Daily Bible Notes: September, 3rd
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
Thou whom my soul loveth.
Song of Solomon 1:7
It is well to be able, without any "if" or "but," to say of the Lord Jesus - "Thou whom my soul loveth ." Many can only say of Jesus that they hope they love Him; they trust they love Him; but only a poor and shallow experience will be content to stay here. No one ought to give any rest to his spirit till he feels quite sure about a matter of such vital importance.
We ought not to be satisfied with a superficial hope that Jesus loves us, and with a bare trust that we love Him. The old saints did not generally speak with "buts," and "ifs," and "hopes," and "trusts," but they spoke positively and plainly. "I know whom I have believed," saith Paul. "I know that my Redeemer liveth," saith Job. Get positive knowledge of your love of Jesus, and be not satisfied till you can speak of your interest in Him as a reality, which you have made sure by having received the witness of the Holy Spirit, and His seal upon your soul by faith.
True love to Christ is in every case the Holy Spirit’s work, and must be wrought in the heart by Him. He is the efficient cause of it; but the logical reason why we love Jesus lies in Himself. Why do we love Jesus? Because He first loved us. Why do we love Jesus? Because He "gave Himself for us ." We have life through His death; we have peace through His blood.
Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. Why do we love Jesus? Because of the excellency of His person . We are filled with a sense of His beauty! an admiration of His charms! a consciousness of His infinite perfection! His greatness, goodness, and loveliness, in one resplendent ray, combine to enchant the soul till it is so ravished that it exclaims, "Yea, He is altogether lovely." Blessed love this - a love which binds the heart with chains more soft than silk, and yet more firm than adamant!
Evening
The Lord trieth the righteous.
Psalm 11:5
All events are under the control of Providence; consequently all the trials of our outward life are traceable at once to the great First Cause. Out of the golden gate of God’s ordinance the armies of trial march forth in array, clad in their iron armour, and armed with weapons of war. All providences are doors to trial. Even our mercies, like roses, have their thorns. Men may be drowned in seas of prosperity as well as in rivers of affliction. Our mountains are not too high, and our valleys are not too low for temptations: trials lurk on all roads. Everywhere, above and beneath, we are beset and surrounded with dangers. Yet no shower falls unpermitted from the threatening cloud; every drop has its order ere it hastens to the earth. The trials which come from God are sent to prove and strengthen our graces, and so at once to illustrate the power of divine grace, to test the genuineness of our virtues, and to add to their energy. Our Lord in His infinite wisdom and superabundant love, sets so high a value upon His people’s faith that He will not screen them from those trials by which faith is strengthened. You would never have possessed the precious faith which now supports you if the trial of your faith had not been like unto fire. You are a tree that never would have rooted so well if the wind had not rocked you to and fro, and made you take firm hold upon the precious truths of the covenant grace. Worldly ease is a great foe to faith; it loosens the joints of holy valour, and snaps the sinews of sacred courage. The balloon never rises until the cords are cut; affliction doth this sharp service for believing souls. While the wheat sleeps comfortably in the husk it is useless to man, it must be threshed out of its resting place before its value can be known. Thus it is well that Jehovah trieth the righteous, for it causeth them to grow rich towards God.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 2:1-11
1 The third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus' mother was there.
2 Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the wedding.
3 When the wine ran out, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no wine."
4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever he says to you, do it."
6 Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews' way of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece.
7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the water pots with water." So they filled them up to the brim.
8 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast." So they took it.
9 When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn't know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom
10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!"
11 This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
MY SHARE IN THE MIRACLE
Our Lord always demands our best. He will not work with our second-best. His gracious "extra" is given when our own resources are exhausted. We must do our best before our Master will do His miracle. We must "fill the water-pots with water"! We must bring "the five loaves and two fishes"! We must "let down the net"! We must be willing "to be made whole," and we must make the effort to rise! Yes, the Lord will have my best.
Our Lord transforms our best into His better. He changes water into wine. He turns the handful of seed into a harvest. Our aspirations become inspirations. Our willings become magnetic with the mystic power of grace. Our bread becomes sacramental, and He Himself is revealed to us at the feast. Our ordinary converse becomes a Divine fellowship, and "our hearts burn within us" as He talks to us by the way.
And our Lord ever keeps His best wine until the last. "Greater things than these shall ye do!" "I will see you again," and there shall be grander transformations still! "The best is yet to be." "Dreams cannot picture a world so fair." "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
September 3rd.
Holy Spirit, may my consecration grow deeper and richer every day! May Thy grace have an ever-widening dominion! May Thy
kingdom come within me! Through me may it come to others!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves.
Ezekiel 37:13
Indeed it must be so: those who receive life from the dead are sure to recognize the hand of the Lord in such a resurrection. This is the greatest and most remarkable of all changes that a man can undergo - to be brought out of the grave of spiritual death, and made to rejoice in the light and liberty of spiritual life. None could work this but the living God, the Lord and giver of life.
Ah me! how well do I remember when I was lying in the valley full of dry bones, as dry as any of them! Blessed was the day when free and sovereign grace sent the man of God to prophesy upon me! Glory be to God for the stirring which that word of faith caused among the dry bones. More blessed still was that heavenly breath from the four winds which made me live! Now know I the quickening Spirit of the ever-living Jehovah. Truly Jehovah is the living God, for he made me live. My new life even in its pinings and sorrowings is clear proof to me that the Lord can kill and make alive, He is the only God. He is all that is great, gracious, and glorious, and my quickened soul adores him as the great I AM. All glory be unto his sacred name! As long as I live I will praise him.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Hebrews 2:18
In every weakness of man's life He was strong, and in the great crisis of temptation He overcame with majestic might, and so completely broke the power of the enemy, that forevermore Satan is the conquered foe of the race.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
When I shall find the set time, I will judge uprightly. The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved. I have set up the pillars of it.
Psalms 75:2; 3
This is a Psalm of high exaltation, celebrating some victory of God over a proud enemy. The editor of the collection has beautifully placed it next to the one in which the central note was that of the affirmation that in spite of all appearances God is King and at work for salvation. This Psalm celebrates some event wherein that faith was vindicated. Its form is dramatic, and in these two verses the singer gives expression to the truths which had been illustrated by the victory, and he does so in the speech of God Himself. The first statement, "When I shall find the set time, I will judge uprightly," reveals the time and method of the Divine activity. His time is "the set time." That is, He acts, never too soon and never too late. It is a great word. To believe it is to be patient. His method is one of uprightness. In this statement the pronoun "I" is emphatic. Whatever others may do or think, God's judgment is ever upright. The second declaration, "The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved, I have set up the pillars of it," brings into relationship the same two sets of facts to which we referred in the last note. First, the fact of the upheaval and break-up of all earthly order: and second, the fact of the maintenance of the fundamental things of earthly order by the act of God. There may be apparent and indeed very real dissolution of all human organization and order; but the true pillars of the earth are God-established; and cannot be broken down. This conviction is the citadel of the soul.
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.