Daily Reading Week 30
Sunday
John 11 (focus v.1–57)
Discover:
Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were among Jesus’ closest friends during His earthly ministry. John 11:5 tells us that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”
We see Martha’s strong faith in verses 21–22 and 27. She trusted that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God who had come into the world.
Mary showed similar trust. When Jesus called for her, she came and said that if He had been there, Lazarus would not have died (vv. 28–32). Her words weren’t bitter—they expressed honest confidence in His power. She may not have fully realized yet that His authority reached even over death itself, but she was about to witness it.
When Jesus saw Mary and the others weeping, He was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” (v. 33). The original Greek word carries a sense of indignation and anger. While some suggest He was upset by the crowd’s lack of faith, it seems more likely He was angry at death itself, the intruder that entered the world through sin (1 Cor. 15:22, 26). Death is not part of God’s original good creation, and even though believers enter heaven through it, it remains a terrible enemy. Jesus was right to be angry at it, and so are we.
Finally, Jesus wept (v. 35). These tears reveal His full humanity. In the incarnation, the Son of God took on everything that makes us human, including our emotions. What a comforting Savior we have—one who loves His friends, rages against death, and weeps with us in our sorrow.
Respond:
• How does it change your prayer life to approach Jesus as “the one He loves”?
• Where are you struggling to understand God’s timing?
• What does Jesus weeping teach you about His heart toward your pain?
• Where do you need resurrection hope right now?
Monday
1 John 4 (focus v.7–10)
Discover:
Love for One Another is the second key command in 1 John 3:23.
We see earlier in John’s letter that assurance of our faith comes from the interplay between the Holy Spirit’s internal testimony and the outward evidence of obedience. The Spirit assures us we belong to Jesus, but He never works apart from a life that obeys Christ’s commands.
Here in chapter 4 John turns to the second: love one another.
John makes it clear: love is a fundamental mark of genuine faith. “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (4:7). The one who does not love has neither been born of God nor truly knows Him. Why? Because “God is love” (v. 8) Love is at the very heart of who He is.
If we have become partakers of God’s nature (2 Peter 1:4) and are being transformed to reflect His character, then loving others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ, should become natural. Our hearts will want to love as He loves us. When we fail, we’ll repent and get back on track.
This kind of love is more radical than we often realize. It’s not just warm feelings. It calls us to self-sacrificial love, even for the unlovable (Luke 6:32–36). It includes God’s special, saving love for His own people (Rom. 9:13), while still calling us to show kindness to everyone. True reflection of God means loving Christ’s church deeply and extending grace even to those who seem “unworthy,” both inside and outside the family of faith.
Respond:
• Do you usually approach God based on His love or your performance?
• Why is it hard to believe God loved you first?
• How would your prayers change if you began with, “Lord, the one You love needs help”?
• What truth about God’s love do you need to hold onto today?
Tuesday
Deuteronomy 31 (focus v.6–8)
Discover:
Whatever you’re walking through right now, take heart: God has already gone before you.
He knew this season was coming even when you didn’t. And He hasn’t just foreseen it; He has gone ahead to prepare the mercy, strength, and help you need for this very moment.
I often think of dear friends facing hard days and find such comfort in this truth. Praise God He has gone before them, and He has gone before you too.
This changes how we face tomorrow, next week, or even the year ahead. There is nothing you will ever encounter that God hasn’t already walked ahead of you in.
Not only has he been there first but He will be with you when you get there. He will never leave you or forsake you. He is right there with you in the middle of it all.
So don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed by what you’re facing today or what may come tomorrow. The Lord has gone before you. He is with you right now. And He will lead you through every step of the way.
He’s gone before you. He is with you. He will see you through.
Respond:
• Where does God’s timing feel confusing in your life right now?
• How do you normally respond when God does not move as quickly as you hoped?
• What does it mean to trust that God has not left you, even in the waiting?
• What promise from this passage do you need to remember this week?
Wednesday
Psalm 6 (focus v.6–9)
Discover:
When you’re in the middle of great pain or trouble, where do you turn? Do you try to escape through your own cleverness or complain to others that life isn’t fair?
For God’s people, the only right place to run is to the Lord Himself. Whether our suffering comes through no fault of our own or as a result of our sins or poor choices, we are invited to run to our Father.
The book of Psalms is full of honest laments like this. In Psalm 6, David pours out his heart to God in deep distress. We don’t know the exact cause, but it doesn’t seem tied to a specific sin (unlike Psalm 51). David feels he is facing injustice, yet he still sees his suffering as coming under God’s discipline. He pleads, “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath” (v. 1).
His pain is so intense that it feels like God is about to pour out wrath. Yet David sets himself apart from “workers of evil” (v. 8) and cries out for mercy.
