Devotions from June 2024

Passage Read: Isaiah 43-46 Meditation Verses: 43:21-25 We were created to praise and honor the Lord, but instead we become weary of Him. He asks too much, He requires from us too much. Sacrifice and offering, obedience and submission. We want to go our own…

Passage Read: Isaiah 47-50 Meditation Verse: 50:10 Those who fear the Lord and obey His voice can still walk in darkness and not see light. That's when he must trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. That's the test. Will…

Passage Read: Isaiah 51-54 Meditation Verse: 54:17 This verse is so much more then what is usually quoted, and the overlooked part is so much better than the oft-quoted part! No weapon formed against God's people will prosper, not for long. Every tongue that accuses…

Passage Read: Isaiah 55-58 Meditation Verses: 58-1-3 The Lord has a lot against Judah, even though they seek Him day by day and delight to know His ways. They believe they are a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the Lord's…

Passage Read: Isaiah 59-62 Meditation Verse: 59:4 How true this is, from the least of us to the greatest. No one is completely honest. We trust in confusion and misdirection, and even speak lies. We don't sue righteously or plead honestly. We present the side…

Passage Read: Isaiah 63-66 Meditation Verse: 66:24 One day, we will be able to look on all those people who rejected the Lord, as they suffer torment. Their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched. They will be visible to all…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 1-4 Meditation Verse: 1:17 Jeremiah is a youth, yet he is called by God to proclaim His message of judgment and warning. He is called to speak to rulers and nations and crowds of people, and God warns him not to be…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 5-8 Meditation Verse: 6:16 Ecclesiastes tells us not to ask why the former days were better than the present, for that doesn't come from wisdom. But God tells Jeremiah that we should be seeking out the former ways, the ancient paths, the…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 9-12 Meditation Verse: 11:6 Jeremiah was commanded to go through the cities of Judah and streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the Lord's covenant that the people had violated. City by city, town by town in Judah, and street by street in Jerusalem. There…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 13-16 Meditation Verses: 14:13-16 The Lord tells Jeremiah not to pray for the people because there is no hope for them; they will be cast out of the Lord's land. But Jeremiah sees the problem: Their prophets are telling them that everything…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 17-20 Meditation Verses: 20:7-8 This is the hard part of truly knowing the Lord and seeing as He sees. Every time Jeremiah opens his mouth, he speaks destruction and disaster and violence against his people. That's all he sees for his people,…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 21-24 Meditation Verses: 23:28-29 God is against all the prophets who speak out of their own ideas and dreams, who do not speak the Word of the Lord, but speak their own ideas and call them "the Word of the Lord." Yet…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 25-28 Meditation Verses: 28:13-17 It is interesting that God put Hananiah to death within three months of challenging Jeremiah's prophecy. There were other false prophets who didn't die, but did they take warning, at least for a short time? Worse than that,…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 29-32 Meditation Verses: 32:38-41 In the previous chapter, God tells of the new covenant He will make with the house of Israel, they He will put His law in their hearts, that all will know Him and no longer need anyone to…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 33-36 Meditation Verses: 34:15-16 The Israelites proclaimed freedom for the slaves they had made of their fellow Israelites, finally doing something that was right in the eyes of the Lord. They should have done it for each one at the end of…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 37-40 Meditation Verse: 38:17-18 If Zedekiah had humbled himself and surrendered to the king of Babylon, Jerusalem would have been spared. He had power to rescue the city and the temple. But he refused and so both were destroyed. He thought he…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 41-44 Meditation Verses: 42:19-22 God's word is far more clear than we're willing to admit. We claim that it is unclear or not really God's word, but some person's interpretation, and so we let ourselves off the hook. But we're only deceiving…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 45-48 Meditation Verses: 48:11-12 It is easy to think much of oneself when you have never been tested. It is easy to think you are very strong when you have never been attacked. Moab sat undisturbed for so long that they became…

Passage Read: Jeremiah 49-52 Meditation Verse: 51:5 The Lord has not forsaken Israel, though they have sinned greatly before the Lord. He has put many to death that did not repent, that refused to change their ways and worship Him alone, but He did not…

Passage Read: Lamentations 1-4 Meditation Verses: 4:13-16 The prophets and priests sinned against the Lord, shedding the blood of the righteous in their streets, so the people became defiled with blood. They themselves cried out that they were unclean, and the nations refused to give…

Passage Read: Lamentations 5 - Ezekiel 3 Meditation Verse: Ezekiel 3:7 Jesus says something similar to His disciples: Those people who are willing to listen to Jesus, to God, will listen to those who are sent by Him, who teach His Word. If they are…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 4-7 Meditation Verses: 7:2-4 Judgment begins with the people of God. How can He righteously judge the nations for their abominations if He let's His own people get away with worse things (5:6)? He will judge the nations that have plundered His…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 8-11 Meditation Verses: 11:17-21 The exiles are considered by those still in Jerusalem to be those rejected by God, but God has instead removed them from the land in order to protect them from the disaster He has planned against those who…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 12-15 Meditation Verses: 14:3-8 God sees the heart. He knows who seeks Him in truth and who seeks Him as just another possibility. In Israel, they had idols carved on the walls of the temple or standing around the temple or on…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 16-19 Meditation Verses: 18:19-22 Why would anyone be upset that the son does not bear the consequences of the father's sin? Why would Israel say that the Lord is unjust because he doesn't bring punishment on the son, who did no evil,…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 20-23 Meditation Verses: 20:33-38 God is so frustrated by His people. They continually go astray. They continually turn away from Him and embrace idols and go their own wicked way. They have profaned Him and His house again and again. They never…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 24-27 Meditation Verse: 24:14 Israel is beloved by the Lord. Jerusalem is His chosen dwelling place. Yet they have defiled themselves; they have cast off restraint and tossed aside the Law of the Lord. They do as they please. They do as…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 28-31 Meditation Verses: 29:6-7 The Lord promises destruction on Egypt because they were an unreliable help to Israel. Most of the nations around Israel have derided them and mocked them and rejoiced over Israel's misery, so the Lord has promised to destroy…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 32-35 Meditation Verses: 34:2-6 The shepherds of Israel didn't care for the Lord's flock, they didn't care for the welfare of the people, but only their own welfare. They abused the sheep and used the sheep, but couldn't be bothered to care…

Passage Read: Ezekiel 36-39 Meditation Verses: 36:33-36 These prophecies of Israel being restored to their land have been partially fulfilled: They have been restored to their land and it is miraculous. But they have not had wickedness removed far from them. They have been blessed…