Daily Devotions · October 23
Reading for October 23
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Job 13–14 · Acts 17–18
Job 13–14 · Acts 17–18, Berean Standard Bible
Job 13
“Indeed, my eyes have seen all this; my ears have heard and understood. 2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. 3 Yet I desire to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God. 4 You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians. 5 If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom! 6 Hear now my argument, and listen to the plea of my lips. 7 Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him? 8 Would you show Him partiality or argue in His defense? 9 Would it be well when He examined you? Could you deceive Him as you would deceive a man? 10 Surely He would rebuke you if you secretly showed partiality. 11 Would His majesty not terrify you? Would the dread of Him not fall upon you? 12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay. 13 Be silent, and I will speak. Then let come to me what may. 14 Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands? 15 Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face. 16 Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him. 17 Listen carefully to my words; let my declaration ring in your ears. 18 See now, I have prepared my case; I know that I will be vindicated. 19 Can anyone indict me? If so, I will be silent and die. 20 Only grant these two things to me, so that I need not hide from You: 21 Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me. 22 Then call me, and I will answer, or let me speak, and You can reply. 23 How many are my iniquities and sins? Reveal to me my transgression and sin. 24 Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy? 25 Would You frighten a windblown leaf? Would You chase after dry chaff? 26 For You record bitter accusations against me and bequeath to me the iniquities of my youth. 27 You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet. 28 So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.
Job 14
“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. 2 Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. 3 Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You? 4 Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one! 5 Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed, 6 look away from him and let him rest, so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand. 7 For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail. 8 If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil, 9 at the scent of water it will bud and put forth twigs like a sapling. 10 But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he? 11 As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry, 12 so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep. 13 If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me! 14 When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes. 15 You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands. 16 For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin. 17 My transgression would be sealed in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity. 18 But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place, 19 as water wears away the stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a man’s hope. 20 You forever overpower him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away. 21 If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware. 22 He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”
Acts 17
When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women. 5 The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people. 6 But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!” 8 On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed. 9 And they collected bond from Jason and the others and then released them. 10 As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds. 14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day. 18 Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. 19 So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas. 22 Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. 25 Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination. 30 Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.” 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.” 33 At that, Paul left the Areopagus. 34 But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.
Acts 18
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them, 3 and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike. 5 And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. 6 But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 So Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his whole household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard the message believed and were baptized. 9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent. 10 For I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the word of God among the Corinthians. 12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews coordinated an attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat. 13 “This man is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law,” they said. 14 But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint. 15 But since it is a dispute about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.” 16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat. 17 At this, the crowd seized Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But none of this was of concern to Gallio. 18 Paul remained in Corinth for quite some time before saying goodbye to the brothers. He had his head shaved in Cenchrea to keep a vow he had made, and then he sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. 19 When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue there and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a while longer, he declined. 21 But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When Paul had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem. Then he went down to Antioch. 23 After Paul had spent some time in Antioch, he traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. 24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 When Apollos resolved to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On his arrival, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28 For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
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.
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.