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
Feb 21, 2022, 11:09 AM
Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 26-29
Meditation Verses: 29:5-8
Thought
Hezekiah understood that the trouble that had come upon the nation was because his father and that generation had turned against the Lord. When things went from bad to worse, his father turned to the gods that had conquered him and shut the doors of the Lord's temple. He didn't understand or refused to understand that all his trouble was because he wasn't worshiping the Lord and walking in His ways.
Feb 20, 2022, 11:10 AM
Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 22-25
Meditation Verse: 25:27
Thought
How many generations of Jehoshaphat's family suffered because of his partnership with the house of Ahab? Is this three generations now or four? It seemed like such a good thing to Jehoshaphat to ally himself with the other clans of Israel; they were after all from one father, they were one family. But the northern tribes had turned away from the Lord. Jehoshaphat, whatever his motivation, was wrong to try to tie their families together again, without the northern kingdom first returning in faithfulness to the Lord.
Feb 19, 2022, 11:11 AM
Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 18-21
Meditation Verses: 20:35-37
Thought
Jehoshaphat is like many Christians today, who think that God's love requires or at least allows for partnerships with unbelievers. Yet God rebuked him twice, directly and clearly for partnering with Ahab and his son. And his family suffered terrible tragedy because of his choice to align with Ahab by marriage. That daughter of Ahab led his chosen successor to murder all his other sons and to undo all the reforms he had done.
Feb 18, 2022, 11:12 AM
Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 14-17
Meditation Verse: 16:7
Thought
Asa had done so well, seeking the Lord and cleansing the land from of the high places and the idols and Asherah. He depended on the Lord for salvation from the Cushites. He was doing everything right, so what happened that when Baasha threatened him from the north he felt compelled to seek help from the king of Aram? He was told multiple times that when he sought the Lord and trusted in Him, He was with them.
Feb 17, 2022, 11:13 AM
Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 10-13
Meditation Verse: 12:13
Thought
Rehoboam did poorly as king because he was young and inexperienced, yet here it says he began to reign when he was forty-one years old! How then could he be a youth and tender of heart? He should have been mature with some experience, not like a seventeen year old or a twenty-five year old! Yet twice Scripture testifies that he was young and inexperienced! If that was true of a forty year old, how much truer is it of thirty- and twenty-year-olds!
Feb 16, 2022, 11:15 AM
Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 6-9
Meditation Verses: 7:19-22
Thought
God is not so jealous of His name that He would protect a building dedicated to Him when the people who dedicated it departed from Him. He is rather so jealous for His name that He would abandon the House and overthrow the people who turned away from Him. He is far more concerned with the obedience of the people than with the preservation of a building. His name is actually tied to the people far more than to any building they build for Him.
Feb 15, 2022, 11:16 AM
Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 2-5
Meditation Verses: 5:13-14
Thought
When they dedicated the house and offered their sacrifices and sang in praise to God, then the Lord appeared in their midst. He was pleased with their offerings and with their singing, but most importantly with their faith. He didn't show up in the cloud every day that they sang and sacrificed, but He showed His presence when they dedicated the temple. He wanted them to know that He was indeed present, so that they would have an awareness of His nearness.