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
“Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens, you who have done great things. Who is like you, God?” (Ps. 71:19)
Prayer of Confession
Searching God, your knowledge of me is both soothing and strange. I’m comforted knowing your eyes of love have seen me long before I even thought to look for you; but it’s also an unsettling reminder that I’m not in control. Quiet me now in the grace of your loving heart that has known and chosen me for yourself from before time. Amen. (Prayer based on the Canons of Dort, Article 1.6)
*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 74 | Read John 8
- 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 75 | Read 2 Kings 20
- 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 4:1-10
Yesterday we paused today to read the passage slowly, and to take in everything about the passage.
What stood out to you? Here’s what Tim Keller notes, and it is a theme that we will focus on for the rest of the week:
“One of the most notable features of the book of Jonah is its surprising “cliff-hanger” ending. The entire story has been one of God pursuing Jonah, first with a fearsome storm, then with gentle questions and reasoning.
Yet even though the methods vary, the purpose remains the same. God wants Jonah to see himself, to recognize the ways that he continues to deny God’s grace and the ways he holds on to self-righteousness.
He poses one final question: “You don’t want me to have compassion on Nineveh, but shouldn’t I? In light of all I’ve shown you, Jonah—should I not love this city, and should you not join me?” Without an answer, the book ends! We are never told what Jonah’s response was, whether he understood and accepted the logic of God’s mercy.“
REFLECT: We’ve asked this question a number of ways throughout our study of Jonah, but it’s a question that Christians should reflect upon often: “Am I understanding and living out of the logic of God’s mercy?” Spend some time in prayer today processing this question.
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
“Bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.” (2 Sam. 7:29)
