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 9, 2026, 8:53 AM
Passage Read: Leviticus 23-26
Meditation Verses: 26:3-8
Thought
I don't think we understand how good the Lord can be to us, how much blessing He can bring on us. Because of our unfaithfulness, He withholds the blessing He intends, and we must deal with unreliable rains and unfruitful crops and disease and thieves and numerous pests.
Jan 8, 2026, 6:53 AM
Passage Read: Leviticus 19-22
Meditation Verses: 20:4-6
Thought
The Lord gave all these laws and judgments so that the community would know how to walk in righteousness, how to encourage their neighbors to walk in righteousness, and how to punish the one who does not walk in righteousness. When one of the community sinned, they were to execute judgment so as to preserve the holiness of the community.
Jan 7, 2026, 7:00 AM
Passage Read: Leviticus 15-18
Meditation Verses: 18:2-4
Thought
"There is nothing new under the sun." Men today have not devised any new kind of sin, all has been done before. So the perversity we see today has been done before. Therefore, this instruction is as important and true today as ever. Believers are not free to follow the ways of the lost, of unbelievers.
Jan 6, 2026, 9:38 AM
Passage Read: Leviticus 11-14
Meditation Verses: 11:44-45
Thought
These uncleanness instructions, for the most part, are health and safety kinds of things, not sin issues. Things regarding mold and infectious diseases, unsafe meats and insects and sea creatures. There may not be an obvious safety issue, but ultimately all these distinctions are to be made for the sake of holiness.
Jan 5, 2026, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: Leviticus 7-10
Meditation Verses: 9:5-8
Thought
Moses brought the whole congregation near to watch the whole sacrificial process. It was not a pretty sight, slaughtering and skinning and cutting into portions, removing fat and innards. But he made as many as could see watch the whole thing. It was gruesome and would leave an impression on all who were not otherwise involved in butchering animals for food.
Jan 4, 2026, 8:33 AM
Passage Read: Leviticus 3-6
Meditation Verse: 5:5
Thought
The Lord makes a distinction between sins committed intentionally and unintentionally. Both require confession and a sacrifice, being unaware is no excuse to overlook a sin. Examples of intentional sins come in chapter 6, and include things like theft or kidnapping, extortion or lying. There is a deliberate choice to do wrong, whether planned in advance or decided on the spur of the moment.
Jan 3, 2026, 8:26 AM
Passage Read: Exodus 39 - Leviticus 2
Meditation Verse: Leviticus 1:9
Thought
There are times when the Lord is angry with His people, and the Scriptures record it. Usually, that's when the whole nation or a large portion of them have sinned greatly against Him. But tucked away in all these instructions about sacrifices is that they all provide a soothing aroma to the Lord, whether animal or grain sacrifice.
Jan 2, 2026, 7:32 AM
Passage Read: Exodus 35-38
Meditation Verses: 36:1-2
Thought
Two men are mentioned by name, as the leaders of the project. All the other skillful workers remain unnamed. But then there were countless others who had no skills to contribute to this work, and they had no part in it, except perhaps as one who donated material to the project. In that case, perhaps every household had a hand in this project.
Jan 1, 2026, 10:16 AM
Passage Read: Exodus 31-34
Meditation Verse: 31:17
Thought
The Lord didn't need a break. Surely He didn't get tired from all His work of creating. But He finished all His work by the seventh day and rested on it, and was refreshed. He didn't do it for Himself, but for us. Yet He was also refreshed. The Sabbath was meant to be a day to rest and be refreshed, not run around and work and labor, as if we need to wear ourselves out to stay alive.