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Daily Bible Notes: September, 22nd

The following daily bible notes for every day of the year, are taken from six public domain sources:

  1. "Morning and Evening" by Charles H.Spurgeon
  2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by John H.Jowett
  3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
  4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by Charles H.Spurgeon
  5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan
  6. An Evening Meditation from "Searchlights from the Word" by G. Campbell Morgan

1. "Morning and Evening" by C.H.Spurgeon

Morning

Let Israel rejoice in him.
Psalm 149:2

Be glad of heart, O believer, but take care that thy gladness has its spring in the Lord . Thou hast much cause for gladness in thy God, for thou canst sing with David, "God, my exceeding joy." Be glad that the Lord reigneth, that Jehovah is King! Rejoice that He sits upon the throne, and ruleth all things! Every attribute of God should become a fresh ray in the sunlight of our gladness. That He is wise should make us glad, knowing as we do our own foolishness. That He is mighty , should cause us to rejoice who tremble at our weakness. That he is everlasting, should always be a theme of joy when we know that we wither as the grass. That He is unchanging , should perpetually yield us a song, since we change every hour. That He is full of grace, that He is overflowing with it, and that this grace in covenant He has given to us; that it is ours to cleanse us, ours to keep us, ours to sanctify us, ours to perfect us, ours to bring us to glory - all this should tend to make us glad in Him. This gladness in God is as a deep river; we have only as yet touched its brink, we know a little of its clear sweet, heavenly streams, but onward the depth is greater, and the current more impetuous in its joy. The Christian feels that he may delight himself not only in what God is, but also in all that God has done in the past. The Psalms show us that God’s people in olden times were wont to think much of God’s actions, and to have a song concerning each of them. So let God’s people now rehearse the deeds of the Lord! Let them tell of His mighty acts, and "sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously."

Nor let them ever cease to sing, for as new mercies flow to them day by day, so should their gladness in the Lord’s loving acts in providence and in grace show itself in continued thanksgiving. Be glad ye children of Zion and rejoice in the Lord your God.

Evening

When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.
Psalm 61:2

Most of us know what it is to be overwhelmed in heart; emptied as when a man wipeth a dish and turneth it upside down; submerged and thrown on our beam ends like a vessel mastered by the storm. Discoveries of inward corruption will do this, if the Lord permits the great deep of our depravity to become troubled and cast up mire and dirt. Disappointments and heart-breaks will do this when billow after billow rolls over us, and we are like a broken shell hurled to and fro by the surf. Blessed be God, at such seasons we are not without an all-sufficient solace, our God is the harbour of weather-beaten sails, the hospice of forlorn pilgrims. Higher than we are is He, His mercy higher than our sins, His love higher than our thoughts. It is pitiful to see men putting their trust in something lower than themselves; but our confidence is fixed upon an exceeding high and glorious Lord. A Rock He is since He changes not, and a high Rock, because the tempests which overwhelm us roll far beneath at His feet; He is not disturbed by them, but rules them at His will. If we get under the shelter of this lofty Rock we may defy the hurricane; all is calm under the lee of that towering cliff. Alas! such is the confusion in which the troubled mind is often cast, that we need piloting to this divine shelter. Hence the prayer of the text. O Lord, our God, by Thy Holy Spirit, teach us the way of faith, lead us into Thy rest. The wind blows us out to sea, the helm answers not to our puny hand; Thou, Thou alone canst steer us over the bar between yon sunken rocks, safe into the fair haven. How dependent we are upon Thee - we need Thee to bring us to Thee. To be wisely directed and steered into safety and peace is Thy gift, and Thine alone. This night be pleased to deal well with Thy servants.


2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett

1 Kings 17:8-16

8 The LORD's word came to him, saying,

9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you."

10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, "Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink."

11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

12 She said, "As the LORD your God lives, I don't have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.

14 For the LORD, the God of Israel says, 'The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.' "

15 She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days.

16 The jar of meal didn't run out, and the jar of oil didn't fail, according to the LORD's word, which he spoke by Elijah.

