Daily Devotions · May 23
Reading for May 23
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
2 Chronicles 6–7 · Psalm 135 · Romans 4
2 Chronicles 6–7 · Psalm 135 · Romans 4, Berean Standard Bible
2 Chronicles 6
Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. 2 But I have built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.” 3 And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all 4 and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, 5 ‘Since the day I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over My people Israel. 6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ 7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 8 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. 9 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’ 10 Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 11 And there I have placed the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with the children of Israel.” 12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 15 You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day. 16 Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ 17 And now, O LORD, God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David. 18 But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. 19 Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You. 20 May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive. 22 When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, 23 then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness. 24 When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading before You in this temple, 25 then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to them and their fathers. 26 When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, 27 then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance. 28 When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, 29 then may whatever prayer or plea Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— 30 be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men— 31 so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers. 32 And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, 33 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name. 34 When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of this city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, 35 then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause. 36 When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to a land far or near, 37 and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ 38 and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, 39 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and pleas, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You. 40 Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 41 Now therefore, arise, O LORD God, and enter Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may Your godly ones rejoice in goodness. 42 O LORD God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember Your loving devotion to Your servant David.”
2 Chronicles 7
When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 The priests were unable to enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 The priests stood at their posts, as did the Levites with the musical instruments of the LORD, which King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD and with which David had offered praise, saying, “For His loving devotion endures forever.” Across from the Levites, the priests sounded trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing. 7 Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar he had made could not hold all these offerings. 8 So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast for seven days. 9 On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar had lasted seven days, and the feast seven days more. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the good things that the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. 11 When Solomon had finished the house of the LORD and the royal palace, successfully carrying out all that was in his heart to do for the house of the LORD and for his own palace, 12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people, 14 and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 For I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time. 17 And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.’ 19 But if you turn away and forsake the statutes and commandments I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods, 20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples. 21 And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 22 And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, He has brought all this disaster upon them.’”
Psalm 135
Hallelujah! Praise the name of the LORD. Give praise, O servants of the LORD, 2 who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. 3 Hallelujah, for the LORD is good; sing praises to His name, for it is lovely. 4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His treasured possession. 5 For I know that the LORD is great; our Lord is above all gods. 6 The LORD does all that pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths. 7 He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses. 8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast. 9 He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings: 11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan. 12 He gave their land as an inheritance, as a heritage to His people Israel. 13 Your name, O LORD, endures forever, Your renown, O LORD, through all generations. 14 For the LORD will vindicate His people and will have compassion on His servants. 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 16 They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; 17 they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them. 19 O house of Israel, bless the LORD; O house of Aaron, bless the LORD; 20 O house of Levi, bless the LORD; you who fear the LORD, bless the LORD! 21 Blessed be the LORD from Zion—He who dwells in Jerusalem. Hallelujah!
Romans 4
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has discovered? 2 If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” 9 Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist. 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb. 20 Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for Abraham, 24 but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.
Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain.
How to SOAP
Grab a journal and a pen. Read the chapters above and watch for the verse that stops you. Then take it through four steps.
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Scripture
Write out the verse that stood out to you.
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Observation
What is it saying? Who is speaking, and to whom?
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Application
What does it mean for your life today? Be specific.
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Prayer
Talk to God about it. Ask Him to help you live it.
Your SOAP journal
Write your SOAP here. Tap any verse in the reading to add it to Scripture. Your journal saves on this device only, so no one else sees it.
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Why daily devotions?
Devotions are time set aside each day to read God's Word and let Him speak. The point isn't checking off chapters. It's meeting with Him.
Ten or fifteen minutes is enough to start. Pick a time and a place and keep the appointment. Mornings work well for a lot of us, before the phone and the day start talking.
Missed a day? Don't start over. Read today's chapters and keep going.