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 8, 2025, 9:20 PM
Passage Read: Numbers 32-35
Meditation Verses: 35:33-34
Thought
We have become so "noble" so as to seldom put anyone to death for murder. We're so afraid of miscarriages of justice, of putting an innocent man to death, that we fight to abolish the death penalty.
Jan 7, 2025, 9:21 PM
Passage Read: Numbers 28-31
Meditation Verse: 30:2
Thought
Any vow a man makes is binding on him. There is no distinction between those young men still living at home and those who have married and moved into their own home. Young and old, married and single, every man is responsible for his vow, to fulfill it.
Jan 6, 2025, 9:22 PM
Passage Read: Numbers 24-27
Meditation Verses: 27:16-17
Thought
Here Moses is concerned for the Israelites, that there be an orderly transfer of authority, rather than an apparently random transition. Before he departs, Moses asks the Lord to publicly appoint the next leader, and God agrees.
Jan 5, 2025, 9:24 PM
Passage Read: Numbers 20-23
Meditation Verses: 21:4-7
Thought
It is not good to complain against the Lord, but Israel has done so many times. They are finally starting to get it, it seems. The Lord sends venomous snakes among them and they recognize that it is because of their sin!
Jan 4, 2025, 9:25 PM
Passage Read: Numbers 16-19
Meditation Verse: 16:3
Thought
Korah accused Moses and Aaron of appointing themselves as leaders over all Israel, but it should have been obvious to all by now that Moses and Aaron were chosen, sent and acting on the Lord's instruction!
Jan 3, 2025, 9:26 PM
Passage Read: Numbers 12-15
Meditation Verse: 14:31
Thought
The adults used their children as an excused not to trust and obey Him and follow Him into taking the land. They were afraid of the Anakim more than they trusted in the Lord.
Jan 2, 2025, 9:27 PM
Passage Read: Numbers 8-11
Meditation Verse: 11:29
Thought
Moses got his wish: This is the promise of the New Covenant, that God would put His Spirit in His people and write His Law on our hearts, so that we would know the Lord, ideally even as Moses knew Him.
Jan 1, 2025, 9:29 PM
Passage Read: Numbers 4-7
Meditation Verse: 7:88
Thought
This would make for a great celebration, and that's what it should have been. Dedicating the tabernacle, celebrating the completion of the house of God, His dwelling place in the midst of the congregation, His presence among them!
Dec 31, 2024, 9:38 AM
Passage Read: Leviticus 27 - Numbers 3
Meditation Verse: Numbers 3:9
Thought
All the firstborn males in Israel belonged to the Lord, that meant they were supposed to be dedicated to His service. That was to be their vocation, though since it wasn't all-consuming work and there would be a multiplying of their numbers, the tasks could be spread across more and more people, leaving increasing time to do other things.