THE HANDFUL OF MEAL

What marvellous "coincidences" are prepared by Providential grace! The poor widow is unconsciously ordained to entertain the prophet! The ravens will be guided to the brook Cherith! "I have commanded them to feed thee there." Our road is full of surprises. We see the frowning, precipitous hill, and we fear it, but when we arrive at its base we find a refreshing spring! The Lord of the way had gone before the pilgrim. "I go to prepare ... for you."

But how strange that a widow with only "a handful of meal" should be "commanded" to offer hospitality! It is once again "the impossible" which is set before us. It would have been a dull commonplace to have fed the prophet from the overflowing larder of the rich man's palace. But to work from an almost empty cupboard! That is the surprising way of the Lord. He delights to hang great weights on apparently slender wires, to have great events turn on seeming trifles, and to make poverty the minister of "the indescribable riches of Christ."

The poor widow sacrificed her "handful of meal," and received an unfailing supply. And this, too, is the way of the Lord.


3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett

September 22nd.
Saviour of the world, I would remember all who are seeking to make Thee known. May their experience of Thy grace breathe added power into their speech! May they have visions which will make their ministry a delight! Through them may the world see Thee!


4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.

But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
Isaiah 33:21

The Lord will be to us the greatest good without any of the drawbacks which seem necessarily to attend the best earthly things. If a city is favoured with broad rivers, it is liable to be attacked by galleys with oars, and other ships of war. But when the Lord represents the abundance of his bounty under this figure, he takes care expressly to shut out the fear which the metaphor might suggest. Blessed be his perfect love!

Lord, if thou send me wealth like broad rivers do not let the galley with oars come up in the shape of worldliness or pride. If thou grant me abundant health and happy spirits, do not let "the gallant ship" of carnal ease come sailing up the flowing flood. If I have success in holy service, broad as the German Rhine, yet let me never find the galley of self-conceit and self-confidence floating on the waves of my usefulness. Should I be so supremely happy as to enjoy the light of thy countenance year after year, yet let me never despise thy feeble saints, nor allow the vain notion of my own perfection to sail up the broad rivers of my full assurance. Lord, give me that biessing which maketh rich, and neither addeth sorrow, nor aideth sin.


5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.

God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.
Acts 2:36, R.V.

It is a sad commentary upon the blindness of the human heart through sin, that the vast mass of the people who came into contact with Jesus during the years of His sojourn upon the earth, saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. Through the process of the centuries, and by the teaching of the Spirit, men are coming to understand the wonderful glory and beauty of His Person and character, and are now recognising that all perfection of life, individually, socially, religiously, finds in Him its first and chief expression.


6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.

If any provideth not for his own, and specially his own household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 5:8

Paul was instructing Timothy as to the duty of the Church in the matter of caring for the poor of the flock, especially in the case of such as were widows. That the Church has such a responsibility he made perfectly clear, but he also showed with care how it ought to be safeguarded. Throughout the whole teaching, it is evident that the Apostle considered that in all such matters responsibility first lay with the family (see verses 4 and 16). In our verse this conception finds central and general expression, and nothing could be clearer or more positive. The statement is characterized by that sane, practical common-sense which is everywhere discoverable in Paul's outlook on life. A man's very first responsibility is that of his own, his own household. No call on him must be allowed to take precedence of that, not even that of the work of the Church, and certainly not that of his own pleasures. To neglect to make such provision is to deny the faith, for the faith is that of the way of love in all its most practical bearings. The believer who does so, is worse than an unbeliever, for common human instincts, apart from the teaching of Christ, will prompt a pagan to care for his own flesh and blood. All this is very commonplace, but it is of the utmost importance; for Christianity is the transfiguration of the commonplace, and in proportion as it enables a man to realize all human obligations on the highest level, he is thereby recommending it to others. In a word like this, there is serious rebuke for some, and there is much of comfort for others. The family is God's first circle of society, and it is man's first sphere of responsibility.


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.