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
Apr 10, 2026, 7:21 AM
Passage Read: Job 41 - Psalm 2
Meditation Verses: Job 42:6-7
Thought
Job retracts his complaint and repents in dust and ashes, yet God testifies twice that Job has spoken correctly of the Lord, unlike Job's three friends. They all misunderstood God and how He operates. Job thought God was misjudging him and wanted to plead his case. His friends assumed God was rightly punishing Job for some hidden evil.
Apr 9, 2026, 6:48 AM
Passage Read: Job 37-40
Meditation Verses: 40:1-5
Thought
Job was afraid that if God came near to answer him, He would overwhelm him by His power and presence. And sure enough, that's what God did. But God can't help it, unless He clothes Himself in human flesh and conceals all His glory. God is God, and we are dust and ashes.
Apr 8, 2026, 6:59 AM
Passage Read: Job 33-36
Meditation Verse: 35:2
Thought
Elihu is as wrong as the rest, and like the rest, he doesn't understand why, because he doesn't understand Job or how Job could consider himself to be without sin. He has misunderstood Job's words, and misrepresented him because of it. But this statement here is a good warning. Job has not condemned God as wrong to judge him so severely.
Apr 7, 2026, 7:46 AM
Passage Read: Job 29-32
Meditation Verses: 30:1-3
Thought
There are men that Job in his righteous understanding refused to employ. Men who were weak and useless, gaunt from hunger and wasting away. The whole community had driven them away; everyone recognized that there was a problem with them. A few verses later, he identifies them as fools.
Apr 6, 2026, 9:59 AM
Passage Read: Job 25-28
Meditation Verse: 28:28
Thought
It's so simple. The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and understanding is to depart from evil. To fear the Lord is to know and honor Him and all He commands and all He desires. To fear the Lord is to be afraid to anger Him, afraid to offend Him. That is wisdom, to know the Lord so well, we know what delights Him and what offends Him, and we make sure to please Him and not anger Him.
Apr 5, 2026, 8:20 AM
Passage Read: Job 21-24
Meditation Verses: 21:19-20
Thought
Yes, if only the wicked were punished before our eyes for the wickedness they do, that all knew exactly why they were being punished, then all men would see and fear and turn away from their sin. That's actually what God wrote into the Law for Israel! It's what He established with Noah. And it's what we've been promised will happen when Jesus reigns as king.
Apr 4, 2026, 8:55 AM
Passage Read: Job 17-20
Meditation Verse: 20:3
Thought
This is so great! All Job's friends heard were reproofs which insulted them. They didn't hear what Job was actually saying, all they heard was that he was rejecting their words and insulting them in the process. That gives them even more evidence that Job was in the wrong.
Apr 3, 2026, 9:42 AM
Passage Read: Job 13-16
Meditation Verse: 13:26
Thought
Because Job and his friends are convinced that such terrible things that have happened to him only come on those who do wrong, so Job must conclude that God is dredging up old sins, sins committed in his youth. God must be punishing him for things done long ago. That tells me that Job has learned and grown.
Apr 2, 2026, 9:48 AM
Passage Read: Job 9-12
Meditation Verses: 9:29-31
Thought
Job was righteous; God declared him so. But Job thought that meant he should never suffer harm or any kind of evil. Now he has suffered calamity after calamity, stripping him of every mark of blessing, including his own health. If all his righteousness cannot save from disaster, what's the point of doing good and right?
Apr 1, 2026, 7:03 AM
Passage Read: Job 5-8
Meditation Verses: 7:17-21
Thought
Why does God care about us? Why does God watch us and judge us? Why doesn't He just leave us be and let us go our way? Or just overlook anything we do wrong? Why does He make so much of us and test us? If we sin, what harm does it do to God? If we're just hurting ourselves, what does it matter?