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
May 9, 2023, 8:22 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 27-30
Meditation Verses: 30:9-10
Thought
It is a dangerous thing to refuse the message of prophets and demand messages of peace and pleasant things. Isaiah calls them illusions! If all I want to hear are pleasant words, words of peace and love, then I'll probably be in trouble.
May 8, 2023, 8:23 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 23-26
Meditation Verse: 26:10
Thought
Though they experience grace, they do not recognize or appreciate it. They think all good happens to them because they are pretty awesome. Their pride blinds them to the kindness they are actually experiencing. They think it's dumb luck or because of their skill. So they continue in sin with no thought for God or His kindness. Even when dwelling with the righteous who recognize the Lord and His grace, they don't believe, they cannot humble themselves, so they continue in their wicked ways.
May 7, 2023, 8:25 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 19-22
Meditation Verses: 22:12-13
Thought
When trouble comes, we should cry out to the Lord with repentance, we should fast and humble ourselves before the Lord, that He might have pity and compassion on us. In this instance, instead of seeking the Lord, Judah made whatever preparations they could think of, then prepared to be overrun and destroyed. There was no sense of repentance, no thought that their trouble might be because they had sinned against the Lord, and so no thought to repent and humble themselves before Him, pleading for mercy.
May 6, 2023, 8:26 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 15-18
Meditation Verse: 16:6
Thought
Pride is no defense against the Lord, especially when that pride is in self. A people may have even accomplished much and done great things, but if they do not acknowledge the Lord, if they really think they accomplished something by their own power, that is even more dangerous. The Lord will not endure the pride of men, but at some point will overthrow the arrogant. He will put them down, no matter how high they have climbed or exalted themselves.
May 5, 2023, 8:28 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 11-14
Meditation Verses: 14:9-11
Thought
It doesn't matter how high and exalted anyone becomes, they all end up in the same place: the grave. I can become high and mighty, but at death, I'll become as weak and impotent as all who have gone before me. So earthly greatness is meaningless; it only lasts a few years then it will all be forgotten. And if anyone considers himself great, I don't need to be overly impressed by him; his greatness will all be lost with his death.
May 4, 2023, 8:29 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 7-10
Meditation Verse: 10:15
Thought
Much like last night, reading 1 Corinthians, here again is the same idea: Those used by God to carry out His wrath and punishment should not become proud, as though they raised themselves up to such a height that towers over other men with frightening authority. God did it for His own purposes. Whom He raises up is no different from those he is raised above; they are all men, and they are all expected to honor and glorify the Lord.
May 3, 2023, 8:30 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 3-6
Meditation Verses: 5:4-6
Thought
When His vineyard failed to produce good fruit after all He had done to help it succeed, the Lord determined to break down the protecting wall He had built so that it would be trampled. He decided to stop tending it and so providing for it, so that it would become overgrown and ugly and useless. This is the danger I have if I refuse to listen to and honor and obey the Lord: He will stop protecting me, He will withhold sustenance and He will let me be consumed by my sin.
May 2, 2023, 8:31 AM
Passage Read: Song of Solomon 7 - Isaiah 2
Meditation Verses: Isaiah 1:27-28
Thought
The penitent ones will be redeemed with righteousness, but the rebels and sinners will be broken and will perish. This is why the Gospel begins with "repent." We still need to turn from our evil ways; we need to acknowledge our evil ways and be ashamed of them and turn away from them. It is those who are ashamed and willing to forsake their sins who are saved, not those who merely claim to believe in Jesus.
May 20, 2022, 7:34 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 63-66
Meditation Verse: 66:5
Thought
Those who tremble at God's Word, it is their own brothers who hate them and drive them out in God's name. They say God is glorified by their driving out of those who fear the Lord, but the Lord will appear to those who are driven out because they tremble at His Word, and He will rejoice over them and bring them joy, while those who drove them out will be ashamed. Those who drove them out are obviously people who think they know the Lord, but who do not tremble at His Word.
May 19, 2022, 7:36 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 59-62
Meditation Verses: 59:14-16
Thought
There was no righteousness, no justice, no truth in the land. Indeed, the three stayed away from the land and the people. They were not welcome and they stayed back, because the people wanted nothing to do with them. And it was evil in the Lord's sight. He was appalled that there was no one speaking up for justice and righteousness and truth. No one was interceding on their behalf, that the people might hear and know something was wrong, that these three were missing.