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
Jan 18, 2024, 7:58 AM
Passage Read: Judges 6-9
Meditation Verse: 6:13
Thought
Gideon doesn't seem aware of the reasons for God abandoning the people to the power of Midian. He speaks as if God just decided one day to give them up and ignore them. But a prophet was just sent to the people to call out their sin. Does Gideon not realize that their worship of Baal and the Ashtoreth is an affront to God? God didn't give them up to the Midianites for no reason, but it was because they had turned to idols and away from Him. Gideon obviously knew about God, but he didn't seem to understand that worshiping idols and worshiping God was detestable to God.
Jan 17, 2024, 8:00 AM
Passage Read: Judges 2-5
Meditation Verses: 2:21-22
Thought
The Israelites fail over and over again. They intermarried with the Canaanites, so the relationships were very close with the people the Lord had commanded they destroy. The Israelites failed to walk in God's ways, but adopted the customs and gods of people who were supposed to be under the ban. God would bring trouble to them, they would cry out, then God would deliver them and keep them safe for the life of the deliverer, but afterward, they would corrupt themselves even more.
Jan 16, 2024, 8:18 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 22 - Judges 1
Meditation Verses: Joshua 23:6-7
Thought
The Israelites didn't drive out all the Canaanites at once, but many were left to be conquered after Joshua's death. Joshua warns them to remain faithful to the Lord and He will give them victory over the remaining Canaanites. So on their part, they were to be firm and do all that Moses had taught them, and they were not to make friends with the Canaanites, and especially not to learn the names of their gods and follow their practices. But of course, that is what they did.
Jan 15, 2024, 8:19 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 18-21
Meditation Verse: 21:44
Thought
Oh to have rest from all my enemies. It is a promise but not for this life. Unless I make peace with all my enemies. Which would require giving in to their way of thinking and living. The Israelites did that in many cases with the Canaanites, not so much with the surrounding enemies, though there were times when their neighbors left them alone. There's no real rest from my enemies until this life is done, and oh how I wish that were soon.
Jan 14, 2024, 8:21 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 14-17
Meditation Verses: 17:14-15
Thought
The sons of Joseph were not content with the land they had been allotted; it wasn't enough for them. Joshua didn't dispute them or rebuke them, but acknowledged that what they said was true and right, so he gave them another portion. However, that portion was still in the hands of Canaanites; they would have to fight to claim it. That would be too hard for them, they said, but Joshua assured them that they'd be able to take it.
Jan 13, 2024, 8:22 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 10-13
Meditation Verse: 11:20
Thought
The Canaanites received no mercy from God. They were to be completely destroyed. Some however would receive mercy from the Israelites, not for love of them, but because they chose to enslave them rather than destroy them. Perhaps they considered themselves more noble than the Lord, for offering mercy to people the Lord had set apart for destruction. It's a shame that the Lord didn't harden their hearts too; the Israelites and the Lord could have avoided much grief if they had obeyed the Lord.
Jan 12, 2024, 8:24 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 6-9
Meditation Verses: 7:11-12
Thought
God's response was immediate, though the people didn't realize it until later. Things went badly at Ai, and then they were afraid that the Lord had given them over to destruction. But the Lord had simply withdrawn His help from them, and with that, they were powerless against the people of the land. And it didn't occur to them that their failure was because someone among them had sinned. God had to point that out to them.
Jan 11, 2024, 8:25 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 2-5
Meditation Verses: 2:10-13
Thought
The only right response to the news that the Lord is coming to claim the land is to humble yourself and plead for your life, and to serve the servants of God in whatever way you can. This is also the gospel message, that the Lord is returning to claim His world and to establish His King to rule over everything and everyone, so that the world and everyone in it does His will. Those who humble themselves and plead for their lives and submit themselves to this new king will be spared and allowed to remain in the land.
Jan 10, 2024, 2:00 PM
Passage Read: Deuteronomy 32 - Joshua 1
Meditation Verses: Deuteronomy 32:19-21
Thought
We are the Lord's people and possession, but when we ignore His word and go our own way, He is provoked to anger. He withdraws from us, withdraws His protection and care, and leaves us to weather whatever comes our way. God does not protect us when we will not follow His commands and trust His wisdom. His commands and instruction are part of His protection, so when we ignore them, when we think we're wiser than Him, we lose out on His protection and blessing.
Jan 9, 2024, 2:02 PM
Passage Read: Deuteronomy 28-31
Meditation Verse: 31:21
Thought
The people were already developing their plans for rebellion, before the Lord even brought them into the land. Yet the Lord still brought them in. He intended to do good to them and prosper them, and let them go astray, as a testimony to them and to the world. He couldn't keep delaying, He couldn't start all over again with a new people. They would go astray; He would turn away from them. He would eventually drive them out of the land; they would repent and return in a little more obedience.
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