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 12, 2023, 2:10 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 5-8
Meditation Verses: 6:19-20
Thought
How sad that when the Lord strikes the people for doing something they weren't supposed to do, their first response is to send Him away. They recognized that the Lord was a holy God, but instead of determining to honor and obey Him, they thought it would be better for them to have Him somewhere else, at a distance from them. Because they didn't want to reform their lives, though all they did was look into the ark!
Jan 11, 2023, 2:11 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 1-4
Meditation Verse: 4:3
Thought
Why were the Israelites defeated in battle? Because the Lord intended to kill Eli's sons and send the ark into captivity, to fulfill His promise to Eli. Eli did nothing more than warn his sons of danger for the way they treated the Lord and His sacrifices; he had authority to remove them as priests, but he didn't care for the Lord more than he cared for his sons. So the Lord promised to kill his sons and shock Eli.
Jan 19, 2022, 2:21 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 25-28
Meditation Verse: 28:15
Thought
No matter what, I shouldn't go asking advice from soothsayers or mediums or anything else. If the Lord is not instructing me by His word and by His principles, then I have probably offended him. Saul never really repented; perhaps the Lord would have forgiven him and remained with him. But he didn't. I can and should, if the Lord becomes silent.
Jan 18, 2022, 2:22 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 21-24
Meditation Verses: 23:16-17
Thought
Jonathan could imagine how David must be feeling. He knew enough to go out and find him and comfort him, encouraging him to continue trusting in the Lord. When things seemed pretty bleak, Jonathan had confidence in God that David would prevail. David was very blessed to have such a friend, who had such confidence in God to be able to assure David.
Jan 17, 2022, 2:23 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 17-20
Meditation Verse: 20:42
Thought
Almost as quickly as he was exalted, David lost everything. He became famous through Goliath, and grew in fame by his handling of his soldiers and the success of all his missions. But all that made him famous caused Saul to be jealous. The more God blessed David, the more Saul hated him and plotted against him, until he was openly seeking to kill David. David had some close calls, until he was able to convince Jonathan that his father was indeed seeking to kill him.
Jan 16, 2022, 2:24 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 13-16
Meditation Verse: 15:3
Thought
These instructions are not difficult to understand. They are very clear. But Saul chose to ignore them, or adjust them to suit the people. They wanted to spare the best of the spoil and offer sacrifices from it to the Lord. But God had said to spare nothing and no one. Saul, however, thought it good to spare the king. The problem clearly wasn't with God's instructions, but with Saul's willingness to obey. He changed God's instructions to suit himself. That is the rebellion that God hates.
Jan 15, 2022, 2:25 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 9-12
Meditation Verse: 12:23
Thought
Samuel called it a sin to stop praying for the people and to stop instructing them in God's ways. Though they had sinned against the Lord, he promised to keep praying for them and to continue instructing them in the ways they should go. There was no retirement for Samuel, even though there was now a king to lead the people in the Lord's ways.
Jan 14, 2022, 2:26 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 5-8
Meditation Verses: 8:19-20
Thought
People always want someone else to take responsibility to govern them. They don't want to spend their own time becoming familiar with God and His ways. They want someone else to do that, and then tell them what to do, to judge between them and their neighbor and to make all the rules. But God wanted each man to know Him and His ways, yet even He recognized the laziness of the people, and He granted them their king.
Jan 13, 2022, 2:27 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 1-4
Meditation Verse: 3:18
Thought
Eli was resigned to God's decision. He had done all he was willing to do in order to save his sons, but they didn't listen. Now God had declared His judgment, and Eli resigned himself to it. What could he do? His sons wouldn't listen. So they would die and Eli accepted that. But he could have driven them away from the priesthood. They weren't worthy anyway. He could have saved them by driving them out. Or he could have killed them himself out of love for God.