Scripture shows that not all suffering is direct punishment for sin. Some discipline is corrective and draws us closer to the Lord (see Eph. 6:4). All our trials, however, are used by God to shape us and keep us near Him.
In the midst of such pain, it is not only allowed but wise to do what David does: turn to God, pour out your grief, and ask for deliverance. David moves from deep lament to confident hope that “the Lord has heard my plea” (v. 9). He knows God will act.
The same is true for us. When we run to the Lord in your suffering, He hears us. He will renew our joy, carry us through, and one day bring us to the other side—where we can rejoice and testify that turning to Him was the very best thing we could have done.
Respond:
• Do you find it easy or difficult to bring honest grief to God? Why?
• What pain have you been tempted to minimize or hide?
• How does Jesus weeping give you permission to grieve honestly?
• What would it look like to bring your tears to God instead of carrying them alone?
Thursday
2 Corinthians 1 (focus v.3–7)
Discover:
Paul opens his second letter to the Corinthians with a benediction, one that echoes the blessings offered in Jewish synagogues, but with a distinctly Christian heart.
He says “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3).
The Old Testament often celebrates God’s mercy, but Paul ties it directly to Jesus. By calling God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he shows that true comfort flows to us through Christ in this new messianic age.
Paul repeatedly emphasizes comfort in these opening verses. He’s reminding the Corinthians (and us) that we are living in the promised era of salvation foretold by Isaiah. While the full glory awaits Christ’s return, we can already experience God’s rich comfort today.
This comfort comes to us “in all our afflictions” (v. 4). These aren’t just minor troubles, they are the inner turmoil and pressure that come from living in a world hostile to Christ, especially when we suffer for the gospel.
God doesn’t promise to remove all suffering. Instead, He promises to meet us in it. He walks with us, strengthens us, and gives us the grace to endure.
Even more beautiful: the comfort we receive in our suffering is not meant to stop with us. As we share in Christ’s sufferings, we also share in His comfort, and that equips us to comfort others who are hurting (vv. 5–7).
Suffering is never easy, but for the believer it becomes a gift. Through it, we draw closer to the God of all comfort and become better able to share His comfort with a weary world.
Respond:
• Where do you need the comfort of God right now?
• How have you experienced God’s nearness in a painful season?
• Why is it important that Jesus enters our suffering instead of avoiding it?
• Who might God be asking you to comfort with the comfort you have received?
Friday
Job 19 (focus v.25–27)
Discover:
Most of the book of Job is a long, painful dialogue. Job’s friends insist his suffering must be the result of some hidden sin, while Job maintains his innocence and wrestles with deep despair.
Though he sometimes questions God’s fairness, Job never stops believing that the Lord is sovereign and just. His overall posture is one of faith. That’s why James 5:11 holds him up as an example of steadfast endurance.
Today’s passage shows the depth of Job’s trust. In one of the strongest statements of hope in the Old Testament, Job declares his confidence in the resurrection and final vindication.
Even while struggling, Job knows in his heart that the Lord is perfectly just. Since he is innocent yet suffering terribly with little hope of justice in this life, Job realizes that true justice must come after the grave. His innocence must be acknowledged. This requires resurrection and a final day of reckoning.
Job looks forward to that day when he will be raised to life again and see the Lord with his own eyes.
No matter how dark things look right now, the Lord will make all things right. Our vindication is coming because our Redeemer lives, and we will see Him.
Respond:
• What does Job’s statement teach you about hope in suffering?
• Where do you need to declare, “My Redeemer lives,” even before you see the outcome?
• How does resurrection hope help you endure painful seasons?
• What situation do you need to place under the authority of Jesus today?
Saturday
2 Timothy 1 (focus v.9–10)
Discover:
To those blinded by sin, the gospel sounds foolish and shameful. After all, who would follow a crucified man? In the eyes of the first-century world, Jesus’ death on a cross looked like total failure, and His followers seemed just as foolish for suffering for Him.
It would be foolish to trust a dead man if indeed Jesus were still dead.
In the greatest paradox of all time, God used the shame of the cross to defeat death itself. The Father planned it from before the world began: the Lamb who was slain would slay death (Isa. 53:1–11; John 1:29).
This is why Paul urges Timothy, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner” (2 Tim. 1:8). The Holy Spirit gives us power, love, and a sound mind to see the cross not as disgrace, but as the power and wisdom of God.
We will face pressure to downplay or hide the message of the crucified Savior. But the same Spirit who raised Jesus equips us to stand firm. The gospel saves us not by our works, but by God’s grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus. This truth gives us courage to endure whatever shame or suffering the world may throw at us.
Respond:
• How does the resurrection of Jesus change the way you see suffering and death?
• What is the difference between temporary relief and resurrection hope?
• Where do you need to remember that death does not get the final word?
• How can you live this week with greater confidence in the life Jesus gives?