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
Jun 6, 2024, 7:02 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 63-66
Meditation Verse: 66:24
Thought
One day, we will be able to look on all those people who rejected the Lord, as they suffer torment. Their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched. They will be visible to all the redeemed, and we will be able to look on them whenever we desire. And they will be an abhorrence to all who remain. We will see friends and neighbors and even relatives who rejected the Lord, who refused to believe and obey Him, and we will not feel pity but disgust.
Jun 5, 2024, 7:04 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 59-62
Meditation Verse: 59:4
Thought
How true this is, from the least of us to the greatest. No one is completely honest. We trust in confusion and misdirection, and even speak lies. We don't sue righteously or plead honestly. We present the side of truth that supports our want, rather than the whole truth that might show we aren't the oppressed one, or that our lack is our own making.
Jun 4, 2024, 7:05 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 55-58
Meditation Verses: 58:1-3
Thought
The Lord has a lot against Judah, even though they seek Him day by day and delight to know His ways. They believe they are a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the Lord's commands. They call out to Him for guidance and leadership, and delight in His nearness. But He is not pleased with them, because in all their spirituality, they have not learned to do good and right, but while they do the one, they also oppress the weak and pursue all their own desires.
Jun 3, 2024, 7:07 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 51-54
Meditation Verse: 54:17
Thought
This verse is so much more then what is usually quoted, and the overlooked part is so much better than the oft-quoted part! No weapon formed against God's people will prosper, not for long. Every tongue that accuses His people in judgment, His people will condemn. They will have the last word and it will stand.
Jun 2, 2024, 7:08 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 47-50
Meditation Verse: 50:10
Thought
Those who fear the Lord and obey His voice can still walk in darkness and not see light. That's when he must trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. That's the test. Will he continue to trust in the Lord or will he try to light his own way? Will he continue to believe and obey the Lord's word, especially when all seems dark? Or will he turn to some other source of light?
Jun 1, 2024, 7:10 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 43-46
Meditation Verses: 43:21-25
Thought
We were created to praise and honor the Lord, but instead we become weary of Him. He asks too much, He requires from us too much. Sacrifice and offering, obedience and submission. We want to go our own way, to be free to do what we want to do. We reject Him, we offer Him nothing good or pleasant, though He is our Creator and the One who cares for our every need, even needs we didn't know we had because He was watching so carefully over us.
May 31, 2024, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 39-42
Meditation Verses: 42:24-25
Thought
It is a frightening thing to have eyes but not see or ears but not hear, or to be able to feel, but not know when I've been burned. There is no hope for such a person, unless the Lord suddenly awakens him. This was Israel, who had God's great and glorious law, but refused to listen to it, refused to walk in obedience to it. So the Lord gave them up to plunder; they lived in fear.
May 30, 2024, 7:13 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 35-38
Meditation Verses: 37:21-22
Thought
Because Hezekiah prayed to the Lord about the king of Assyria, so the Lord promised to deliver Judah from him, such that Judah could laugh at the king of Assyria and mock him. Hezekiah is the king who made all kinds of preparations so that they could withstand a long siege and so that the invaders would have a hard time providing for themselves.
May 29, 2024, 6:45 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 31-34
Meditation Verses: 33:14-16
Thought
There are sinners and there are those who walk righteously. To the sinner, God is a consuming fire that burns continually, and they cannot endure His presence. It is because they refuse to repent and change their ways, so the Lord is continually disciplining them. But to the one who walks righteously, the Lord is a secure dwelling place and a delight.
May 28, 2024, 6:46 AM
Passage Read: Isaiah 27-30
Meditation Verses: 29:10-14
Thought
Jerusalem has wise men, they have discerning men, but they do not speak from the Lord. The prophets and seers are no more, the Lord has ceased to speak to and through them. God's prophetic words to them have become impossible for them to read and understand. They cannot understand the Lord because their worship of Him is in vain.