Devotions from June 2023

Passage Read: Lamentations 1-4 Meditation Verses: 3:19-23 Thought These latter two verses are very famous and recited for comfort, but the context makes them even more tragic. In the midst of his affliction and the tragedy of the overthrow of Judah and Jerusalem, Jeremiah recognizes…

Passage Read: Lamentations 5 - Ezekiel 3 Meditation Verse: Ezekiel 3:27 Thought Ezekiel wasn't made responsible for the response of the people, but he was responsible for his response to the Lord. He was supposed to speak what the Lord told him, but he wasn't…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 4-7 Meditation Verse: 6:9 Thought God is grieved by our adulterous hearts, which turn away from Him, and our eyes, which lust after idols. He is jealous and heartbroken that we find Him lacking and unattractive, though He has given everything we…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 8-11 Meditation Verses: 9:9-10 Thought "The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see" was the excuse the Israelites gave for seeking other gods. But the truth was that they had sought other gods first, which caused the Lord to…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 12-15 Meditation Verse: 13:22 Thought There are workers of magic and lies that actually cause grief to the righteous and encourage the wicked not to turn from their wicked ways. They cause grief surely because they encourage people to remain in their…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 16-19 Meditation Verse: 16:63 Thought When God makes His atonement for our sins, it shouldn't result in pride and arrogance. That's what happened at the beginning, when God first chose Israel, they became prideful because they had been chosen by the Lord.

Passage Read: Ezekiel 20-23 Meditation Verse: 20:49 Thought No matter how clearly Ezekiel preaches, no matter how clearly the Lord prophesies through him, the people have a ready excuse to protect themselves from the Lord's message: He's just speaking parables! That way no one can…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 24-27 Meditation Verses: 24:13-14 Thought Judah refused to be cleansed of their impurity, their sin, but God would not give up on the nation. He would pour out His wrath on them until they were finally cleansed. They resisted and refused to…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 28-31 Meditation Verses: 31:10-12 Thought It doesn't matter how powerful a nation may become, how great it may be on the earth. It is still subject to the Lord and expected to honor Him. The nation or people who become proud, thinking…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 32-35 Meditation Verses: 33:18-20 Thought The Israelites wanted people to be established as either wicked or good, with no possibility of change. That was far easier than having to continually evaluate people to determine if they were evil or good. That was…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 36-39 Meditation Verse: 36:32 Thought The Lord was put to shame by the conduct of the Israelites. When he drove them out of the land, the people where they went all recognized that they were the people of the Lord, but had…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 40-43 Meditation Verse: 42:20 Thought This idea of the holy and common still needing a separation has come up several times in Ezekiel. Today we want to eliminate the difference, but this is about the future, either during the reign of Christ…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 44-47 Meditation Verse: 47:12 Thought This is a clue that suggests all this about the sanctuary and the sacrifices and the coming division of the land take place during the reign of Christ. There will be Israelites who survive the wrath of…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 48 - Daniel 3 Meditation Verse: Daniel 2:30 Thought Daniel is trying to match Moses for title of most humble man on earth! Daniel understood that he was no great wise man, but merely a servant of the Lord and of the…

Passage Read: Daniel 4-7 Meditation Verses: 5:19-20 Thought When God makes a man king, that man has complete authority over those entrusted to him. He can either use that authority for good or for evil, for his own selfish ends or for the good of…

Passage Read: Daniel 8-11 Meditation Verse: 11:35 Thought God allows hard things to come upon even the faithful servants of God, even on the wise. He allows them to be pressed and tempted and even fall, so that they can be refined, purified and made…

Passage Read: Daniel 12 - Hosea 3 Meditation Verse: Hosea 3:1 Thought The Lord loves the Israelites, even though they pay no attention to Him, but lavish their affections on other gods. The Lord doesn't stop loving Israel, even though she doesn't deserve His love.

Passage Read: Hosea 4-7 Meditation Verse: 7:14 Thought God has many things against the Israelites; they sin against Him regularly. They are very good at it, very prolific in their evil. He longs to redeem them, but they lie to Him and lie against Him.

Passage Read: Hosea 8-11 Meditation Verse: 11:9 Thought The Lord is longsuffering indeed. He is frustrated to the point of destroying Israel, but He then is reminded of His compassion and can't follow through with it. Yet He does. But He also determines to bring…

Passage Read: Hosea 12 - Joel 1 Meditation Verses: Joel 1:13-15 Thought The priests are the last to understand how desperate times have become. Only when the people are so impoverished that they no longer have money and crops to offer as sacrifices, only then…

Passage Read: Joel 2 - Amos 2 Meditation Verses: Joel 2:12-14 Thought The Lord is willing and able to restore the autumn and spring rains, if His people humble themselves and plead for mercy. He calls for fasting and weeping and mourning, but not just…

Passage Read: Amos 3-6 Meditation Verses: 6:3-7 Thought There are those who choose to ignore the obvious, the sin of Israel and God's anger over nothing being done about it. Instead they lounge around in all their wealth and comfort, they dine on whatever delicacies…

Passage Read: Amos 7 - Obadiah 1 Meditation Verse: Amos 8:4 Thought Greed is behind so much evil today, whether it is those who are making so much money or those who are envious of the rich. All are motivated by greed, and greed makes…

Passage Read: Jonah 1-4 Meditation Verse: 1:12 Thought Jonah, in effect, cared more about these sailors than about his own life or the life of the Ninevites. He was willing to drown to save the sailors because he thought it would prevent the Ninevites from…

Passage Read: Micah 1-4 Meditation Verses: 3:11-12 Thought Zion will be destroyed because of her leaders. Rulers judge for a bribe, priests teach for a price and prophets tell fortunes for money. All are greedy for gain, none seek the Lord, understand His ways and…

Passage Read: Micah 5 - Nahum 1 Meditation Verse: Micah 5:2 Thought The priests of Jesus's day knew that the Messiah was supposed to be both in Bethlehem based on this verse, but they didn't recognize that his origin was from of old and from…

Passage Read: Nahum 2 - Habakkuk 2 Meditation Verses: Habakkuk 2:3-4 Thought This revelation doesn't answer Habakkuk's original complaint, but goes much bigger and further than that. This chapter speaks of the end of days and the punishment of all wicked, especially the great conqueror…

Passage Read: Habakkuk 3 - Zephaniah 3 Meditation Verse: Zephaniah 2:3 Thought Humility and obedience, humility and righteousness are combined here. The Lord calls out to the humble of the land who do what He commands, He calls them to seek righteousness and to seek…

Passage Read: Haggai 1 - Zechariah 2 Meditation Verses: Haggai 2:18-19 Thought Haggai began prophesying on the first day of the sixth month, and 24 days later the leaders and the people responded in obedience and began building the temple of the Lord again. It…

Passage Read: Zechariah 3-6 Meditation Verse: 6:15 Thought The people of Judah are building a temple right now, but Zechariah is prophesying about the Branch who will be a priest and king, like Melchizedek and in the same place as Melchizedek! When the Branch comes,…