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 22, 2025, 10:49 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 18-21
Meditation Verse: 18:3
Thought
Judah, Ephraim, Gad, Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh had all claimed their inheritance. The rest of the tribes remained in camp, waiting for their allotment. Four and a half tribes just asked for or took what they wanted.
Jan 21, 2025, 10:51 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 14-17
Meditation Verses: 17:16-18
Thought
Joshua is beginning to record those groups of Canaanites that were too strong for the Israelites to destroy. He also records that though they were too strong now, in time the Israelites would be strong enough to make them forced labor.
Jan 20, 2025, 6:47 PM
Passage Read: Joshua 10-13
Meditation Verse: 10:8
Thought
Joshua and the Israelites were commissioned by God to go and take the land. Here God reminds Joshua that he has no need to be afraid of a large number of kings coming against them, because it is God's will that they be defeated, so they will not be able to withstand the Israelites.
Jan 19, 2025, 6:49 PM
Passage Read: Joshua 6-9
Meditation Verses: 7:20-21
Thought
Achan confessed his sin and returned the things he had stolen, but that didn't remove the consequence of his actions. He still bore the death penalty, he and his whole family. Even all he had and all he'd stolen were buried with him.
Jan 18, 2025, 6:51 PM
Passage Read: Joshua 2-5
Meditation Verses: 2:9-12
Thought
There are two responses to the Lord's overwhelming power and authority and commitment to judge: surrender and plead for life, or tremble and hopelessly defend. Rahab saw the certainty of God's coming and surety of His victory, and she decided to beg for her life and the lives of her family.
Jan 16, 2024, 8:18 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 22 - Judges 1
Meditation Verses: Joshua 23:6-7
Thought
The Israelites didn't drive out all the Canaanites at once, but many were left to be conquered after Joshua's death. Joshua warns them to remain faithful to the Lord and He will give them victory over the remaining Canaanites. So on their part, they were to be firm and do all that Moses had taught them, and they were not to make friends with the Canaanites, and especially not to learn the names of their gods and follow their practices. But of course, that is what they did.
Jan 15, 2024, 8:19 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 18-21
Meditation Verse: 21:44
Thought
Oh to have rest from all my enemies. It is a promise but not for this life. Unless I make peace with all my enemies. Which would require giving in to their way of thinking and living. The Israelites did that in many cases with the Canaanites, not so much with the surrounding enemies, though there were times when their neighbors left them alone. There's no real rest from my enemies until this life is done, and oh how I wish that were soon.
Jan 14, 2024, 8:21 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 14-17
Meditation Verses: 17:14-15
Thought
The sons of Joseph were not content with the land they had been allotted; it wasn't enough for them. Joshua didn't dispute them or rebuke them, but acknowledged that what they said was true and right, so he gave them another portion. However, that portion was still in the hands of Canaanites; they would have to fight to claim it. That would be too hard for them, they said, but Joshua assured them that they'd be able to take it.
Jan 13, 2024, 8:22 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 10-13
Meditation Verse: 11:20
Thought
The Canaanites received no mercy from God. They were to be completely destroyed. Some however would receive mercy from the Israelites, not for love of them, but because they chose to enslave them rather than destroy them. Perhaps they considered themselves more noble than the Lord, for offering mercy to people the Lord had set apart for destruction. It's a shame that the Lord didn't harden their hearts too; the Israelites and the Lord could have avoided much grief if they had obeyed the Lord.
Jan 12, 2024, 8:24 AM
Passage Read: Joshua 6-9
Meditation Verses: 7:11-12
Thought
God's response was immediate, though the people didn't realize it until later. Things went badly at Ai, and then they were afraid that the Lord had given them over to destruction. But the Lord had simply withdrawn His help from them, and with that, they were powerless against the people of the land. And it didn't occur to them that their failure was because someone among them had sinned. God had to point that out to them.