The Bemenderfers - Mark's Personal Devotions

April 5, 2026

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 06:20:00 +0000

Passage Read: Job 21-24 Meditation Verses: 21:19-20 Thought Yes, if only the wicked were punished before our eyes for the wickedness they do, that all knew exactly why they were being punished, then all men would see and fear and turn away from their sin. That's actually what God wrote into the Law for Israel! It's what He established with Noah. And it's what we've been promised will happen when Jesus reigns as king.

April 4, 2026

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 06:55:00 +0000

Passage Read: Job 17-20 Meditation Verse: 20:3 Thought This is so great! All Job's friends heard were reproofs which insulted them. They didn't hear what Job was actually saying, all they heard was that he was rejecting their words and insulting them in the process. That gives them even more evidence that Job was in the wrong.

April 3, 2026

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 07:42:00 +0000

Passage Read: Job 13-16 Meditation Verse: 13:26 Thought Because Job and his friends are convinced that such terrible things that have happened to him only come on those who do wrong, so Job must conclude that God is dredging up old sins, sins committed in his youth. God must be punishing him for things done long ago. That tells me that Job has learned and grown.

April 2, 2026

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:48:00 +0000

Passage Read: Job 9-12 Meditation Verses: 9:29-31 Thought Job was righteous; God declared him so. But Job thought that meant he should never suffer harm or any kind of evil. Now he has suffered calamity after calamity, stripping him of every mark of blessing, including his own health. If all his righteousness cannot save from disaster, what's the point of doing good and right?

April 1, 2026

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:03:00 +0000

Passage Read: Job 5-8 Meditation Verses: 7:17-21 Thought Why does God care about us? Why does God watch us and judge us? Why doesn't He just leave us be and let us go our way? Or just overlook anything we do wrong? Why does He make so much of us and test us? If we sin, what harm does it do to God? If we're just hurting ourselves, what does it matter?

March 31, 2026

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 07:24:00 +0000

Passage Read: Job 1-4 Meditation Verses: 1:15-19 Thought The brutality of this passage! Satan kills who knows how many servants and all Job's children in a single day, almost within a single hour! All these lives are meaningless to him, just to get Job to curse God! Even more shocking, God allows Satan to do these things, all to test and prove Job. Human lives are casually thrown away to test one man's faith.

March 30, 2026

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:46:00 +0000

Passage Read: Esther 7-10 Meditation Verses: 8:16-17 Thought The Jews rejoiced because they had been granted the right to assemble and defend themselves on the day their enemies were granted the right to assemble and kill them. Esther requested the obvious solution, that the previous decree be revoked, but that was not possible under the laws of the Medes and Persians.

March 29, 2026

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 07:48:00 +0000

Passage Read: Esther 3-6 Meditation Verse: 6:13 Thought Where was this warning when Haman first decided to wipe out Mordecai's entire people? Where was this warning when Haman seethed against seeing Mordecai the Jew every day at the king's gate? Instead of pointing out Mordecai's Jewish origin, they encouraged him to build a gallows 50 cubits high!

March 28, 2026

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 08:03:00 +0000

Passage Read: Nehemiah 12 - Esther 2 Meditation Verses: Nehemiah 13:25-27 Thought Nehemiah makes a great point here: Solomon was loved by God, made king and blessed beyond any other king. Yet none of that protected him from the danger of marrying unbelieving wives. His wisdom couldn't overcome the influence of his foreign wives. His favor with God couldn't protect him from the influence of wives who worshiped foreign gods.

March 27, 2026

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 06:16:00 +0000

Passage Read: Nehemiah 8-11 Meditation Verses: 8:9-10 Thought All the people were weeping as they heard the Law of the Lord. That is a good sign! Their struck to the heart over their ignorance of God's Law and disobedience to it. They're ashamed of their behavior and grieved that they have put the Lord to shame. That is a cause for rejoicing! That the people recognize their sin and are grieved over it, grieved to the point of being willing to repent!

