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
Jun 1, 2023, 5:41 PM
Passage Read: Lamentations 1-4
Meditation Verses: 3:19-23
Thought
These latter two verses are very famous and recited for comfort, but the context makes them even more tragic. In the midst of his affliction and the tragedy of the overthrow of Judah and Jerusalem, Jeremiah recognizes that the reason there is a tiny remnant left is because of the Lord's great love and His compassion that is new every morning. This is not the victory that it first seems, but recognition that despite the wickedness with which they have provoked the Lord, a remnant of Israel survives because of the Lord's compassion.
May 31, 2023, 2:11 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 49-52
Meditation Verse: 51:45
Thought
This sounds like the same call to flee Babylon in the future, before the return of Christ. Did they flee the city only or the whole country, because that would indicate what is needed in time to come. Surely it was just the city, the residence of the king, the seat of power.
May 30, 2023, 2:13 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 45-48
Meditation Verses: 45:4-5
Thought
The end of this age may be closer than anyone realizes, when the Lord overthrows everything men have built. So what will it matter if anyone seeks great things in this day? It will only be wasted effort, effort that could have been directed elsewhere. Because whether the end of this age is at hand or not, nothing built here will last. But everything built for the Lord will endure into eternity.
May 29, 2023, 2:14 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 41-44
Meditation Verses: 44:24-28
Thought
Why does God even bother talking to these people? They have rejected Him to His face; they have declared their intent and fulfilled it to go against whatever He says. They rejected Jeremiah when they asked Jeremiah to ask the Lord whether they should go to Egypt or not. They won't listen to Jeremiah. They rejected him as prophet, even when everything he previously prophesied came to pass!
May 28, 2023, 2:15 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 37-40
Meditation Verse: 38:17
Thought
Zedekiah could have saved Jerusalem, if he had only humbled himself and surrendered to the Babylonians. The city and the temple would have been preserved. But he refused to believe Jeremiah, and so all this disaster fell on them and the city. It is dreadful to ignore the Word of the Lord, costly to the one who leads the rebellion and to all who follow him. The one who really has the best interests of those he leads will make every effort to listen to, honor and obey the Lord.
May 27, 2023, 2:17 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 33-36
Meditation Verses: 33:24-26
Thought
It is a mistake to think that just because the Lord disciplines His people, even so severely as to drive them out of their land, it is a mistake to think that the Lord then hates His people and has completely rejected them. It is so hard for people to understand that discipline is not hatred but love. It is the people that God does not discipline that need to be afraid.
May 26, 2023, 2:18 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 29-32
Meditation Verses: 32:39-40
Thought
The Lord promises to do good to His people, to prosper and bless them as He has always promised. But His promise has always been predicated on their obedience to His ways. Even in this promise, He is able to fulfill it because He will give His people singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear Him for their good and the good of their children after them. He will never stop doing good to them because He will inspire them to fear Him and never again turn away from Him.
May 25, 2023, 2:19 PM
May 24, 2023, 2:20 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 21-24
Meditation Verses: 23:28-29
Thought
The Word of the Lord is powerful, like fire that burns up everything in its path or a hammer that shatters rock. Many people have their ideas about life and God and the world, but only God's Word is true. But that means we have to be careful not to go beyond what it says, as surely as we need to understand everything it does say. To work with only parts of it is dangerous, and to make it say things it doesn't is equally dangerous.
May 23, 2023, 2:22 PM
Passage Read: Jeremiah 17-20
Meditation Verses: 18:19-21
Thought
Even Jeremiah can be pushed too far. He stood up on behalf of his people and pleaded for their rescue, their deliverance, but they plotted against him and planned to kill him. So he responded by asking the Lord to reject them and destroy them. His patience and compassion came to an end. Even as the Lord's compassion on that generation also came to an end.