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
Dec 13, 2024, 7:18 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 44-48
Meditation Verses: 45:5-8
Thought
Joseph had already pieced together that he had been sent ahead of his family to Egypt for their preservation, so he wasn't bitter at all, despite more than twelve years of servitude and imprisonment. Most people today would have a hard time forgiving their family for causing such suffering, but not Joseph.
Dec 12, 2024, 7:20 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 41-44
Meditation Verse: 42:16
Thought
How have I never seen this? Joseph remembers his dreams as a youth and realizes how close he is to fulfilling the first dream, only Benjamin is missing. So this whole ruse is to see that first dream fulfilled. He needs Benjamin to come down with the rest of them and bow before him to fulfill the first dream.
Dec 11, 2024, 7:22 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 37-40
Meditation Verse: 40:1
Thought
The way the story about Judah, his sons and Tamar is inserted between Joseph's sale into Egypt and his imprisonment suggest that a very long time passed for Joseph in Egypt. Joseph had no idea what God intended to do with him, nor how long it would take, so he just did whatever was put in front of him, and he did it with his whole heart.
Dec 10, 2024, 7:24 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 33-36
Meditation Verses: 33:3-4
Thought
The response of these two brothers is interesting. Jacob left twenty years earlier, fleeing because Esau was consoling himself with the thought of killing Jacob after his father died. Turns out, his father lived quite a long time, even after Jacob finally returned! During Jacob's twenty year absence, Esau ended up inheriting responsibility for all his father's possessions, and did very well for himself. He had married into a powerful family in Seir, and so had everything he could possibly want. He no longer nursed a grudge against his brother, and it shows in his unabashed welcome of his returning brother.
Dec 9, 2024, 7:26 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 29-32
Meditation Verses: 31:38-42
Thought
Jacob agreed to each price that Laban set for him. At first, he offered to work seven years for Laban's daughter Rachel, but Laban cheated him. Jacob endured the deception and accepted Laban's offer of a second seven years in exchange for Rachel. After that, Jacob agreed to continue working for Laban in exchange for the discolored sheep and goats.
Dec 8, 2024, 7:27 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 25-28
Meditation Verses: 27:12-14
Thought
Jacob protested, but ultimately submitted to his mother and her plan to deceive his father. Did he just need her offer of taking the curse upon herself? Was he just so obedient? Or did he want the blessing as much as he wanted the birthright? Was he really determined to gain these things or did he just happen to fall into them by lucky coincidence?
Dec 7, 2024, 7:29 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 21-24
Meditation Verse: 22:21
Thought
This hasn't stood out to me before, but Aram descends from Abraham's own brother. A people who will become an enemy and a snare to Israel is one of their own relatives. Moab, Ammon, Edom and the Ishmaelites, Aram, these are all people who come from Abraham's extended family. And they are all hostile to Israel, often used by God to discipline them.
Dec 6, 2024, 7:30 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 17-20
Meditation Verses: 18:20-21
Thought
The Lord is judge of all the earth. If He has spoken to other peoples to warn them or rebuke them or teach them, we don't really know. He chose Abraham and his descendants to be witnesses on the earth, to teach the world about Himself, that all men might come to know Him through them. For the most part, He left the rest of the nations to themselves.
Dec 5, 2024, 7:32 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 13-16
Meditation Verses: 15:4-8
Thought
The Lord promised to give the land of Canaan and more to Abram's descendants. But Abram pointed out that the Lord had given him no children, so how could he inherit the land? Then the Lord promised to give him a son and make his descendants like the stars in the sky for number.
Dec 4, 2024, 7:34 AM
Passage Read: Genesis 9-12
Meditation Verses: 9:26-27
Thought
Not only is this a curse to reveal the future condemnation of Canaan, but also a foretelling of the future of all peoples. Japheth is the oldest and should be most prominent according to normal custom, but Noah is exalting Shem above Japheth by saying Japheth will live in the tents of Shem.