy, and you must needs draw up rules and regulations as to how He shall give that mercy. Think you that He will submit to this? My Master is of a generous spirit, but He has a right royal heart, He spurns all dictation, and maintains His sovereignty of action. Why, dear reader, if such be your case, do you crave for signs and wonders? Is not the gospel its own sign and wonder? Is not this a miracle of miracles, that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish"? Surely that precious word, "Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely" and that solemn promise, "Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out," are better than signs and wonders! A truthful Saviour ought to be believed. He is truth itself. Why will you ask proof of the veracity of One who cannot lie? The devils themselves declared Him to be the Son of God; will you mistrust Him?
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 4:43-54
43 After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.
44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country.
45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.
46 Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48 Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe."
49 The nobleman said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
51 As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying "Your child lives!"
52 So he enquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him."
53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." He believed, as did his whole house.
54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
PRAYER AND REVOLUTION
This miracle began in a prayer. The nobleman went unto Jesus "and besought Him." In such apparently fragile things can mighty revolutions be born! "Prayer," said Tennyson, "opens the sluice-gates between us and the Infinite." It brings the frail wire into contact with the battery. It links together man and God.
Prayer was corroborated by belief. "The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him." By our faith we cut the channels along which the healing energy will flow. Faith "prepares the way of the Lord." Our faith is purposed to be a fellow-laborer with grace, and, if faith be absent, grace "can do no mighty works."
The healing begins with the faith. "It was at the same hour in which ... he himself believed." These "coincidences" are inevitable happenings in the realm of the Spirit. When we offer the believing prayer, God's mighty energies begin to besiege the life for which the prayer is made. Mr. Cornaby, the Methodist missionary, declares how conscious he is in far-away China when someone is interceding for him in the home-land! The power possesses him in vitalizing flood! Hudson Taylor's mother shuts herself in a little room to pray, and eighty miles away her son is converted.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
September 2nd.
Gracious Saviour, remove all hindrances to true discipleship which lurk in me. May I love to be near Thee!
May I be unhappy if I appear to be drifting away! Keep me by Thy side.
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.
Hosea 6:3
Not all at once, but by degrees shall we attain to holy knowledge, and our business is to persevere and learn by little and little. We need not despair, though our progress may be slow, for we shall yet know. The Lord, who has become our teacher, will not give us up, however slow of understanding we may be; for it is not for his honour that any degree of human folly should baffle his skill. The Lord delights to make the simple wise.
Our duty is to keep to our main topic, and follow on to know, not this peculiar doctrine nor that, but Jehovah himself To know Father, Son, and Spirit, the Triune God, this is life eternal: let us keep to this, for in this way we shall gain complete instruction. By following on to know the Lord, we learn healing after being torn, binding up after smiting, and life after death. Experience has its perfect work when the heart follows the trackway of the Almighty Lord.
My soul, keep thou close to Jesus, follow on to know God in Jesus, and so shalt thou come to the knowledge of Christ, which is the most excellent of all the sciences. The Holy Ghost will lead thee into all truth. Is not this his gracious office? Rely upon him to fulfil it.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us ... nailing it to his cross.
Colossians 2:14
Justification must be infinitely more than forgiveness. Sin must be put away, and made to be as though it had not been ... To be justified before God is to be put into such condition that no trace remains of the guilt of sin. That is the problem which is solved in the Cross.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Psalms 74:12
"Yet" is sometimes a vital word. It is so here, introducing us to a new realm of facts. In the early part of the song, we have a graphic description of the utter-most desolation. The conditions were actual. All that the singer had said constitutes a statement of facts which were patent. But there was more to be said, and the Psalmist introduced the more by this significant word "Yet.". The great declaration is, that in spite of all appearances, God is King, and God is at work in order to salvation. The patent facts were indeed terrible. The Holy Country had been devastated by relentless foes; the Sacred Temple had been desecrated by fire; the City of the King had been reduced to ruins; many of the people had been slain; the Nation had become the scorn of her enemies; all the signs of Divine relationship were obliterated. Things could hardly be worse to the eyes of sight. Then came the declaration of what the eyes of faith beheld. In spite of all these apparent contradictions, God was seen as King, working for salvation. This is ever the victory of faith, and it is the victory of the highest reason. In considering any situation, it is unreasonable to leave out any fact, and it is sheer madness to forget the greatest fact of all. The man of faith is never blind to the desolation. He sees clearly all the terrible facts. But he sees more. He sees God. Therefore, his last word is never desolation: it is rather salvation. The remainder of the Psalm reveals two arguments for the faith of the singer. The one is that of the witness of history to the fact of God's mighty workings; the other is that of the testimony of Nature. To these we may ever add the final argument, that of the revelation of God in Christ.
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.