Daily Bible Notes: September, 24th
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
For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him; but His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him.
Ezra 8:22
A convoy on many accounts would have been desirable for the pilgrim band, but a holy shame-facedness would not allow Ezra to seek one. He feared lest the heathen king should think his professions of faith in God to be mere hypocrisy, or imagine that the God of Israel was not able to preserve His own worshippers. He could not bring his mind to lean on an arm of flesh in a matter so evidently of the Lord, and therefore the caravan set out with no visible protection, guarded by Him who is the sword and shield of His people. It is to be feared that few believers feel this holy jealousy for God; even those who in a measure walk by faith, occasionally mar the lustre of their life by craving aid from man. It is a most blessed thing to have no props and no buttresses, but to stand upright on the Rock of Ages, upheld by the Lord alone. Would any believers seek state endowments for their Church, if they remembered that the Lord is dishonoured by their asking Caesar’s aid? as if the Lord could not supply the needs of His own cause! Should we run so hastily to friends and relations for assistance, if we remembered that the Lord is magnified by our implicit reliance upon His solitary arm? My soul, wait thou only upon God. "But," says one, "are not means to be used?" Assuredly they are; but our fault seldom lies in their neglect: far more frequently it springs out of foolishly believing in them instead of believing in God. Few run too far in neglecting the creature’s arm; but very many sin greatly in making too much of it. Learn, dear reader, to glorify the Lord by leaving means untried, if by using them thou wouldst dishonour the name of the Lord.
Evening
I sleep, but my heart waketh.
Song of Solomon 5:2
Paradoxes abound in Christian experience, and here is one - the spouse was asleep, and yet she was awake. He only can read the believer’s riddle who has ploughed with the heifer of his experience. The two points in this evening’s text are - a mournful sleepiness and a hopeful wakefulness. I sleep . Through sin that dwelleth in us we may become lax in holy duties, slothful in religious exercises, dull in spiritual joys, and altogether supine and careless. This is a shameful state for one in whom the quickening Spirit dwells; and it is dangerous to the highest degree. Even wise virgins sometimes slumber, but it is high time for all to shake off the bands of sloth. It is to be feared that many believers lose their strength as Samson lost his locks, while sleeping on the lap of carnal security. With a perishing world around us, to sleep is cruel; with eternity so near at hand, it is madness. Yet we are none of us so much awake as we should be; a few thunder-claps would do us all good, and it may be, unless we soon bestir ourselves, we shall have them in the form of war, or pestilence, or personal bereavements and losses. O that we may leave for ever the couch of fleshly ease, and go forth with flaming torches to meet the coming Bridegroom! My heart waketh . This is a happy sign. Life is not extinct, though sadly smothered. When our renewed heart struggles against our natural heaviness, we should be grateful to sovereign grace for keeping a little vitality within the body of this death. Jesus will hear our hearts, will help our hearts, will visit our hearts; for the voice of the wakeful heart is really the voice of our Beloved, saying, "Open to me." Holy zeal will surely unbar the door. "Oh lovely attitude! He stands With melting heart and laden hands; My soul forsakes her every sin; And lets the heavenly stranger in."
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
Matthew 14:23-33
23 After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone.
24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, distressed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It's a ghost!" and they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Cheer up! It is I! Don't be afraid."
28 Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters."
29 He said, "Come!" Peter stepped down from the boat, and walked on the waters to come to Jesus.
30 But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"
31 Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"
32 When they got up into the boat, the wind ceased.
33 Those who were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, "You are truly the Son of God!"
AFTER THE TRIUMPH!
After the great miracle of feeding the multitude our Lord "went up into a mountain to pray." May we reverently wonder if it was a season of temptation? Did they want to make Him a King? Was our human Lord assailed by "the destruction that wasteth at noonday"? And did He shut Himself up with the Father?
I am so disposed to pray up to my successes, and to cease to pray in them! I remember God in my struggles, I forget Him in my attainments. I hold fellowship with Him on the road, I part company with Him when I arrive. I become a practical atheist in the midst of my successes. My only security is to go up into a mountain apart and pray. Unless I become closeted with God, and see all things in their true colours and proportion, I shall be lifted up in most unholy and destructive pride.
And let me notice that our Lord returned from His privacy with the Father to do even greater miracles still. He had appeased the pangs of hunger; now He appeases the passion of the sea. And so in my degree shall it be with me. If in all my triumphs I remain the humble companion of the Lord, my triumphs shall be repeated and enriched. "Greater works than these shall ye do."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
September 24th.
My Lord Christ, wilt Thou give me a new vision of Thyself to-day? Give me to see some beauty in Thy character that I
may appropriate it in my life! May I put on a little of Thy grace! May I become a little wealthier in Thy jewels, and richer in the forces of the Spirit!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live.
Ezekiel 47:9
The living waters, in the prophet's vision, flowed into the Dead Sea, and carried life with them, even into that stagnant lake. Where grace goes, spiritual life is the immediate and the everlasting consequence. Grace proceeds sovereignly according to the will of God, even as a river in all its windings follows its own sweet will; and wherever it comes it does not wait for life to come to it, but it creates life by its own quickening flow. Oh that it would pour along our streets, and flood our slums! Oh that it would now come into my house, and rise till every chamber were made to swim with it! Lord, let the living water flow to my family and my friends, and let it not pass me by. I hope I have drunk of it already; but I desire to bathe in it, yea, to swim in it, O my Saviour, I need life more abundantly. Come to me, I pray thee, till every part, of my nature is vividly energetic and intensely active. Living God, I pray thee, fill me with thine own life.
I am a poor, dry stick; come and make me so to live that, like Aaron's rod, I may bud and blossom and bring forth fruit unto thy glory. Quicken me, for the sake of my Lord Jesus. Amen.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight.
2 Peter 3:14, R.V.
In our younger days we imagine that we know the possibilities of our being, and are able to plan and arrange the whole line of progress. The years are startling revealers. As they pass, we discover new powers for good and evil, that had lain dormant within, and of which we had absolutely no consciousness until some crisis aroused and called forth to action the sleeping forces.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
The unfeigned faith that is in thee; which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice.
2 Timothy 1:5
Two matters arrest our attention in these words: first, the description of faith, and second, the transmission of faith. The description of the faith of Timothy as "unfeigned" is very striking. Unfeigned faith is faith that is not pretended; that is, it is true, it is real, and therefore it is trustworthy. So long as there lurks a suspicion of doubt in faith; or so long as a man's faith is for outward confession, and does not carry the man with it, it is faulty and weak, and not to be depended on. A man can live a better life, and do a better work, on a genuine faith in a small thing, than a pretended faith in a big thing. In Paul's first letter to Timothy, he had placed "unfeigned faith" in company with "a pure conscience"; and said that out of these love proceeds (1 Tim. 1:5). It is good to seek after such a faith. Then we notice that Paul said that this quality of faith was found in Timothy's mother, Eunice, and in his grandmother Lois. There is a sense in which faith cannot be transmitted by parents to their children. Every individual must exercise faith for himself or herself. But it is also true that it is very difficult for some children not to believe, because of what they have seen of the power of faith in their parents. We cannot bequeath faith to our children, but we can make it much easier for them to believe by our own faith. And that is specially true of "unfeigned faith."
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.