Max Lucado Daily: STEP OUT OF THE TRAFFIC - August 10, 2026
God sent Elijah into the rocky, raw, and lonely land of the Kerith Ravine. He had no temple for worship, no faith fraternity for strength. It would be years before he enjoyed fellowship with faithful Jews. Preparation by separation. Purposeful silence and solitude are basic courses in Unbreakable Courage 101.
Jesus found his Kerith in the obscure days of Nazareth and the quiet days in the wilderness. In order to gather strength for the cross, he sought time alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. If Jesus needed Kerith-like solitude, how much more do we? God’s invitation is compelling. From Psalm 46:10 (MSG): “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me…” When did you last “step out of the traffic” to be alone with your Father?
Unbreakable Courage
Psalm 72
A Solomon Psalm
1–8 72 Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God,
the gift of just rule to the crown prince.
May he judge your people rightly,
be honorable to your meek and lowly.
Let the mountains give exuberant witness;
shape the hills with the contours of right living.
Please stand up for the poor,
help the children of the needy,
come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—
age after age after age.
Be rainfall on cut grass,
earth-refreshing rain showers.
Let righteousness burst into blossom
and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
Rule from sea to sea,
from the River to the Rim.
9–14 Foes will fall on their knees before God,
his enemies lick the dust.
Kings remote and legendary will pay homage,
kings rich and resplendent will turn over their wealth.
All kings will fall down and worship,
and godless nations sign up to serve him,
Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need,
the destitute who have run out of luck.
He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out,
he restores the wretched of the earth.
He frees them from tyranny and torture—
when they bleed, he bleeds;
when they die, he dies.
15–17 And live! Oh, let him live!
Deck him out in Sheba gold.
Offer prayers unceasing to him,
bless him from morning to night.
Fields of golden grain in the land,
cresting the mountains in wild exuberance,
Cornucopias of praise, praises
springing from the city like grass from the earth.
May he never be forgotten,
his fame shine on like sunshine.
May all godless people enter his circle of blessing
and bless the One who blessed them.
18–20 Blessed God, Israel’s God,
the one and only wonder-working God!
Blessed always his blazing glory!
All earth brims with his glory.
Yes and Yes and Yes.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, August 10, 2026
By Alyson Kieda
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Lamentations 3:19-26
It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
19–21 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
22–24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
25–27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
Today's Insights
In the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), books are usually named for the first word or words in the text. As such, the Hebrew title for Lamentations is “How,” taken from verse 1: “How deserted lies the city.” Those who translated the Old Testament into Greek (the Septuagint) titled the book “Lamentations.” Both titles are apt. In many lament psalms, the psalmist’s cry is rooted in the phrase “How long, Lord?” (see Psalm 13:1). And Jeremiah’s laments in both his prophecies and in the book of Lamentations are so consistent that he’s generally regarded as “the weeping prophet.” In today’s text (Lamentations 3:19-26), he’s grieving over the city of Jerusalem, which was besieged and taken captive by the Babylonians. Now, seeing the city desolated, Jeremiah finds hope in the faithful God whose mercies are “new every morning” (v. 23). Even in our times of deepest despair and loss, we can hope in God.
Hope in God
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. Lamentations 3:25
Because of his father’s alcoholism and mistreatment of his mother, Pablo left home when he was a teenager. He moved in with an uncle, graduated high school, married, and had three children. But sadly, Pablo began repeating the same destructive behavior he’d once fled. His own alcohol addiction and behavior began to tear his family apart. Soon, it was all gone—his marriage, family, job, and home. “My life was terrible, and it got worse,” he said.
Finally he turned to a treatment facility for help. “I was in bad shape, and God opened the door for me.” One day after praying, he experienced God through the beauty of nature. Soon his youngest daughter noticed he’d changed, and reconciled with him. Today he’s working to rebuild trust with his other children.
In Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah grieved over the plight of his people, who had turned from God and were exiled to Babylon: “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall . . . and my soul is downcast within me” (Lamentations 3:19-20). Like the Israelites, Pablo was far from God. And like Jeremiah, he found hope in God: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (vv. 22-23).
Like Pablo, the Israelites got a fresh start. We can turn to God and find hope.
