Devotions from March 2023

Passage Read: Esther 7-10 Meditation Verses: 9:1-2 It's like God arranged this whole thing just so the Jews could destroy their enemies. They had been living side by side with those who hated them, and there must have been an uneasy peace, or else their…

Passage Read: Job 1-4 Meditation Verses: 4:5-6 Wow! The first words in response to Job's expressed grief are, "Trouble comes to you and you are discouraged; it strikes you and you are dismayed." Does Eliphaz not understand what had happened to Job? Does he not…

Passage Read: Job 5-8 Meditation Verse: 8:4 Wow, that is brutal! To tell someone in such distress straight out that their children obviously sinned and God killed them in an instant for it, that is merciless. And where is God's mercy? Doesn't Bildad recognize the…

Passage Read: Job 9-12 Meditation Verses: 10:12-17 This is oppressive, to live under such a concept, that God is good to you until you mess up, then He pounces and pours out all kinds of trouble on you. There is a faithful discipline that He…

Passage Read: Job 13-16 Meditation Verses: 15:14-16 Wow! This is what we teach and believe today! There is no hope for man, he is utterly hopeless in his wickedness! But this isn't what Job says, these are the words of Eliphaz, who got God wrong!…

Passage Read: Job 17-20 Meditation Verses: 19:2-5 If Job's friends truly care about him, then they are driven by compassion to bring him to repentance, so that the Lord will forgive him and restore His favor to him. Surely they're not gloating over him! But…

Passage Read: Job 21-24 Meditation Verse: 24:1 Job is frustrated that wicked men seem to get along just fine and judgment doesn't come soon enough. He lists here all kinds of ways they get away with their evil, how they plot and carry out their…

Passage Read: Job 25-28 Meditation Verses: 28:3-4 Man goes through great and terrible effort to obtain precious gems and metals, but nowhere near the same effort to gain wisdom. Wisdom is not so difficult to find, but few seek it, because wisdom requires fearing the…

Passage Read: Job 29-32 Meditation Verses: 31:13-15 Job understood that though he had servants, yet he was no different from them. He understood that he too was a servant of God and would be judged by how he treated others, even his slaves. He owed…

Passage Read: Job 33-36 Meditation Verse: 36:13 Elihu is rougher on Job than any of Job's friends. He is brutal in his assessment of Job. Because of that he is far off the mark of understanding what Job is suffering and what God is doing.

Passage Read: Job 37-40 Meditation Verse: 37:13 Elihu, and then God, both indicate that God uses bad weather to discipline or bless men. So God's intent should be considered when bad weather happens. Good weather obviously is the result of His mercy and grace, since…

Passage Read: Job 41 - Psalm 2 Meditation Verse: Job 41:11 Our arrogance is that we think God owes us something, when in truth we owe Him everything. There is nothing He owes us but what He binds Himself to provide. We are His, and…

Passage Read: Psalm 3-6 Meditation Verses: 6:8-10 The psalmist is hopeful, even confident that the Lord will hear his prayer and deliver him, especially when he's been grieving and weeping through the night. The Lord is inclined towards the humble, towards the weak, towards those…

Passage Read: Psalm 7-10 Meditation Verses: 10:12-14 Why does God not call the wicked to account right now? Why doesn't He catch them in their wickedness and rebuke them? If He wants them to repent, why does He not say anything to them, warn them,…

Passage Read: Psalm 11-14 Meditation Verses: 11:5-7 The Lord loves the righteous but hates the wicked. The truth is, there are those who love evil and will not turn from it. There are such things as wicked men, and God hates them from the bottom…

Passage Read: Psalm 15-18 Meditation Verses: 16:1-2 The psalmist prays for safety and affirms his trust in the Lord, more than that, he declares that his greatest treasure is the Lord. The most important thing in life is not to seek wealth or prosperity, but…

Passage Read: Psalm 19-22 Meditation Verses: 22:1-3 The psalmist cries out to God but receives no answer, yet he acknowledges that God still reigns as King. Though He is silent, it doesn't mean He is non-existent, it doesn't mean He doesn't care. In effect, it…

Passage Read: Psalm 23-26 Meditation Verse: 24:1 The world and everything in it belongs to the Lord, so He gets to make the rules, and He gets to decide who remains and who is cast out. He sets the standards and we must abide by…

Passage Read: Psalm 27-30 Meditation Verse: 27:14 Sometimes we just have to wait for the goodness of the Lord to show up. He does allow hard things to come, if for no other reason than to drive us to Him. When my heart says to…

Passage Read: Psalm 35-38 Meditation Verses: 32:1-5 It is the man who confesses his sins who is forgiven, who enjoys the favor of the Lord. It is not the man who covers over his sin, who pretends he has not sinned or who redefines sin…

Passage Read: Psalm 35-38 Meditation Verses: 35:12-14 David doesn't start off wishing for the destruction of the wicked; he cares about these people, even when they do him harm. He repays good for evil, seeks their good continually. But there comes a point when despite…

Passage Read: Psalm 39-42 Meditation Verses: 39:10-11 The more sin, the more rebuke; the worse the sin, the more the rebuke; the less I listen and change, the more the rebuke. For any number of reasons, the Lord's rebuke can increase or continue. I need…

Passage Read: Psalm 43-46 Meditation Verses: 44:15-17 "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted," Paul wrote, and that is the truth. The psalmist is confessing that truth here: Though he has done nothing wrong in the eyes of the Lord,…

Passage Read: Psalm 47-50 Meditation Verses: 50:16-17 God knows full well who is righteous and who is wicked. Though both recite His words and claim loyalty and love, He sees who walks in obedience and who ignores His Word. That is the distinction between the…

Passage Read: Psalm 51-54 Meditation Verses: 52:5-7 The psalmist calls out the evil man, asking why he boasts of evil, and warning him that he will be destroyed. Then he says the righteous will see the destruction and fear, but also laugh at the man…

Passage Read: Psalm 55-58 Meditation Verses: 58:1-3 There is a kind of man that will not heed the charmer's tune, that will not repent of their evil and submit to righteousness. We all are filled with evil thoughts from childhood, but some of us become…

Passage Read: Psalm 59-62 Meditation Verses: 62:4-7 The man who seeks the Lord and walks in His ways can trust in the Lord, even though everyone fights against him. The key is to have a clear conscience before God. As John says, if our hearts…

Passage Read: Psalm 63-66 Meditation Verses: 66:10-12 The Lord tested them and refined them like silver, by imprisoning them, humbling them, placing heavy burdens on them, letting others rule over them, taking them through fire and water, before finally bringing them to a place of…

Passage Read: Psalm 67-70 Meditation Verses: 69:26-28 There are those who believe they are saved, maybe even trusted in the Lord at some point, but turn and become some of the worst people on the face of the earth. Like the Pharisees of old, the…

Passage Read: Psalm 71-74 Meditation Verses: 73:1-3 How easy it is to get caught up in living just for this life. Those who care nothing about God give all their time and effort to gathering wealth or things or both, to make their lives more…

Passage Read: Psalm 75-78 Meditation Verses: 78:21-22 An interesting verse in light of the storms predicted this afternoon. Do I trust in the Lord for deliverance? If everything we own is destroyed, is the Lord yet able to deliver us? Do I trust that He…