Daily Bible Notes: September, 5th
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
Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.
Psalm 120:5
As a Christian you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry "Woe is me." Jesus did not pray O that you should be taken out of the world, and what He did not pray for you need not desire. Better far in the Lord’s strength to meet the difficulty, and glorify Him in it. The enemy is ever on the watch to detect inconsistency in your conduct; be therefore very holy . Remember that the eyes of all are upon you, and that more is expected from you than from other men. Strive to give no occasion for blame. Let your goodness be the only fault they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel them to say of you, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." Seek to be useful as well as consistent.
Perhaps you think, "If I were in a more favourable position I might serve the Lord’s cause, but I cannot do any good where I am"; but the worse the people are among whom you live, the more need have they of your exertions; if they be crooked, the more necessity that you should set them straight; and if they be perverse, the more need have you to turn their proud hearts to the truth. Where should the physician be but where there are many sick? Where is honour to be won by the soldier but in the hottest fire of the battle? And when weary of the strife and sin that meets you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the same trial. They were not carried on beds of down to heaven, and you must not expect to travel more easily than they. They had to hazard their lives unto the death in the high places of the field, and you will not be crowned till you also have endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, "stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."
Evening
Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?
Job 38:16
Some things in nature must remain a mystery to the most intelligent and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has bounds beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this be so in the things which are seen and temporal, I may rest assured that it is even more so in matters spiritual and eternal. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with speculations as to destiny and will, fixed fate, and human responsibility? These deep and dark truths I am no more able to comprehend than to find out the depth which coucheth beneath, from which old ocean draws her watery stores. Why am I so curious to know the reason of my Lord’s providences, the motive of His actions, the design of His visitations? Shall I ever be able to clasp the sun in my fist, and hold the universe in my palm? yet these are as a drop of a bucket compared with the Lord my God. Let me not strive to understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love. What I cannot gain by intellect I can possess by affection, and let that suffice me. I cannot penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the healthful breezes which sweep over its bosom, and I can sail over its blue waves with propitious winds. If I could enter the springs of the sea, the feat would serve no useful purpose either to myself or to others, it would not save the sinking bark, or give back the drowned mariner to his weeping wife and children; neither would my solving deep mysteries avail me a single whit, for the least love to God, and the simplest act of obedience to Him, are better than the profoundest knowledge. My Lord, I leave the infinite to Thee, and pray Thee to put far from me such a love for the tree of knowledge as might keep me from the tree of life.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Matthew 9:18-26
18 While he told these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshipped him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live."
19 Jesus got up and followed him, as did his disciples.
20 Behold, a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment;
21 for she said within herself, "If I just touch his garment, I will be made well."
22 But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, "Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour.
23 When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd in noisy disorder,
24 he said to them, "Make room, because the girl isn't dead, but sleeping." They were ridiculing him.
25 But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose.
26 The report of this went out into all that land.
FAITH AND RIDICULE
And, so one man's faith is more than a match for many people's scorn. The steady trust of the ruler was not shaken by the rude flippancy of the artificial mourners, and his daughter was brought from the dead. "This is the victory that overcometh, even our faith." Everything bows, like fragile reeds, before the march of a victorious faith. Scorn, and hatred, and all manner of devilry, and death itself, all lose their power in the presence of a belief which remains steady and steadfast. "Said I not unto thee that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God?"
And what an infinite reservoir of power is waiting to be tapped by the hand of faith! A ruler believes and his daughter is vitalized. A poor woman, bent and broken, reaches out her thin, frail hand, and lo! she is erect and graceful as the pine! And "my sufficiency is of God!" All that I may need is in the same wonderful reservoir of grace. That healing flood is like the ocean fulness, and it will fill every bay, and cove, and creek in the wide-stretching shore of human need.
- "The healing of His seamless dress
Is by our beds of pain,
We touch Him in life's throng and press,
And we are whole again."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
September 5th.
My gracious Lord, wilt Thou lead me into Thy truth? Deliver me from all prejudices and bigotry, and may I have an open
mind and heart for the reception of Thy Truth! May I love the light and seek it!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
The Lord will be with you. 2 Chronicles 20:17
This was a great mercy for Jehoshaphat, for a great multitude had come out against him; and it will be a great mercy for me, for I have great need, and I have no might or wisdom. If the Lord be with me, it matters little who may desert me. If the Lord be with me, I shall conquer in the battle of life, and the greater my trials the more glorious will be my victory. How can I be sure that the Lord is with me?
For certain he is with me if I am with him. If I trust in his faithfulness, believe his words, and obey his commands, he is assuredly with me. If I am on Satan's side God is against me, and cannot be otherwise; but if I live to honour God I may be sure that he will honour me.
I am quite sure that God is with me if Jesus is my sole and only Saviour. If I have placed my soul in the hands of God's Only-begotten Son, then I may be sure that the Father will put forth all his power to preserve me, that his Son may not be dishonoured.
Oh for faith to take hold upon the short but sweet text for to-day! O Lord, fulfil this word to thy servant! Be with me in the house, in the street, in the field, in the shop, in company, and alone. Be thou also with all thy people.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Walk as children of light.
Ephesians 5:8
The children of God are to walk as children of the day, even though as yet the night is round about them. They already feel the breath of the morning moving through the darkness, and, casting off the garments of the night, they are to clothe themselves with the armour of light, and watch for the first gleam of the breaking dawn.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.
Psalms 77:10
This verse cuts this Psalm clean in two, and changes its note from the minor to the major. Its first part, "And I said this is my infirmity," summarized all that the singer had said of his own suffering. This suffering had been so intense that he had come to feel that God had forsaken him. The agonized questions of verses 7, 8 and 9 show this. Then suddenly the whole note changes, and the change is brought about by the apprehension of truth revealed in the second part of this verse. It should be observed that the words in italics, "But I will remember," are not in the text; they were supplied by the translators in a desire to make sense. In my judgment it is better to omit them. If we do so, there remains what is virtually an exclamation: "The years of the right hand of the Most High!" That was the truth, the, apprehension of which turned the song from a dirge to a psalm of praise. It did not come to the singer as the result of his own volition, but as a sudden illumination. He saw the years, all of them, those of his suffering also, as in the right hand of God. Then he began to make mention, to meditate, to muse, on the deeds, the work, the doings of God. To do that, was to find answers to his questions. The Lord had not cast off; He had not ceased to be favourable; His mercy was not gone; His promise could not fail; He had not forgotten to be gracious; He had not shut up His tender mercies. If the use of the phrase, "The right hand of God" in these Hebrew Scriptures, be considered, the reason of the change in the song will be discovered. If our years are years of His right hand, then all is well, even our sufferings.
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.