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
Mar 11, 2022, 8:45 AM
Passage Read: Job 29-32
Meditation Verses: 31:13-15
Thought
Though Job owned slaves, he did not consider himself better than them. He recognized that he and they alike were human and made by God, so he treated them with dignity and respect. He considered carefully their complaints against him, knowing that how he treated them would be the basis for how God treated him. He knew that God cared about his slaves as much as He cared about Job.
Mar 10, 2022, 8:46 AM
Passage Read: Job 25-28
Meditation Verses: 28:12-13
Thought
This is so true: Men do not understand the value of wisdom. It is far more precious that silver or gold or iron or bronze. Men risk their lives for such stones and trinkets, they spend all their days searching for them and gathering them. They boast and brag about the amount they have collected, and then they go seek some more. But wisdom? Wisdom is something they think they gain without trying, just by living and enduring, in the process of chasing after their rocks and stones.
Mar 9, 2022, 8:48 AM
Passage Read: Job 21-24
Meditation Verses: 23:11-12
Thought
Eliphaz is tired of Job's complaining and claiming innocence, so now he makes wild accusations. Surely Job has done something wrong in order to incur this suffering from God! But here Job declares his innocence, and not just innocence, but faithfulness! He has followed hard after God, walking in His ways according to all he understands. He has not only been diligent to obey, but he has delighted in the Lord's words.
Mar 8, 2022, 8:49 AM
Passage Read: Job 17-20
Meditation Verses: 19:21-22, 25-26
Thought
In the midst of his grief, knowing that God has struck him but not understanding why, still Job knows that one day he will stand before God who will redeem him. He is very bitter in his soul, he is convinced that God is punishing him for some wrong that he can't see, but he is also convinced that the Lord Himself will redeem him. He still hopes in the Lord's goodness and trust in Him for salvation.
Mar 7, 2022, 8:50 AM
Passage Read: Job 13-16
Meditation Verses: 13:23-24
Thought
Job wants to know what he's done wrong. He doesn't understand, he doesn't know what he did to provoke the Lord to bring such punishment upon him. His understanding only allowed him to believe that he has done wrong and so provoked the Lord; it couldn't be anything else. And though he believes himself to be unjustly punished, he also considers that there may be something he doesn't realize to be sin in him.
Mar 6, 2022, 8:52 AM
Passage Read: Job 9-12
Meditation Verse: 10:3
Thought
Job has worked hard to be righteous, so that he expects everything to go well for him. He has done everything he knows to do in order to satisfy God's requirements. So when this happens, he cannot understand. Because his righteousness is more about him than about God. He does what is right for his own good rather than simply because it is right and God deserves his obedience. If he understood that his life was for God, to show God as right, then his confidence in his righteousness wouldn't lead him to question God and even accuse God of wrong.
Mar 5, 2022, 8:53 AM
Passage Read: Job 5-8
Meditation Verses: 7:17-21
Thought
Even Job thinks he must have sinned, but he has no idea what. So to him it seems that God is constantly watching and looking for his every mistake, for his slightest failure. He has been working so hard to get things right, to please God, he even offers sacrifice for his children when they finish a round of feasting, just in case they sinned in the process. He has been so careful and now he is sure the Lord caught him in a sin and hammered him for it.
Mar 4, 2022, 8:54 AM
Passage Read: Job 1-4
Meditation Verses: 4:17-20
Thought
Eliphaz has seen a spirit, but I don't think this is an angel of God. This sounds like an accuser, possibly The Accuser, Satan himself. Where did this question about man being more righteous than God come from? Godly men don't seek to be purer or more righteous than God, they only seek to attain to His righteousness. And God does entrust tasks to His angels, and to men, though He certainly superintends all things, to help them succeed, not because He is suspicious of them, but because neither have all power as He does.
Mar 3, 2022, 8:41 AM
Passage Read: Esther 7-10
Meditation Verses: 8:11-12
Thought
The Lord didn't remove this trial from the people, but gave them permission to assemble and face it together. Instead of being scattered and easily overcome, they could join together and defend themselves. And God granted them success. I wonder how many Jews actually gave credit to God. He is no where mentioned in this book. The only hint that they might have prayed to Him is in the fasting, but really they could have prayed to anyone!
Mar 2, 2022, 8:43 AM
Passage Read: Esther 3-6
Meditation Verse: 6:13
Thought
Where was this advice earlier, when Haman started casting lots to determine the day of destruction for all Jews? Where was this advice when they counseled him to build a gallows for Mordecai? These are fair weather counselors, who only see the trouble after it is too late! They set him on this path, or at least failed to warn him when there was a chance to avoid his own downfall. Haman's whole purpose was to wipe out the Jews because it was too small a thing just to kill Mordecai.
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