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 17, 2023, 6:15 PM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 25-28
Meditation Verse: 25:39
Thought
If I am faithful to walk in the Lord's ways, then I can be sure that I never need to take vengeance on those who insult me. The Lord will do it. I need to defend the Lord and work for His glory. I need to defend His honor and leave mine to him. Even if I make a fool of myself in serving and worshiping the Lord, I don't need to work about my honor. What men think of me really doesn't matter, so I shouldn't worry about it, especially when I'm tempted to be embarrassed by something the Lord has said or done.
Jan 16, 2023, 7:00 AM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 21-24
Meditation Verse: 24:15
Thought
The Lord preserved David time and again, in small ways vindicating him. It would be some time before he cleared David's name and exalted him for all his righteous choices, all his goodness to Saul, Israel and the Lord. But the Lord did eventually vindicate David in the eyes of all Israel, making him king of the whole nation.
Jan 15, 2023, 7:06 AM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 17-20
Meditation Verse: 18:8
Thought
Saul already had problems with the Lord and with humility before Him. He knew the Lord planned to hand the kingdom over to another, but he was determined to keep it. He should have known better, but he already showed he didn't respect or fear the Lord very much. So it's no wonder he would give in to jealousy, even more as he realized David was the one chosen by God to succeed him. All his efforts to eliminate David failed, but he wouldn't give up until God put him to death.
Jan 14, 2023, 7:08 AM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 13-16
Meditation Verse: 16:7
Thought
The Lord looks at the heart; men look on the outward appearance to determine who should lead, who to follow, who is worthy of honor. The Lord looks on the heart, for a man after His own heart. I need to judge men not by their outward appearance, but by their heart. I can't directly see what is in their heart, but I can evaluate what comes from the overflow of their heart: I can judge them by their words and deeds, what they value, what they invest their time in, how they use their free time.
Jan 13, 2023, 7:09 AM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 9-12
Meditation Verse: 12:22
Thought
The Lord was pleased to make me His own, so He will not reject me. That promise should amaze me and fill me with gratitude and security, such that I am glad to do anything He asks. It should move me to grateful obedience and faithfulness to Him, knowing that He gladly chose me and commits Himself to me! My grateful obedience should bring more glory to His name. To take His love for granted and live however I want is to think too highly of myself, as if I deserved His choosing of me, and too little of Him, which brings dishonor to His name.
Jan 12, 2023, 7:10 AM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 5-8
Meditation Verses: 6:19-20
Thought
How sad that when the Lord strikes the people for doing something they weren't supposed to do, their first response is to send Him away. They recognized that the Lord was a holy God, but instead of determining to honor and obey Him, they thought it would be better for them to have Him somewhere else, at a distance from them. Because they didn't want to reform their lives, though all they did was look into the ark!
Jan 11, 2023, 7:11 AM
Passage Read: 1 Samuel 1-4
Meditation Verse: 4:3
Thought
Why were the Israelites defeated in battle? Because the Lord intended to kill Eli's sons and send the ark into captivity, to fulfill His promise to Eli. Eli did nothing more than warn his sons of danger for the way they treated the Lord and His sacrifices; he had authority to remove them as priests, but he didn't care for the Lord more than he cared for his sons. So the Lord promised to kill his sons and shock Eli.
Jan 10, 2023, 7:26 AM
Passage Read: Ruth 1-4
Meditation Verses: 1:16-17
Thought
This is what it looks like to surrender our life for the good of another. Ruth could have returned to her own people and found a new husband and been taken care of, but she understood the situation Naomi would be in and chose to give up her own desires in order to care for her. God rewarded her with a godly husband and a glorious inheritance, becoming an ancestor of David and of Jesus. She gave up an easy and obvious path to security, she gave up her own life in order to become the servant of another, who would otherwise have little or no hope.
Jan 9, 2023, 7:28 AM
Passage Read: Judges 18-21
Meditation Verses: 20:4-7
Thought
How easy it is to conceal information that could make me look bad, that could complicate matters when an issue of injustice arises. There was a serious problem with the men of Gibeah, and another problem with the Benjamites, since they were unwilling to hand over the men who committed such evil. But the Levite was no angel! It would seem the girl had reason to flee from him, and sadly, her father doesn't appear to have done much to protect her from him.
Jan 8, 2023, 7:30 AM
Passage Read: Judges 14-17
Meditation Verse: 17:6
Thought
There is value in having a clear leader who will uphold the word of the Lord and promote His ways. The priests should have been sufficient, but there appears to be little evidence that they taught the people regularly from the Law. The people only seemed to understand that you could worship the Lord or other gods; they seem completely unaware of what the Lord desires. If a people is illiterate, they obviously need someone to teach them and to enforce compliance; that's the advantage of a king, if he honors the Lord.