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
Nov 20, 2022, 7:24 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 29-32
Meditation Verses: 32:9-12
Thought
After all Jacob had experienced, how God had preserved him through all of Laban's schemes, yet when he prepared to face his brother, he feared for his life and the lives of his family. He knew what God had promised and repeated it twice in this prayer, yet still he asked God to save him from his brother. It is a common thing to be overcome by fear even though the Lord has promised good to us, and has even delivered in the past.
Nov 19, 2022, 7:25 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 25-28
Meditation Verses: 28:20-22
Thought
It seems Jacob had not yet adopted the Lord as his God. His father honored and obeyed the Lord, who didn't ask much of him, but apparently was not very deliberate in teaching his sons about the Lord. Perhaps he periodically offered sacrifice to the Lord, but really, how Abraham and Isaac worshiped the Lord, there's not much detail. They were only expected to teach their sons to walk in the Lord's ways, doing good and right, but Jacob deceived his brother and Esau did whatever he thought was right in his own eyes.
Nov 18, 2022, 7:27 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 21-24
Meditation Verses: 24:12-14
Thought
If someone told me today that they had done something like this to find their wife, I would think they were careless. The servant made sure to confirm that Rebekah was from Abraham's relatives, which helped confirm that she was the right one. But this method was actually successful. God blessed it and used it to direct the servant to the right family. A safer and more logical solution would be to ask for Laban's family, go to them and see what daughters they had available.
Nov 17, 2022, 7:28 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 17-20
Meditation Verse: 17:23
Thought
Even the slaves were included in God's promise to Abraham. It was not just for flesh-and-blood members of his family, but everyone who belonged to him. His neighbors and friends weren't included, but those born in his household or bought with money, whoever belonged to Abraham. Slavery was a kind of adoption, though your purpose was to serve and obey the master and his family. Yet when the family was blessed or prospered, the slaves also had a share in that.
Nov 16, 2022, 7:29 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 13-16
Meditation Verses: 16:8-9
Thought
The Lord knew full well that Ishmael would not inherit Abram's promise; He would reckon Abram's descendants through Isaac, not Ishmael. He could have let Hagar continue to wander with Ishmael, taken care of them and fulfilled His promise to her son. But instead, He told her to return and submit to Sarai. Despite the complications and bad feelings it would generate, God wanted Hagar to return and submit to her mistress.
Nov 15, 2022, 7:31 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 9-12
Meditation Verses: 12:11-13
Thought
Abram did not yet know the Lord well, so he depended on his own wisdom to keep himself alive. But his wisdom backfired, and while it kept him alive and obtained for him preferential treatment, it lost him his wife! And so the Lord stepped in to protect Sarai and defend Abram. Abram got his wife back and continued to receive preferential treatment. He should have known from this point on that the Lord was able to preserve and even bless him.
Nov 14, 2022, 7:32 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 5-8
Meditation Verse: 7:1
Thought
No matter how bad everyone else gets, we can still remain righteous and find favor with God. It is no excuse to give in to wickedness because there is no one else left doing what is right. Just because everyone else abandons the Truth of God does not mean I have to abandon it too. If I want to find favor with God, then I need to hold fast to what He teaches, to believe it and order my life by it.
Nov 13, 2022, 7:34 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 1-4
Meditation Verse: 4:16
Thought
Cain was cursed and sent away from the ground that accepted his brother's blood and from the presence of the Lord. He would be a restless wanderer and the ground would not produce fruit for him. He had to become a hunter-gatherer instead of a farmer, though he wasn't supposed to kill animals and eat meat. Yet the next thing we see him doing is building a city. He tried to overcome his curse and build a permanent settlement rather than wander.
Nov 12, 2022, 7:39 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 21-22
Meditation Verse: 22:9
Thought
We together with the angels are slaves of God. But no one wants to hear that today. We are offended by the notion that we would belong solely and completely to another, having no rights whatsoever, but be completely at the mercy of our owner. To belong to another and not be our own person is anathema to us. Yet that is what we are. God created us and we are His to do with as He pleases. We cannot fight against it.
Nov 11, 2022, 7:40 AM
Passage Read: Revelation 19-20
Meditation Verses: 20:7-9
Thought
It is amazing to me that after a thousand years of the reign of Christ, Satan would be able to deceive the nations and rally them again for war. Will they not have enjoyed and appreciated the rule of Christ? What will there be to be embittered over? Will they not have prospered and enjoyed peace and safety and fellowship with their fellow man? Is the Law of Christ so terrible that mankind would want to rebel against Jesus after such a time of peace and prosperity?
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