Personal Devotions
Notes from Mark's personal Bible reading and meditation
With a goal to apply one truth from each day's reading to my life that day
Feb 23, 2025, 1:02 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 12-15
Meditation Verses: 14:8-10
Thought
Amaziah wanted to fight Jehoash and sent him a challenge. Very noble. He didn't just attack Israel and provoke them to war. He wanted to fight him, but more as a contest than as actual war.
Feb 22, 2025, 4:13 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 8-11
Meditation Verses: 10:30-31
Thought
Jehu obeyed the commission of the Lord. Unlike David, he was anointed king and commanded to kill all the house of Ahab. He wasn't supposed to wait for the current king to die, but to take his life and the life of all his descendants, anyone who belonged to Ahab.
Feb 21, 2025, 1:08 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 4-7
Meditation Verses: 5:9-11
Thought
Naaman was a hero to his people, great in their eyes and in the eyes of his king. But he was humiliated by this leprosy. For all his greatness, people would be afraid to be around him.
Feb 20, 2025, 1:08 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 22 - 2 Kings 3
Meditation Verses: 2 Kings 2:6-9
Thought
Elijah tested Elisha three times, encouraging him to remain behind at different points while Elijah went on to his point of departure. Elisha knew that Elijah would soon be departing, and refused to leave his side.
Feb 19, 2025, 1:08 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 18-21
Best Verse: 21:25-29
Thought
The Lord is determined to reward those who humble themselves before Him. He wants to forgive, not destroy men.
Feb 18, 2025, 1:08 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 14-17
Meditation Verses: 15:3-5
Thought
The Lord desired to do good to His people, and to keep His promise to David. Because of that, the people were able to disregard His commands and live, even prosper to a degree.
Feb 17, 2025, 1:06 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 10-13
Meditation Verses: 11:38-39
Thought
Solomon turned from the Lord later in life, under the influence of the women he loved. He loved his wives more then the Lord and more than his father David, so he provoked the Lord to uphold His end of the warning.
Feb 16, 2025, 3:35 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 6-9
Meditation Verse: 8:53
Thought
Did Solomon understand that the Lord's intent was not simply to single out the Israelites and make them His own people, and exclude all the rest? God made all people and deserves the worship of all His creation.
Feb 15, 2025, 9:07 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 2-5
Meditation Verses: 2:3-4
Thought
David's charge to Solomon is first that he walk in obedience to all the Law of God, so that he can enjoy the favor of God and prosper in all he does and wherever he goes.
Feb 14, 2025, 1:12 AM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 22 - 1 Kings 1
Meditation Verses: 1 Kings 1:7-10
Thought
Solomon's appointment as next in line for the throne was public knowledge, at least among the leaders of Israel. Adonijah knew it too, and so he didn't invite Solomon or Nathan the prophet or Zadok the priest or Benaiah and his guard.