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 23, 2025, 1:02 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 12-15
Meditation Verses: 14:8-10
Thought
Amaziah wanted to fight Jehoash and sent him a challenge. Very noble. He didn't just attack Israel and provoke them to war. He wanted to fight him, but more as a contest than as actual war.
Feb 22, 2025, 4:13 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 8-11
Meditation Verses: 10:30-31
Thought
Jehu obeyed the commission of the Lord. Unlike David, he was anointed king and commanded to kill all the house of Ahab. He wasn't supposed to wait for the current king to die, but to take his life and the life of all his descendants, anyone who belonged to Ahab.
Feb 21, 2025, 1:08 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 4-7
Meditation Verses: 5:9-11
Thought
Naaman was a hero to his people, great in their eyes and in the eyes of his king. But he was humiliated by this leprosy. For all his greatness, people would be afraid to be around him.
Feb 20, 2025, 1:08 AM
Passage Read: 1 Kings 22 - 2 Kings 3
Meditation Verses: 2 Kings 2:6-9
Thought
Elijah tested Elisha three times, encouraging him to remain behind at different points while Elijah went on to his point of departure. Elisha knew that Elijah would soon be departing, and refused to leave his side.
Feb 23, 2024, 12:57 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 24 - 1 Chronicles 2
Meditation Verse: 2 Kings 24:4
Thought
The Lord would not forgive the wickedness of Manasseh, though Manasseh himself repented late in life and was apparently forgiven, the people of Israel had pushed the Lord too far too many times. He was done. He would not forgive their sin, so after Josiah, there would be no honorable king. The people would be left in their sin and destroyed for it. There comes a point in many people's lives when God determines that He will not forgive, and they have no hope, no matter how long they live after that.
Feb 22, 2024, 2:16 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 20-23
Meditation Verse: 20:6
Thought
The Lord continues His mercy and kindness to Judah and Jerusalem because of His promise to David. Again and again, He mentions David as His reason to spare Jerusalem, even when they do wrong. Until Manasseh comes along. Then from that time until He abandons Judah and Jerusalem to their enemies to be destroyed, He names Manasseh as the reason for His wrath against Jerusalem. No matter how many good kings followed David, David was the reason God protected Jerusalem, and no matter how many bad kings followed Manasseh, Manasseh was the reason He overthrew Jerusalem.
Feb 21, 2024, 2:18 AM
Passage Read: 2 Kings 16-19
Meditation Verses: 19:34-37
Thought
It is not good to underestimate the Lord, His reality and His power. He is not like the gods of the nations, which are but idols, wood and stone. He is the true and living God. To discount Him or insult Him is to invite wrath upon ourselves. To ignore Him, thinking He will do nothing or can do nothing, is to invite destruction. Israel sinned against the Lord by ignoring His commands and learning the ways of the pagans around them and the ways of their gods, and in time, God overthrew them.
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.