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 22, 2025, 6:44 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 26-29
Meditation Verse: 29:20
Thought
Chapter 26 gave an extensive description of a fool, and there seems no hope for a fool to be saved from his foolishness, apart from God who can do the impossible. Here it says there is more hope for a fool than for a man who speaks in haste. I always want to be one of those guys who has a quick wit, but this suggests that is no admirable trait. The one who speaks in haste may say many clever things, but how many of them are actually foolish?
May 21, 2025, 6:59 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 22-25
Meditation Verse: 22:1
Thought
It is better to have a good reputation than to be rich. It is better to be held in high regard than to have much silver and gold. This is a good word, but also one that can easily lead someone astray. It has to be asked: A good name among what people? Esteemed by whom? The righteous man is not loved by those who delight in evil. Maybe a good man might be, but one who speaks up for God's standards will be hated by most men!
May 20, 2025, 6:47 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 18-21
Meditation Verse: 21:5
Thought
The plans of the diligent versus haste. It is better to take time to plan carefully and then operate by a solid plan than it is to hurry through a bunch of tasks and think you're doing amazing because of all you get accomplished. Careful planning and execution is better than many tasks done hastily. Diligence may seem slow, but it brings greater success than hurrying. Hurrying though tasks seems like a great idea, but it allows for many mistakes and ruin, and leads to poverty.
May 19, 2025, 8:09 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 14-17
Meditation Verse: 14:6
Thought
The mocker is wise in his own eyes. He disdains all those around him. He cannot find anyone wiser than him, so though he seeks wisdom, he finds none, none that measures up to his standards. None that satisfy his understanding of right and wrong. He seeks wisdom, but he's too busy justifying himself to find it. It is not hard to find, but he doesn't want true wisdom, because that would mean full submission to God.
May 18, 2025, 7:10 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 10-13
Meditation Verse: 10:17
Thought
My response to discipline and correction doesn't just affect me, but encourages others! If I listen to and learn from discipline, that shows others the way to life. If I reject correction, it leads others astray. Obedience isn't just for myself, but for the benefit of others, that they might be guided along a good path. Disobedience doesn't just affect me, but encourages others to go their own way. Is interesting that disobedience is more effective than obedience:
May 17, 2025, 10:23 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 6-9
Meditation Verses: 6:33-35
Thought
This is a warning to young men of what most men will do if they find you sleeping with their wife. There would be violence and no way to buy him off. But would the husband also execute vengeance on his wife or does his jealousy protect her? The Law God gave Israel required the death penalty for both the man who slept with his neighbor's wife and for the wife. There should be no need for the husband to take personal vengeance against the man or his wife, except to turn them in to the authorities for judgment and execution.
May 16, 2025, 6:39 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 2-5
Meditation Verses: 2:16-19
Thought
This is a strong statement, that all who go to the adulteress never regain the paths of life! How can sin with an adulteress be so great as to keep a man from repentance? Solomon goes into greater detail in Chapter Five. There is something about giving in to the adulteress' enticement that breaks a man down to such extent that he wastes his strength and years on a false companion, and in the end sees that he has hated discipline and correction.
May 15, 2024, 5:47 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 26-29
Meditation Verses: 26:24-26
Thought
The one who hates disguises it with his lips, gathering deceit in his heart. He speaks graciously to the one he hates, but his heart is full of abominations. Though he is long successful in covering over his hatred, eventually his wickedness will be revealed in the assembly. What assembly? For sure in the final judgment.
May 14, 2024, 5:49 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 22-25
Meditation Verse: 24:25
Thought
There are several proverbs about the righteous rebuking the wicked, and how important that is. Here it says that the righteous who rebuke the wicked will be a delight and good blessing will come upon them. Will they be a delight to others or will they simply receive delight and enjoyment? Will the blessing come from other people or will it come from the Lord? It certainly has been the case in times past that people appreciated when the wicked were rebuked, as long as they were not also the ones rebuked.
May 13, 2024, 5:50 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 18-21
Meditation Verse: 21:31
Thought
Those who trust in the Lord know that despite all their preparations, victory belongs entirely to the Lord. The horse is made ready for battle, and we need to do everything we can to prepare for whatever challenge faces us; that is the responsible thing. But no matter how much we prepare, it is the Lord who grants or withholds victory. So no matter how diligent I am in preparing to face a challenge, I need to continually seek the Lord and walk in His ways, in order to know His will and do it, and so enjoy His favor, even if He decrees failure.