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 21, 2026, 9:53 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 10-13
Meditation Verse: 10:29
Thought
Doing things God's way is like a mighty fortress to those who do so, but to those who delight in doing wrong, God's ways bring disaster. Those who trust God's wisdom so as to obey it will find it is the safest way to live. God will guard him and bless him and use adversity to store up treasure for him.
May 20, 2026, 7:22 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 6-9
Meditation Verses: 9:7-9
Thought
The Gospel is for the lost, but according to these verses, there is a kind of wicked man that the wise do not bother to rebuke. The scoffer is wise in his own eyes, wiser than all those who know God's wisdom. He doesn't merely ignore reproof, he mocks and insults those who reprove him.
May 19, 2026, 7:49 AM
Passage Read: Proverbs 2-5
Meditation Verses: 5:21-23
Thought
We give too much credit to sin and Satan and the world and even God. God doesn't have to do us harm, we bring it on ourselves! Satan and sin and the world don't have to haunt us and pester us and trick us and attack us, we do just fine on our own! We choose to do evil or give in to our own wrong desires, and we bring consequences on ourselves.
May 18, 2026, 7:26 AM
Passage Read: Psalm 148 - Proverbs 1
Meditation Verses: Proverbs 1:23-26
Thought
It is not good to ignore wisdom when she calls out fools for their folly, when she raises her reproof, when she offers correction and instruction. She desires to help and will gladly pour out her wisdom and give guidance. But if she is spurned, if she is rejected, if she is ignored, she will in turn laugh at the calamity that befalls such fools.
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.