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
Dec 21, 2022, 7:20 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 3
Meditation Verses: Deuteronomy 3:21-22
Thought
What God has done in the past is recorded for us, so that we will know His power and might, and have confidence in Him to take care of us as we go forward into the future. He has called us to live in a way that is different from the way the world lives. Unbelievers have no one they can count on to defend or protect them, so they have to fight for themselves, to obtain everything they desire. So everyone around them is suspect, a competitor, a possible enemy.
Dec 20, 2022, 7:48 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 32-35
Meditation Verse: 35:15
Thought
Death is a punishment, the ultimate human punishment for anyone who intentionally commits certain sins, especially murder. But the Lord makes provision for someone who accidentally kills his neighbor, without premeditation or hatred beforehand. Such a man is protected from judgment as long as he stays within his city of refuge. These cities were special places, but they are only vaguely symbols of Jesus.
Dec 19, 2022, 7:50 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 28-31
Meditation Verse: 31:16
Thought
So Balaam departed and headed home, but apparently either didn't make it home or returned afterwards. He knew the Lord wanted to bless the Israelites, and he said he couldn't go beyond the commands of the Lord. But somewhere along the way home, he was overcome by the riches promised to him. He couldn't give those up. He somehow convinced himself that it would be okay to cause the Israelites to stumble without cursing them.
Dec 18, 2022, 7:51 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 24-27
Meditation Verses: 25:1-2
Thought
These unbelieving women care nothing for their integrity or purity! They freely sleep with the Israelite men, with no apparent hesitation. Unbelievers have no sense of shame or self-respect. They are sent to invite the Israelite men to sacrifice to their gods and engage with them in sexual immorality, and they lead 24,000 men astray! The Israelites are incredibly faithless, going off to worship other gods for the sake of some food and a pretty girl.
Dec 17, 2022, 7:52 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 20-23
Meditation Verses: 23:20-24
Thought
It is amazing to me that the Lord could be so frustrated by His people and yet say such things about them. He speaks to and through Balaam about His delight in and blessing on Israel, yet they have experienced misfortune...every time they sin against Him! They provoke Him to anger and He rebukes and punishes them, but then brags on them to others, or at least brags on His love for and goodness to them.
Dec 16, 2022, 7:53 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 16-19
Meditation Verse: 17:13
Thought
It would be terrifying to see the Lord deal like this with His people today, to call them out for their sin and rebellion in so dramatic a fashion that men die in front of others. And the result would be the same: We would cry. "We're all going to die!" No one stops to think, hey, maybe we should just obey the Lord and let Him run things, then we'll be just fine. God didn't reveal Himself in order to kill everyone, He came to save us from our own sinfulness, which is what condemns us.
Dec 15, 2022, 7:54 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 12-15
Meditation Verses: 15:38-39
Thought
Tassels on the corner of garments was to be a reminder of all the commands of the Lord, that the people should obey them and not prostitute themselves by going after the lusts of their own hearts and eyes. To follow the lusts of our own hearts and eyes is the same as prostituting ourselves, to seek out another lover, rather than God. It makes the lusts of our flesh to be lord over us; it makes Satan to be lord over us.
Dec 14, 2022, 7:56 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 8-11
Meditation Verses: 9:22-23
Thought
Though the people lived in tents, I'm sure it was not so simple a matter to pack up and leave at a moment's notice. Today with our modern technology and only one or two nights' plan to camp, it takes a good part of the morning to tear down. They had more people per family, more hands to work, but to set up and tear down and still have time to travel surely wasn't simple. Yet they don't complain about the travel or the tear down time, they complain about the lack of meat.
Dec 13, 2022, 7:57 AM
Passage Read: Numbers 4-7
Meditation Verse: 7:89
Thought
This seems so matter-of-fact, that Moses heard the voice of the Lord from between the cherubim above the atonement cover. Moses spoke with the Lord face-to-face, almost. He spoke with the Lord as surely as I speak to another person. But the Lord does not speak this way to everyone, so the rest of us can so easily cast this aside. But God is real, He is every bit as real as I am. Everything He has said to Moses or anyone else, it is truly the Lord speaking, and I need to take it to heart.
Dec 12, 2022, 7:59 AM
Passage Read: Leviticus 27 - Numbers 3
Meditation Verse: Numbers 3:38
Thought
Anyone who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death, only the sons of Aaron were allowed to come near to the Lord. This is what changed at the death of Jesus and the tearing of the temple curtain. Now any who believed in Jesus were set apart as holy to the Lord and permitted to approach the Lord directly. The blood of Jesus purified those who believed in the way that the priests were purified so that they could enter into the Lord's temple and offer sacrifices.