Use this devo as you are able, in whole or in part. Don’t feel compelled to read it all. Simply read and meditate upon whatever catches your attention. The goal is enjoying time with God through His Word and in prayer. Questions about the devotional elements?

Call to Prayer

Prayer of Confession

Everlasting God, I shop for pleasure, looking to consume happiness; I hustle for meaning, striving to make a difference. But the more I consume the less I enjoy, and the harder I work the more life slips out of my reach. Help me understand the simple truth that none of my work or worry, nor any of life’s pleasures, does any good without your blessing. Amen. (Prayer based on the Heidelberg Catechism, Question 125)

*Prayer borrowed from Philip Reinders’ Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

Reading Plan

This reading plan will help you to develop the habit of being in God’s Word each morning and evening. Come to this time with expectation. Expect God to reveal himself to you. Expect that he delights in you being there, even when you’ve wandered away. Growing a spiritual habit is a slow, patient process. So be kind to yourself as you grow! 

Readings are hyperlinked. Simply hover over the passage or click Morning/Evening Reading (email version).

Morning Readings:

Pray Psalm 68 | Read John 5

• Praying the Psalms: Read slowly. Take note of words and phrases. Bring them before the Lord in prayer and personalize the passage as you pray.
• NT Context: In deliberate parallel to the opening words of Genesis, John presents God as speaking salvation into existence. This time God’s word takes on human form and enters history in the person of Jesus. Jesus speaks the word and it happens: forgiveness and judgment, healing and illumination, mercy and grace, joy and love, freedom and resurrection. Everything broken and fallen, sinful and diseased, called into salvation by God’s spoken word. Jesus, in this account, not only speaks the word of God; he is the Word of God. Meditate on the passage, noting a few words or a phrase that stood out. Take them to God in prayer.

Evening Readings:

Pray Psalm 69 | Read 2 Kings 17

• OT Context: “Sovereignty, God’s sovereignty, is one of the most difficult things for people of faith to live out in everyday routines…This story makes it clear that it was not God’s idea that the Hebrews have a king, but since they insisted, he let them have their way. But God never abdicated his sovereignty to any of the Hebrew kings; the idea was that they would represent his sovereignty, not that he would delegate his sovereignty to them. Reflect on the passage. Who was the original audience, and what was their situation? How is that relevant to you today?

Sermon Devo

This Fall our sermon series is in Jonah. Follow along here as we explore this work of literary genius (it is really multilayered and complex) and theological profundity (we discover much about the nature of God, humans, and redemption in just 4 chapters)

READ: Jonah 4:1-9

“It was once the fashion in the Selesia and Bohemia of Eastern Europe to build pulpits in the shape of an upright whale. In order to take his place as a preacher, the pastor or priest had to enter the interior of the pulpit at the base, climb a ladder through the belly, and then come into the open mouth and deliver the sermon. I’ve always wanted a pulpit like that.” 

I came across this somewhat odd historical fact while reading Eugene Peterson’s mediation on the story of Jonah (and, yes, there are pictures). There’s something humorous, yet profound in the idea of sermons being delivered from the mouth of a whale. The preacher must be reminded of the central theme of Jonah each time he enters the pulpit: “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” But also of Jonah’s running, Jonah’s stubbornness, his eagerness to preach divine wrath instead of delighting in divine mercy. 

We all could use a climb through the belly of a whale each morning as we head out the front door, and as we return. Every day a reminder that God delights to show mercy to those who don’t deserve it. How much different would our parenting become? How much more tender our conversations with spouses? How much more compassionate our treatment of and words with those on the other end of the political spectrum? 

Or perhaps not? Jonah underwent that same journey and then found himself outside the city, popcorn popped, waiting to see some Sodom and Gomorrah style fire from heaven. Disappointed, he collapsed, and the Lord still made a plant to shade him in his misery. 

We are such fickle Creatures aren’t we? We experience once-and-for-all-time rescue through Christ, and yet we can’t get over the way someone treated us. We watch for their downfall, hoping not to miss a moment of the action, and grow bitter when they don’t receive their just desserts. God mercifully comes to us by his Spirit, who reminds us that we are Abba’s child (Romans 8:15-17), but that’s not good enough. The worm eats away at the peace and we find that we haven’t escaped ourselves! Who will rescue us from this body of death (Romans 7:24)?

REFLECT: Read Romans 7:25-8:1 and meditate for a while today on God’s rescue of you in Christ. 

Evening Prayer of Examen

• Where did you move with or feel close to Jesus today?
• Where did you resist or feel far from Jesus today?
• Where is Jesus leading you tomorrow? Ask for joy as you follow him.

Benediction