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
May 21, 2022, 2:42 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 1-4
Meditation Verses: 3:11-15
Thought
Apostasy is when people who should know God turn to other gods, while still claiming to follow the Lord. They claim to belong to the Lord, but they also seek the help of other gods, worshiping gods more interesting and fun than the Lord. They do not walk in obedience to the Lord, but do whatever they think is right. A great apostasy must come before the Antichrist can show himself. And that apostasy is already greatly under way.
May 20, 2022, 2:34 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 63-66
Meditation Verse: 66:5
Thought
Those who tremble at God's Word, it is their own brothers who hate them and drive them out in God's name. They say God is glorified by their driving out of those who fear the Lord, but the Lord will appear to those who are driven out because they tremble at His Word, and He will rejoice over them and bring them joy, while those who drove them out will be ashamed. Those who drove them out are obviously people who think they know the Lord, but who do not tremble at His Word.
May 19, 2022, 2:36 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 59-62
Meditation Verses: 59:14-16
Thought
There was no righteousness, no justice, no truth in the land. Indeed, the three stayed away from the land and the people. They were not welcome and they stayed back, because the people wanted nothing to do with them. And it was evil in the Lord's sight. He was appalled that there was no one speaking up for justice and righteousness and truth. No one was interceding on their behalf, that the people might hear and know something was wrong, that these three were missing.
May 18, 2022, 2:37 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 55-58
Meditation Verse: 58:2
Thought
God is not mocked, He is not fooled. He knows who truly desires to do His will and who only wants to make a show of obedience. He saw through Israel's "seeking" of Him, their asking for judgments, their fasting. They weren't actually doing what He cared about, but only doing things that looked like they cared. While fasting, they still pursued their own pleasures and we're just as greedy for gain as ever. They asked for judgments but didn't obey them.
May 17, 2022, 2:38 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 51-54
Meditation Verse: 54:17
Thought
The inheritance of the servants of the Lord is that no weapon formed against us shall prosper, and every tongue that rises to condemn us, we will condemn. And our righteousness will not be our own, but will be given us from God. Our inheritance is victory over those who hate us, over those who seek to destroy us and condemn us. Though men may seem to have the upper hand and do to us whatever they wish, yet we will rise up in spite of all they do, we will have the final and eternal victory.
May 16, 2022, 2:40 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 47-50
Meditation Verse: 50:10
Thought
Even if I walk in darkness and have no light, I need to continue to fear the Lord and obey His Son. If I trust in the Lord and lean on His guidance, I will be safe and secure, even though I can't see a thing in front of me. Though all the world has turned away and all is darkness and evil around me, yet by fearing God and obeying Him, I will know how to live and what to do. But if, as the next verse suggests, I set up my own light and depend on myself to know how to live, I will receive nothing but pain from the Lord.
May 15, 2022, 2:41 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 43-46
Meditation Verses: 45:20-22
Thought
Multiple times, God has contrasted Himself with the idols of the nations. He is about to send His people into captivity. They have consorted with idols and will then be surrounded by people who worship idols. Those so-called gods can do nothing. It is because of them that Israel and Judah will be exiled, and it is despite them that Israel and Judah will be brought back to their own land.
May 14, 2022, 2:43 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 39-42
Meditation Verses: 40:6-8
Thought
Men and all their "goodness" are but like grass and the flowers of the field. The Lord has to but blow on them and they are gone. Yet His Word stands forever. Men come and go and their standards of goodness rise and fall, but the Lord remains the same from generation to generation. He does not change, and so neither does His Word change. As hard as we try to change it, to decide what applies and what does not, to establish our own standard of righteousness, we will pass away and all our declarations with us.
May 13, 2022, 2:44 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 35-38
Meditation Verse: 38:15
Thought
The Lord said that Hezekiah would die, and Hezekiah pleaded with the Lord to remember his faithfulness and dedication to Him. Hezekiah would have been safe if he had died at that point, but he may not have had an heir to sit in the throne. Yet the Lord chose instead to heal him and grant him fifteen more years of life. Hezekiah's response was to walk softly, humbly all his remaining years, because of the bitterness of his soul.
May 12, 2022, 2:46 PM
Passage Read: Isaiah 31-34
Meditation Verses: 32:17-18
Thought
"The work of righteousness shall be peace, the service of righteousness shall be quietness and peace forever." Oh to be there already. To already be in a peaceful home and safe dwelling and a secure resting place. How much longer must I wait? This sounds so wonderful, to no longer bear the burdens I carry. To no longer fear for the lost or the saved. To no longer have to care for others. To be completely at peace and rest. This is a beautiful promise.