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, 2026, 9:24 AM
Passage Read: Job 1-4
Meditation Verses: 1:15-19
Thought
The brutality of this passage! Satan kills who knows how many servants and all Job's children in a single day, almost within a single hour! All these lives are meaningless to him, just to get Job to curse God! Even more shocking, God allows Satan to do these things, all to test and prove Job. Human lives are casually thrown away to test one man's faith.
Mar 30, 2026, 6:46 AM
Passage Read: Esther 7-10
Meditation Verses: 8:16-17
Thought
The Jews rejoiced because they had been granted the right to assemble and defend themselves on the day their enemies were granted the right to assemble and kill them. Esther requested the obvious solution, that the previous decree be revoked, but that was not possible under the laws of the Medes and Persians.
Mar 29, 2026, 9:48 AM
Passage Read: Esther 3-6
Meditation Verse: 6:13
Thought
Where was this warning when Haman first decided to wipe out Mordecai's entire people? Where was this warning when Haman seethed against seeing Mordecai the Jew every day at the king's gate? Instead of pointing out Mordecai's Jewish origin, they encouraged him to build a gallows 50 cubits high!
Mar 28, 2026, 9:03 AM
Passage Read: Nehemiah 12 - Esther 2
Meditation Verses: Nehemiah 13:25-27
Thought
Nehemiah makes a great point here: Solomon was loved by God, made king and blessed beyond any other king. Yet none of that protected him from the danger of marrying unbelieving wives. His wisdom couldn't overcome the influence of his foreign wives. His favor with God couldn't protect him from the influence of wives who worshiped foreign gods.
Mar 27, 2026, 7:16 AM
Passage Read: Nehemiah 8-11
Meditation Verses: 8:9-10
Thought
All the people were weeping as they heard the Law of the Lord. That is a good sign! Their struck to the heart over their ignorance of God's Law and disobedience to it. They're ashamed of their behavior and grieved that they have put the Lord to shame. That is a cause for rejoicing! That the people recognize their sin and are grieved over it, grieved to the point of being willing to repent!
Mar 26, 2026, 6:59 AM
Passage Read: Nehemiah 4-7
Meditation Verses: 5:11-13
Thought
Nehemiah had gathered the people to work a solid 52 days to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He withstood intimidation and threats, and led the people to keep going despite their fear. Either Nehemiah had incredible charisma or else God was doing a work in the hearts of the people, and He just needed someone who saw what needed to be done and would rally the people.
Mar 25, 2026, 7:10 AM
Passage Read: Ezra 10 - Nehemiah 3
Meditation Verse: Nehemiah 2:18
Thought
Nehemiah was cupbearer to the king. What did he know about rebuilding a city wall or governing a province? Yet as cupbearer, he may have heard many plans and progress reports from other big projects, and learned many unexpected things in his position. So when he heard about the situation in Jerusalem and got this idea to go and rebuild the walls, he also thought through a plan to complete such a task.
Mar 24, 2026, 8:41 AM
Passage Read: Ezra 6-9
Meditation Verses: 9:1-2
Thought
Israel was supposed to destroy most of the people listed here, all who lived in the land of Canaan. The Book of Joshua tells us that many of these nations were not destroyed, but eventually subjugated and made servants of the community. They persisted in the land and became snares to the people of God, until God finally drove all Israel out of the land.
Mar 23, 2026, 6:59 AM
Passage Read: Ezra 2-5
Meditation Verses: 5:1-2
Thought
There was no new decree issued in favor of the rebuilding of the temple. The governor and foreign peoples living in the land were bitter at the rejection of their offer to help rebuild the temple, and they harassed the Jews, lied about what they were doing and forced them to stop rebuilding the temple.
Mar 22, 2026, 8:59 AM
Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 34 - Ezra 1
Meditation Verses: 2 Chronicles 34:1-3
Thought
Josiah was eight years old when he became king, so there were certainly counselors behind him who really ran the kingdom. But these counselors must have been from the latter part of Manasseh's reign, men who honored the Lord, because by sixteen, Josiah determined to seek the Lord, unlike his own father.