Daily Bible Notes: September, 26th
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
The myrtle trees that were in the bottom.
Zechariah 1:8
The vision in this chapter describes the condition of Israel in Zechariah’s day; but being interpreted in its aspect towards us, it describes the Church of God as we find it now in the world. The Church is compared to a myrtle grove flourishing in a valley. It is hidden , unobserved, secreted; courting no honour and attracting no observation from the careless gazer.
The Church, like her head, has a glory, but it is concealed from carnal eyes, for the time of her breaking forth in all her splendour is not yet come. The idea of tranquil security is also suggested to us: for the myrtle grove in the valley is still and calm, while the storm sweeps over the mountain summits. Tempests spend their force upon the craggy peaks of the Alps, but down yonder where flows the stream which maketh glad the city of our God, the myrtles flourish by the still waters, all unshaken by the impetuous wind. How great is the inward tranquility of God’s Church!
Even when opposed and persecuted, she has a peace which the world gives not, and which, therefore, it cannot take away: the peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps the hearts and minds of God’s people.
Does not the metaphor forcibly picture the peaceful, perpetual growth of the saints? The myrtle sheds not her leaves, she is always green; and the Church in her worst time still hath a blessed verdure of grace about her; nay, she has sometimes exhibited most verdure when her winter has been sharpest. She has prospered most when her adversities have been most severe. Hence the text hints at victory . The myrtle is the emblem of peace, and a significant token of triumph . The brows of conquerors were bound with myrtle and with laurel; and is not the Church ever victorious? Is not every Christian more than a conqueror through Him that loved him? Living in peace, do not the saints fall asleep in the arms of victory?
Evening
Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen.
Zechariah 11:2
When in the forest there is heard the crash of a falling oak, it is a sign that the woodman is abroad, and every tree in the whole company may tremble lest to-morrow the sharp edge of the axe should find it out. We are all like trees marked for the axe, and the fall of one should remind us that for every one, whether great as the cedar, or humble as the fir, the appointed hour is stealing on apace. I trust we do not, by often hearing of death, become callous to it. May we never be like the birds in the steeple, which build their nests when the bells are tolling, and sleep quietly when the solemn funeral peals are startling the air. May we regard death as the most weighty of all events, and be sobered by its approach. It ill behoves us to sport while our eternal destiny hangs on a thread. The sword is out of its scabbard - let us not trifle; it is furbished, and the edge is sharp - let us not play with it. He who does not prepare for death is more than an ordinary fool, he is a madman. When the voice of God is heard among the trees of the garden, let fig tree and sycamore, and elm and cedar, alike hear the sound thereof.
Be ready, servant of Christ, for thy Master comes on a sudden, when an ungodly world least expects Him. See to it that thou be faithful in His work, for the grave shall soon be digged for thee. Be ready, parents, see that your children are brought up in the fear of God, for they must soon be orphans; be ready, men of business, take care that your affairs are correct, and that you serve God with all your hearts, for the days of your terrestrial service will soon be ended, and you will be called to give account for the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil. May we all prepare for the tribunal of the great King with a care which shall be rewarded with the gracious commendation, "Well done, good and faithful servant"
2. "My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by J.H.Jowett
John 6:26-35
26 Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.
27 Don't work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him."
28 They said therefore to him, "What must we do, that we may work the works of God?"
29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
30 They said therefore to him, "What then do you do for a sign, that we may see and believe you? What work do you do?
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.' "
32 Jesus therefore said to them, "Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn't Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven.
33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."
34 They said therefore to him, "Lord, always give us this bread."
35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
MY LORD AS MY BREAD
Our life's bread is a Person. We may have much to do with Christianity and nothing to do with Christ. The other day I was in a great and wonderful bakery, but I never ate nor touched a morsel of bread. I touched the machinery. I was absorbingly interested in the processes, but I ate no bread! And I may be deeply interested in the means of grace, I may be familiar with all "the ins and outs" of ecclesiastical machinery, and I may never handle nor taste "the bread of God." Our religion is dead and burdensome until it becomes a personal relation, and we have vital communion with Christ.
"Thou, O Christ, art all I want." We find everything in Him. Everything else is preliminary, preparatory, subordinate, and to be in the long run dropped and forgotten. A ritual is only a way to "the bread," and by no means essential, and very often undesirable. The heart can find the Lord with a look, with a cry, and needs no obtrusion of ritual or priest. But how pathetic! To be contented to potter about among the ritual and never to find the Bread! To be in the house and never to see the Host! "Ye search the Scriptures ... and ye will not come to Me."
3. "Yet Another Day - A Prayer for Every Day of the Year" by John H.Jowett
September 26th.
My Father, at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. May I be able to appreciate Thy delights!
May I learn even now to enjoy the things of God! Deliver me from all carnal delights, and set my mind upon the things that are above!
4. "The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith" by C.H.Spurgeon.
Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
Numbers 23:9
Who would wish to dwell among the nations, and to be numbered with them? Why, even the professing church is such that to follow the Lord fully within its bounds is very difficult. There is such a mingling and mixing that one often sighs for "a lodge in some vast wilderness."
Certain it is that the Lord would have his people follow a separated path as to the world, and come out decidedly and distinctly from it. We are set apart by the divine decree, purchase, and calling, and our inward experience has made us greatly to differ from men of the world; and therefore our place is not in their Vanity Fair, nor in their City of Destruction, but in the narrow way where all true pilgrims must follow their Lord.
This may not only reconcile us to the world's cold shoulder and sneers, but even cause us to accept them with pleasure as being a part of our covenant portion. Our names are not in the same book, we are not of the same seed, we are not bound for the same place, neither are we trusting to the same guide, therefore it is well that we are not of their number. Only let us be found in the number of the redeemed, and we are content to be odd and solitary to the end of the chapter.
5. "The Morning Message" by G.Campbell Morgan.
They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them ... My chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Isaiah 65:21,22, R.V.
It will be a great change; but when Jesus is King, profit shall go to the toilers.
6. "An Evening Meditation" taken from "Searchlights from the Word" by G.Campbell Morgan.
Out of them all the Lord delivered me.
2 Timothy 3:11
The reference of the Apostle was to "things which befell" him, to "persecutions" he "endured"; for they were specific references, for he named the places - Antioch, Iconium, Lystra. What were his experiences then in these places? The story is told in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the Book of the Acts. The men of Antioch "cast them out of their borders." From Iconium they "fled," knowing that there was an intention to "stone" them. At Lystra Paul was "stoned," and his enemies "dragged him out of the city supposing that he was dead." Such were the things that befell him; such the persecutions he endured. Now, looking back, Paul referred to them only to place on record his sense of the deliverances of the Lord. This is always the experience of the servants of the Master as they look back over the pathway. They do not forget the disappointment of being cast out, the bitterness of having to fly, the pain and exhaustion of the stoning; but they are more impressed with the fact of the governance of the Lord, and of how He has always delivered His own. His ways of deliverance are very varied. Sometimes He saves His servants from stoning by causing their enemies to cast them out. Sometimes He saves them from stoning by making known to them the intentions of their foes, and so enabling them to escape. Sometimes He does not deliver them from stoning, but delivers them beyond the stoning, and sends them on their way enriched with new visions, and a new sense of the sufficiency of His grace. Whether in this way, or in that, He never fails to deliver.
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.