March 26, 2026

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:59:00 +0000

Passage Read: Nehemiah 4-7 Meditation Verses: 5:11-13 Thought Nehemiah had gathered the people to work a solid 52 days to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He withstood intimidation and threats, and led the people to keep going despite their fear. Either Nehemiah had incredible charisma or else God was doing a work in the hearts of the people, and He just needed someone who saw what needed to be done and would rally the people.

March 25, 2026

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 06:10:00 +0000

Passage Read: Ezra 10 - Nehemiah 3 Meditation Verse: Nehemiah 2:18 Thought Nehemiah was cupbearer to the king. What did he know about rebuilding a city wall or governing a province? Yet as cupbearer, he may have heard many plans and progress reports from other big projects, and learned many unexpected things in his position. So when he heard about the situation in Jerusalem and got this idea to go and rebuild the walls, he also thought through a plan to complete such a task.

March 24, 2026

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 07:41:00 +0000

Passage Read: Ezra 6-9 Meditation Verses: 9:1-2 Thought Israel was supposed to destroy most of the people listed here, all who lived in the land of Canaan. The Book of Joshua tells us that many of these nations were not destroyed, but eventually subjugated and made servants of the community. They persisted in the land and became snares to the people of God, until God finally drove all Israel out of the land.

March 23, 2026

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 05:59:00 +0000

Passage Read: Ezra 2-5 Meditation Verses: 5:1-2 Thought There was no new decree issued in favor of the rebuilding of the temple. The governor and foreign peoples living in the land were bitter at the rejection of their offer to help rebuild the temple, and they harassed the Jews, lied about what they were doing and forced them to stop rebuilding the temple.

March 22, 2026

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 07:59:00 +0000

Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 34 - Ezra 1 Meditation Verses: 2 Chronicles 34:1-3 Thought Josiah was eight years old when he became king, so there were certainly counselors behind him who really ran the kingdom. But these counselors must have been from the latter part of Manasseh's reign, men who honored the Lord, because by sixteen, Josiah determined to seek the Lord, unlike his own father.

March 21, 2026

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 08:27:00 +0000

Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 30-33 Meditation Verses: 32:22-26 Thought Hezekiah experienced some great things from the Lord, specifically deliverance from the Assyrians and personal healing with a miraculous sign. After all his faithfulness, he seems to have lost sight of the cause of his blessing: the God he promoted! He didn't thank the Lord.

March 20, 2026

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:05:00 +0000

Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 26-29 Meditation Verse: 28:19 Thought God humbled Judah because Ahaz had brought about a lack of restraint and was very unfaithful to the Lord. That seems like an understatement. There was certainly a lack of restraint in terms of worshiping other gods. But there was likely also a lack of restraint in many other areas, in moral areas.

March 19, 2026

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 06:24:00 +0000

Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 22-25 Meditation Verses: 25:14-16 Thought Amaziah listened to the Lord and released the men of Israel that he had hired for his battle against Edom. God promised him success if he listened to him, and because he obeyed and trusted the Lord would make up the lost money, he succeeded. But as he was away at war, the men he released plundered some of his unguarded cities.

March 18, 2026

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 06:10:00 +0000

Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 18-21 Meditation Verses: 19:9-10 Thought Jesus said to not judge by appearances but to make right judgments. Jehoshaphat's instructions to his judges are helpful in understanding what Jesus meant. Judgment that pleases God is to give warning to brothers and sisters to protect them from sinning against the Lord, incurring His wrath and heaping up guilt before Him.

March 17, 2026

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 08:32:00 +0000

Passage Read: 2 Chronicles 14-17 Meditation Verses: 17:9-12 Thought Most people think the way to attain peace and security is to work heard to collect things that will make you feel secure. But Jehoshaphat sent his officials and the priests to teach the Law of the Lord throughout the land, and the Lord responded by causing all the nations around Israel to fear Him.