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 19, 2024, 2:19 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 12-15
Meditation Verse: 14:10
Thought
It is so easy to give way to pride. Amaziah had success against Edom, then thought he could take on Israel. Perhaps he thought God was with him to bless whatever he decided to do, but that wasn't the case. When he insisted on facing Israel, he was humiliated and Judah suffered for it. It is not the job of a leader to show off his own might or superiority. It is his job to do what is best in the eyes of the Lord for his people.
Feb 18, 2024, 2:21 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 8-11
Meditation Verse: 8:19
Thought
The Lord made this promise to David, knowing full well that some of his sons would not walk in David's righteous ways. Solomon himself was the first to fall away; it didn't take long for the sons of David to fail. But the Lord was patient with them, for the sake of his promise to David and to His people. He didn't want to destroy Judah; He didn't want to put out the only lamp that shone for Him. There would be no other source of knowledge about Him in the world!
Feb 17, 2024, 2:22 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 4-7
Meditation Verse: 5:26
Thought
Gehazi didn't like that Naaman, an enemy of Israel, had received blessing from God, and Elisha didn't take any payment from him. He wanted the foreigner at least to leave a blessing in return. And of course, he had brought a lot as a gift to the prophet, if he could help him. It was too much for Gehazi, the temptation and the justification. But he should have trusted his master and left off his greed.
Feb 16, 2024, 2:23 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 22 - 2 Kings 3
Meditation Verses: 2 Kings 1:9-12
Thought
Elijah and Elisha are a lot more cavalier about the lives of others than seems right. Elijah seems to casually say that if he is a man of God, then let fire come down and consume the soldiers and their commander. And he does so twice! Then not long after, Elisha curses some boys who mock him, and they are mauled by a bear! Where is the love and compassion of God? Either this is out of character for God, or we don't correctly understand the character of God.
Feb 4, 2023, 6:54 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 20-23
Meditation Verses: 23:24-25
Thought
Josiah was like a crazy man in his zeal for the Lord! He read the Law of Moses and understood that the Lord should be very angry at Judah, the prophetess confirmed his suspicions, and yet he still went on a holy rampage, cleansing Judah and Jerusalem and even Samaria! He didn't let God's promise to fulfill His Word of destruction discourage him. I would have been tempted to think that there was no point and just withdraw and do my best to obey, but Josiah went ballistic.
Feb 3, 2023, 6:55 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 16-19
Meditation Verses: 18:3-4
Thought
Hezekiah did something radical, that no king before him had done: He tore down the high places and destroyed Moses' bronze snake. These were sacred things that had been preserved and allowed for centuries, traditions that ran very deep, but he took a stand against them and eliminated them because he could read in the Law that they were wrong. He trusted in God's Word in spite of generations who made these things an accepted part of Jehovah worship.
Feb 2, 2023, 6:57 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 12-15
Meditation Verse: 15:34
Thought
Uzziah/Azariah was afflicted with leprosy at some point in his reign until the day of his death, yet he was considered faithful to the Lord. He didn't let his disease embitter him against the Lord, but served the Lord as best he could throughout his days. He knew he had done wrong and the Lord had justly punished him, so he was humbled as God intended, but did not receive healing from the Lord. Still he honored the Lord all his days.
Feb 1, 2023, 6:58 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 8-11
Meditation Verse: 10:28-31
Thought
Jehu did well, but he didn't take time to know the Lord's complete will. He got rid of the foreign gods, but he grew up believing that the Lord was worshiped with golden calf idols. He didn't break out of that error. He could have known from the testimony of Judah; he could have known by reading the Law of Moses. But he didn't go beyond what was in front of him.
Jan 31, 2023, 6:59 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 4-7
Meditation Verse: 4:7
Thought
It is a hard thing to get into debt, because it is hard to get out of it. This prophet had felt compelled to go into enough debt that his sons were going to be taken as slaves to pay it off. Yet God was gracious to the widow and provided means to pay off the debt in a miraculous way. I'm in significantly more debt than I want to be in today, while I would love a miracle to pay off my debt, I have the means to take extra work to pay it down.
Jan 30, 2023, 7:00 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 22 - 2 Kings 3
Meditation Verses: 2 Kings 1:9-10
Thought
This is probably what James and John were thinking of when the Samaritan town refused Jesus passage and they wanted to call down fire on them. Elijah twice called down fire that consumed a captain and his fifty men. Elisha would soon curse some youths for mocking him, and a bear would maul 42 of them. There is a power available to us that can strike fear into the rebellious. Jesus refused James and John, but they rightly asked Him first.
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