Reflect & Pray
Are you looking for hope? How is God inviting you to hope in Him?
Dear God, thank You for offering me a renewed relationship with You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 10, 2026
The Suffering of the Saint
Those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. — 1 Peter 4:19
To choose to suffer means that something is wrong. To choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. Healthy saints never choose suffering; they choose God’s will, whether it means suffering or not, just as Jesus did.
A saint never dares to interfere with the discipline of suffering in another saint. The people who do us good aren’t those who sympathize with us; they are those who help make us strong and mature for God. Sympathy holds us back; it saps our energy and fills us with self-pity. When we accept sympathy, the thought that goes through our mind is “God is dealing harshly with me.” That is why Jesus said self-pity was of the devil. When Peter implied that God, in allowing Jesus to be put to death, was being too harsh, Jesus replied, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).
Beware of the thought that Jesus needed sympathy in his earthly life. He refused sympathy from people, because he knew that no one on earth understood what he was after. Only the Father understood his purposes: “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4).
Be merciful to God’s reputation. It’s easy to tarnish his character, because God never answers back; he never vindicates himself. It may seem that he is wasting his saints, because he sends them to places the world considers useless. Even those who are called by God may misunderstand their calling. We say, “God intends me to be here because I am so useful.” God puts his saints where they will glorify him, and we are not at all capable of judging where that will be.
Psalms 79-80; Romans 11:1-18
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance.
Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 10, 2026
The Missing Person - #10326
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:5
If you want to have a philosophical discussion about the subject of grandchildren, sorry - I'm busy. But if you want to talk about my grandson or my granddaughter, well I've got all the time in the world. I hope you do. See, if you want to discuss the institution of marriage, say goodnight. If you listen to this broadcast very much, you've heard a lot about the woman that I loved over the years very much. You know my Karen. You want to talk about that relationship, that would be my wife, be glad to talk to you for a long time about that. No-brainer! It's the difference between the institution and the person!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Missing Person."
You can know all about children and not have a son or daughter. You can know all about marriage and not have a husband or wife. You can know all about children, you can know all about marriage, and you can know all about church, all about Christianity and not have Christ.
It's that great danger that's behind our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 13:5. These words are actually written to church people. "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?" God says it's important to not assume that you have Jesus just because you're in His "club," because you could even be a charter member of His "club," or maybe you're an officer or a leader in His "club." The question isn't, "Am I in Christ's group?" It's "Is Christ Jesus in me?"
1 John 5:11-12 couldn't make it more clear-cut: "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." That's eternal life; whether or not you're going to heaven. And it comes down to one thing and one thing alone - do you "have the Son of God"? The answer depends on whether or not there has ever been a time when you, in essence, stood at Jesus' cross and said two words, "for me," whether or not there has been a time when you made a conscious commitment of you to Jesus; putting all your trust in Him to forgive your sin and to take you to heaven when you die. If you did that, you know you did. If you don't know you did, you probably didn't.
Some of the most surprised people in hell are going to be people who believed all the Jesus-beliefs, went to all the Jesus-meetings, impressed all the Jesus-people, and tried to do a lot of Jesus-things. But somehow, they missed Jesus in all of it. Like a person who knows about marriage, who's been to many weddings, who thinks marriage is a great idea, but isn't married. There are a lot of church folks who have the system but they don't have the Savior. Maybe you.
The reason all you've learned and done about Jesus leaves you feeling so hollow and incomplete may be because your heart is still missing Jesus. But it doesn't have to be that way for one more day. No, He's come knocking at the door of your heart one more time. The hardest part for you could be just finally admitting that after all this, Jesus is still not in your heart. But that one step will finally free you to finally know Christ for real.
So if you're ready to move from the religion to the relationship, will you tell Jesus that right now? "Jesus, I don't want to just have beliefs about You. I want to belong to You. I turn from the sin You died for. And I believe You walked out of Your grave by Your own power. Beginning this day, Jesus, You've got me. I'm Yours."
Today, if that's where your heart is, you're ready for this. Go to our website, it's for you. We made it for someone like you at this point. Make sure you've got this done. That website is ANewStory.com. Check it out today, please.
You're so close, but you're not in. But you're about to be. And it will feel so good to finally belong to Jesus.
