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 31, 2023, 6:53 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 75-78
Meditation Verses: 78:21-22
Thought
An interesting verse in light of the storms predicted this afternoon. Do I trust in the Lord for deliverance? If everything we own is destroyed, is the Lord yet able to deliver us? Do I trust that He could cause the storm to go around us and completely miss us? Do I trust that no matter what happens, the Lord will take care of us? If not, I'm provoking the Lord to anger.
Mar 30, 2023, 6:55 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 71-74
Meditation Verses: 73:1-3
Thought
How easy it is to get caught up in living just for this life. Those who care nothing about God give all their time and effort to gathering wealth or things or both, to make their lives more and more comfortable. They give little thought to God or what He desires; they may be nice to other people, but don't really care for anyone but themselves and their own people. But living for God means people have greater value than material things.
Mar 29, 2023, 6:56 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 67-70
Meditation Verses: 69:26-28
Thought
There are those who believe they are saved, maybe even trusted in the Lord at some point, but turn and become some of the worst people on the face of the earth. Like the Pharisees of old, the chief priests and teachers of the Law, they are people who should know God but persecute those who are seeking Him and walking in His ways. Jesus reserved His strongest condemnation for them, and the psalmist here has harsh words for their kind too.
Mar 28, 2023, 6:57 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 63-66
Meditation Verses: 66:10-12
Thought
The Lord tested them and refined them like silver, by imprisoning them, humbling them, placing heavy burdens on them, letting others rule over them, taking them through fire and water, before finally bringing them to a place of abundance. This describes Israel's journey in Egypt and then out of Egypt through the wilderness pretty well, but it also describes so much of what they experienced when they fell away and the Lord sent others to rule over them.
Mar 27, 2023, 6:58 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 59-62
Meditation Verses: 62:4-7
Thought
The man who seeks the Lord and walks in His ways can trust in the Lord, even though everyone fights against him. The key is to have a clear conscience before God. As John says, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have peace with God, and that should give us confidence even when the wicked plot against us. Yet even Paul admits that though he is aware of nothing against himself, that is not an automatic free pass, so it's important to regularly ask the Lord to search our heart and show us anything that may be a problem, then to take care of that as quickly as possible.
Mar 26, 2023, 7:00 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 55-58
Meditation Verses: 58:1-3
Thought
There is a kind of man that will not heed the charmer's tune, that will not repent of their evil and submit to righteousness. We all are filled with evil thoughts from childhood, but some of us become ashamed of it and desire change; we hear of the Lord and turn to Him. But those who are wicked through and through will not change; they only go on in their sin and develop new forms of evil. There is no hope for them and they are a scourge on mankind.
Mar 25, 2023, 7:01 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 51-54
Meditation Verses: 52:5-7
Thought
The psalmist calls out the evil man, asking why he boasts of evil, and warning him that he will be destroyed. Then he says the righteous will see the destruction and fear, but also laugh at the man who refused to trust in God. This is shocking on the one hand because it seems like the righteous should be grieved that someone perished in their sin. But it also communicates a great confidence in the truth of the Lord, that the righteous knew he needed to fear the Lord and walk in His ways, and it was great comfort and wisdom to him.
Mar 24, 2023, 11:47 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 47-50
Meditation Verses: 50:16-17
Thought
God knows full well who is righteous and who is wicked. Though both recite His words and claim loyalty and love, He sees who walks in obedience and who ignores His Word. That is the distinction between the righteous and the wicked: The righteous fear God and so do what He asks; the wicked have no fear of God and so do not obey His Word, though he talks a good game and throws in some token works.
Mar 23, 2023, 11:49 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 43-46
Meditation Verses: 44:15-17
Thought
"All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted," Paul wrote, and that is the truth. The psalmist is confessing that truth here: Though he has done nothing wrong in the eyes of the Lord, yet he is still treated as an enemy by those around him. There is no getting around the truth: The more faithfully we walk with the Lord, the more faithfully we walk in His ways, the more men will hate us and oppose us.
Mar 22, 2023, 11:50 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 39-42
Meditation Verses: 39:10-11
Thought
The more sin, the more rebuke; the worse the sin, the more the rebuke; the less I listen and change, the more the rebuke. For any number of reasons, the Lord's rebuke can increase or continue. I need to be sensitive to and understand the Lord, so that I know what I'm being rebuked for, so that I can correct my ways as quickly as possible. Indeed, the more teachable and receptive I am to His ways and rebukes, the softer His rebuke will be and the quicker He can withdraw His hand. To know and love the Lord's ways is important for getting clear of His rebuke.