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
Apr 14, 2025, 6:54 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 39-42
Meditation Verses: 40:9-10
Thought
In the previous Psalm, David tells of keeping silent in the presence of the wicked, but here he says how he proclaims the Lord's righteousness in the great assembly. He knows the wicked have no interest in hearing truth, especially when several gather together; they only encourage each other in their wicked thoughts. But in the great assembly, there David must speak of the Lord's love and truth and faithfulness and salvation.
Apr 13, 2025, 7:38 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 35-38
Meditation Verses: 37:16-17
Thought
The righteous have little, and it is better to be the righteous who have little, than to be the wicked who have much. It is better to have little because of righteousness than to have great wealth because of wickedness. A few verses later, the psalmist even says that the righteous give generously, though they have little! Money and wealth are not important to the righteous, but people are, and helping and meeting needs.
Apr 11, 2025, 6:51 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 31-34
Meditation Verses: 32:1-2
Thought
How blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven! This whole Psalm is about the need for and joy that comes with confession of sin. He finds forgiveness who confesses his sin to the Lord. But the one who doesn't confess, who lies about it in his heart, denying his wrong, this man suffers at the hand of the Lord. The Lord wants him to confess and renounce his sin so that he can be forgiven, but the pride of the man stands in his way.
Apr 10, 2025, 6:51 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 27-30
Meditation Verses: 27:1-5
Thought
It is because of David's longing for the Lord and delight in Him that he has nothing to fear. Even if men should seek his life or war breaks out against him, he has nothing to fear, because the Lord protects his life. It is because David loves the Lord so much that he longs to dwell forever in the house of the Lord and look upon His glory and beauty.
Apr 9, 2025, 6:41 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 23-26
Meditation Verses: 26:1-3
Thought
David is so bold to pray this way, so confident in his love of the Lord and desire to please Him. He invites the Lord to test and try his heart and mind. He is blameless before the Lord because he has put the Lord's love ever before him. He is not just trying to keep rules, though that is the result. He believes the Lord is so good and righteous and glorious that he can't help but love Him and delight in His ways.
Apr 8, 2025, 6:57 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 19-22
Meditation Verses: 22:20-24
Thought
This passage is prophetic of Jesus' suffering and the promise of His resurrection. Did David write it about circumstances in his own life that paralleled Jesus or did he see Jesus from afar? What catches my attention is that in one line, David is crying for help and the next he is praising God, without sign of deliverance. Jesus wasn't delivered from His suffering, but died.
Apr 7, 2025, 6:52 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 15-18
Meditation Verses: 17:2-4
Thought
There are times when those who love the Lord enjoy complete victory over their enemies and other times when they endure the attacks of their enemies. Perhaps it is prayers like this that turn the tide in the favor of the Lord's people. David fled for years from Saul, but in time, the Lord placed him on the throne of Israel.
Apr 6, 2025, 6:37 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 11-14
Meditation Verses: 14:6-7
Thought
Evildoers, those who lie at all times, those who oppress them without fear of God, they frustrate the plans of the poor. The poor seek to free themselves of debt, they seek to get ahead, but at every turn, there is someone else who hates them and takes advantage of them.
Apr 5, 2025, 10:27 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 7-10
Meditation Verses: 10:3-11
Thought
The trouble with discerning wickedness is that even the evil man prospers. The Lord promises to bless the righteous with good things and by prospering all he does. But if the wicked also enjoys prosperity and gets away with all kinds of evil, how can people see that it is bad to be evil?
Apr 4, 2025, 5:02 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 3-6
Meditation Verse: 5:8
Thought
It is because of his enemies that the psalmist cries out to the Lord. Not just for help against them, but for guidance, for clarity regarding the Lord's will and ways. He needs to know what the Lord desires as righteousness, because his enemies are seeking to attack him in one way or another. They want to ridicule and mock him, shame and belittle him.
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