Daily Bible Notes: September, 14th
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
There were also with Him other little ships.
Mark 4:36
Jesus was the Lord High Admiral of the sea that night, and His presence preserved the whole convoy. It is well to sail with Jesus, even though it be in a little ship. When we sail in Christ’s company, we may not make sure of fair weather, for great storms may toss the vessel which carries the Lord Himself, and we must not expect to find the sea less boisterous around our little boat. If we go with Jesus we must be content to fare as He fares; and when the waves are rough to Him, they will be rough to us. It is by tempest and tossing that we shall come to land, as He did before us. When the storm swept over Galilee’s dark lake all faces gathered blackness, and all hearts dreaded shipwreck.
When all creature help was useless, the slumbering Saviour arose, and with a word, transformed the riot of the tempest into the deep quiet of a calm; then were the little vessels at rest as well as that which carried the Lord.
Jesus is the star of the sea; and though there be sorrow upon the sea, when Jesus is on it there is joy too. May our hearts make Jesus their anchor, their rudder, their lighthouse, their life-boat, and their harbour. His Church is the Admiral’s flagship, let us attend her movements, and cheer her officers with our presence. He Himself is the great attraction; let us follow ever in His wake, mark His signals, steer by His chart, and never fear while He is within hail. Not one ship in the convoy shall suffer wreck; the great Commodore will steer every barque in safety to the desired haven. By faith we will slip our cable for another day’s cruise, and sail forth with Jesus into a sea of tribulation. Winds and waves will not spare us, but they all obey Him; and, therefore, whatever squalls may occur without, faith shall feel a blessed calm within. He is ever in the centre of the weather-beaten company: let us rejoice in Him. His vessel has reached the haven, and so shall ours.
Evening
I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.
Psalm 32:5
David’s grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible upon his outward frame: "his bones waxed old"; "his moisture was turned into the drought of summer." No remedy could he find, until he made a full confession before the throne of the heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and his heart became more and more filled with grief: like a mountain tarn whose outlet is blocked up, his soul was swollen with torrents of sorrow.
He fashioned excuses; he endeavoured to divert his thoughts, but it was all to no purpose; like a festering sore his anguish gathered, and as he would not use the lancet of confession, his spirit was full of torment, and knew no rest. At last it came to this, that he must return unto his God in humble penitence, or die outright; so he hastened to the mercy-seat, and there unrolled the volume of his iniquities before the all-seeing One, acknowledging all the evil of his ways in language such as you read in the fifty-first and other penitential Psalms. Having done this, a work so simple and yet so difficult to pride, he received at once the token of divine forgiveness; the bones which had been broken were made to rejoice, and he came forth from his closet to sing the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven. See the value of a grace-wrought confession of sin! It is to be prized above all price, for in every case where there is a genuine, gracious confession, mercy is freely given, not because the repentance and confession deserve mercy, but for Christ’s sake . Blessed be God, there is always healing for the broken heart; the fountain is ever flowing to cleanse us from our sins. Truly, O Lord, Thou art a God "ready to pardon!" Therefore will we acknowledge our iniquities.
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Luke 18:9-14
9 He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.
10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: 'God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.'
13 But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."
THE SENSE OF WANT
"This man went down to his house justified rather than the other."
The Master sets the Pharisee and publican in contrast, and His judgment goes against the man who has made some progress in moral attainments, and favours the man who has no victories to show, but only a hunger for victory. The dissatisfied sinner is preferred to the self-satisfied saint. The Pharisee had gained an inch, but had lost his sense of the continent. The publican had not pegged out an inch of moral claim, but he had an overwhelming sense of the untrodden universe.
So this, I think, is the teaching for me. We are justified by the penitent sense of want and not by the boastful sense of possession. Our sense of lack is the measure of our hope, and our measure of hope determines the poverty or fulness of our communion with the Lord. The Pharisee had no "beyond," no realm of admiration, no hope! Aspiration was dead, and therefore inspiration had ceased. Our possibilities nestle in our cravings.
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
September 14th.
My Father, Thou canst make an old thing yield new treasure. Make this old day yield new surprises of grace.
May I be astonished at the fullness of the river of the water of life! May great multitudes share in the heavenly baptism!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the
Lord hath promised to them that love him.
James 1:12
Yes, he is blessed while he is enduring the trial. No eye can see this till it has been anointed with heavenly eye-salve. But he must endure it, and neither rebel against God, nor turn aside from his integrity. He is blessed who has gone through the fire, and has not been consumed as a counterfeit.
When the test is over, then comes the hall-mark of divine approval - "the crown of life." As if the Lord said, "Let him live; he has been weighed in the balances, and he is not found wanting." Life is the reward: not mere being; but holy, happy, true existence, the realization of the divine purpose concerning us. Already a higher form of spiritual life and enjoyment crowns those who have safely passed through fiercest trials of faith and love.
The Lord hath promised the crown of life to those who love him. Only lovers of the Lord will hold out in the hour of trial; the rest will either sink, or sulk, or slink back to the world. Come, my heart, dost thou love thy Lord? Truly? Deeply? Wholly? Then that love will be tried; but many waters will not quench it, neither will the floods drown it. Lord, let thy love nourish mine to the end.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
We cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard.
Acts 4:20, R.V.
The Spirit did not come to save you alone, but to make you a herald, a messenger, an evangelist, a soul on fire that the light may be flashed over the dark places of the earth.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Unite my heart to fear Thy Name.
Psalms 86:11
This Psalm is peculiar in that it is made up almost entirely of quotations from other Psalms. It is singularly individualistic. There are at least thirty occurrences of the personal pronoun in the first person singular. It is a very interesting exercise to read the Psalm rapidly, putting special emphasis upon these pronouns. To do that will reveal the fact that the song alternates between series of petitions and affirmations about God. Let us set this out - First series of petitions, verses 1-4; first affirmation, verse 5; second series of petitions, verses 6, 7; second affirmation, verses 8-10; third series of petitions, verses 11-14; third affirmation, verse 15; final series of petitions, verses 16, 17. The occurrences of the personal pronouns in the first person are all in the petitions. Thus the process of the song is revealed. It is that of a soul in prayer seeking to be brought into personal relation with the great truths about God which have general application. The complete quest of the singer is revealed in the great sentence at the heart of the song: "Unite my heart to fear Thy Name." Here was one who had intellectual apprehension of the truth about God, but who knew that something more was necessary, namely, that the whole personality should be unified in devotion. The method of this song is one which we do well to employ in those hours in which, all other persons being excluded, we wait upon God for the cultivation and culture of our personal life. We may be sincerely orthodox in all our beliefs about God, and yet fail completely to appropriate the resources of His grace and strength. This is only done as the heart is united to fear His Name, and so the whole personality is brought under His sway.
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.