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 21, 2023, 6:17 PM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 10-13
Meditation Verse: 12:14
Thought
What enemies of God would show contempt because of what David did? From the sound of it, the only person who might piece together what happened would be Joab, since he arranged Uriah's death and then saw David with Uriah's wife. Who else knew? Bathsheba's friends? Did Joab tell others? It seems more likely that these would be God's angelic enemies, Satan and his followers. They can see what is going on, perhaps they had asked permission to test David, and when David failed, they gloated over their victory.
Jan 20, 2023, 6:18 PM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 6-9
Meditation Verse: 6:22
Thought
David was accused by his wife of being undignified and shameful for how he worshiped and celebrated the Lord, but David insisted that he would gladly embarrass himself in his zeal for the Lord, and further humiliate himself. He understood that those who loved the Lord would hold him in higher honor for his abandonment to the Lord. Those who cared more about appearances would be put off, but David would celebrate with joy, unconcerned for what those people said.
Jan 19, 2023, 6:19 PM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 2-5
Meditation Verse: 5:12
Thought
When God exalts a leader, it is for the good of his people, not just for the benefit of the leader. The leader needs to remember that good comes to him for the benefit of his people. He is their representative and their servant; he is supposed to be taking care of them and meeting their genuine needs, even when what they need is correction. He is supposed to lead them in what is good and right, and call them to follow.
Jan 26, 2022, 7:24 AM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 22 - 1 Kings 1
Meditation Verse: 2 Samuel 23:8
Thought
David's mighty men, the three and the thirty and the commanders of each, were all men of great valor. They all did great deeds, delivering victory to God's people, with no thought for their own lives. They were unwilling to retreat when the odds were against them, when they were ill equipped for battle. They did what needed to be done for the well-being of the people, and left the result with God. And God blessed them and delivered them and gave them victory against impossible odds.
Jan 25, 2022, 7:25 AM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 18-21
Meditation Verse: 18:9
Thought
Absalom's vanity ended up causing his death. His long, beautiful hair, which earned him such praise got so tangled up in a tree that he was lifted off his donkey and trapped, hanging in the tree. And where were his men? Why was he riding alone? How did he get separated from his bodyguards? He does not appear to be very skilled in warfare, or very wise in it. And so his vanity and his arrogance were the death of him.
Jan 24, 2022, 7:27 AM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 14-17
Meditation Verse: 17:14
Thought
This was all to fulfill the judgment of God on David for his sin with Bathsheba. God intended to punish David, but not to destroy him. Trouble had risen within his own family beginning with Amnon and Tamar. It had snowballed into the open rebellion of his son Absalom, who clearly had lost respect for his father and become so embittered against him as to seek his life! But God would not allow Absalom to succeed against David.
Jan 23, 2022, 7:28 AM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 10-13
Meditation Verse: 12:14
Thought
What enemies of God could this be? Who knew about what David had done? Only Joab. Surely he wouldn't mock the Lord because of it. Who then could these enemies be? They must be Satan and his fallen angels. They could also be the people who read about this later on and use it to justify their hatred of God, but that could have been remedied by not including this story in Scripture. Yet here it is. The Lord hates to be mocked, whether by men or angels, and that is right.
Jan 22, 2022, 7:29 AM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 6-9
Meditation Verses: 7:18-19
Thought
David is amazed at the graciousness of God to him. The Lord has promised to make a lasting name for him, because he followed the Lord with all his heart. He didn't care what others thought of him, he didn't think he needed to protect his dignity and guard his displays of delight in the Lord. He loved the Lord deeply and was so grateful for His goodness to him. He knew that the Lord had delivered him all his life and taken such good care of him all his days, and now the Lord was promising even greater things.
Jan 21, 2022, 7:30 AM
Passage Read: 2 Samuel 2-5
Meditation Verse: 2:8
Thought
Abner did what any kingdom would do, he put the next surviving son on the throne of his dead father. And when Judah made David king, that was like part of Saul's kingdom rebelling against the logical king. But unlike most kingdoms, Israel's king was chosen by God, and almost everyone knew that God had anointed David king over Israel, even while Saul was still alive. So while Abner followed the ways of the nations in making Saul's son king, he should have recognized that David was the rightful king.
Jan 20, 2022, 7:31 AM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 29 - 2 Samuel 1
Meditation Verses: 2 Samuel 1:11-12
Thought
After all that Saul had done to David, David did not rejoice over the death of Saul. In all his fleeing, David did not grow bitter against Saul, so that when Saul died, he could mourn in honesty. No matter how bad Saul had been to him, David still honored and respected him as king, even in his death. That is a powerful testimony and challenge to me, because it is so easy for me to become angry at those who mistreat me.