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 31, 2024, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 39-42
Meditation Verses: 42:24-25
Thought
It is a frightening thing to have eyes but not see or ears but not hear, or to be able to feel, but not know when I've been burned. There is no hope for such a person, unless the Lord suddenly awakens him. This was Israel, who had God's great and glorious law, but refused to listen to it, refused to walk in obedience to it. So the Lord gave them up to plunder; they lived in fear.
May 30, 2024, 7:13 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 35-38
Meditation Verses: 37:21-22
Thought
Because Hezekiah prayed to the Lord about the king of Assyria, so the Lord promised to deliver Judah from him, such that Judah could laugh at the king of Assyria and mock him. Hezekiah is the king who made all kinds of preparations so that they could withstand a long siege and so that the invaders would have a hard time providing for themselves.
May 29, 2024, 6:45 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 31-34
Meditation Verses: 33:14-16
Thought
There are sinners and there are those who walk righteously. To the sinner, God is a consuming fire that burns continually, and they cannot endure His presence. It is because they refuse to repent and change their ways, so the Lord is continually disciplining them. But to the one who walks righteously, the Lord is a secure dwelling place and a delight.
May 28, 2024, 6:46 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 27-30
Meditation Verses: 29:10-14
Thought
Jerusalem has wise men, they have discerning men, but they do not speak from the Lord. The prophets and seers are no more, the Lord has ceased to speak to and through them. God's prophetic words to them have become impossible for them to read and understand. They cannot understand the Lord because their worship of Him is in vain.
May 27, 2024, 6:49 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 23-26
Meditation Verses: 26:8-11
Thought
There is a way to distinguish the righteous from the wicked. The righteous walk in the way of God's judgments and desire Him even more. The wicked, though shown favor, do not learn righteousness, but instead take advantage of the righteous. He does not perceive the majesty of the Lord, not does he see the Lord's hand raised up to strike him.
May 26, 2024, 6:51 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 19-22
Meditation Verses: 22:12-13
Thought
The Lord brought disaster near them; it was coming to consume them. So they made all the preparations they could to withstand the onslaught, but they didn't turn to the Lord, they didn't admit that this was the Lord's doing, to bring them to repentance. Instead of weeping and humbling themselves and seeking the Lord's forgiveness, they ate and drank and lived large on what they guessed might be their last day on earth.
May 25, 2024, 6:52 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 15-18
Meditation Verses: 17:7-9
Thought
Sadly, it often takes extreme tragedy for men to turn back to their Maker. Not until these nations are overthrown and everything lost, and the people who survive are few in number, then they remember the Lord and turn away from their idols. How much better it would be for people if in their prosperity and good fortune that they remembered they were created by the Lord and blessed by Him, and so honor Him alone, while all went well with them.
May 24, 2024, 6:54 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 11-14
Meditation Verse: 11:3
Thought
Jesus will delight in the fear of the Lord! Jesus, who is God, will delight in the fear of His Father. Jesus, who is beloved by the Father, and such love should cast out all fear, yet He will delight in the fear of the Lord. Jesus, who will choose obedience, even unto death, rather than save His own life and avoid the suffering appointed to Him.
May 23, 2024, 6:56 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 7-10
Meditation Verses: 8:11-14
Thought
The Lord spoke to Isaiah with mighty power and told him not to walk in the ways of his own people, who cry, "Conspiracy!" in regard to everything they call conspiracy, everything they fear. But Isaiah is not to fear what they fear, but fear the Lord alone. Interestingly, he equates what men fear to what they consider holy! The Lord alone is to be considered holy, and to be all Isaiah fears and dreads, then the Lord will be a sanctuary to Isaiah, but a stumbling block to all who fear what men fear.
May 22, 2024, 6:57 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 3-6
Meditation Verse: 3:12
Thought
This is more true now than ever. Children are our oppressors and women rule over us. Those who guide us lead us astray and confuse the direction of our paths. Everything is twisted; they call evil good and good evil. What is right has been distorted into something that approves wickedness and condemns God's righteousness. Children have little if any wisdom; women rule by feeling, by what feels like love.