Max Lucado Daily: Behind Bars
In 1965 Howard Rutledge parachuted into North Vietnam and spent the next several years in a prison in Hanoi, locked in a filthy cell breathing stale, rotten air trying to keep his sanity. Few of us will ever face the conditions of a POW camp.
Yet, to one degree or another, we all spend time behind bars. After half-a-century of marriage, my friend's wife began to lose her memory. A young mother called, just diagnosed with Lupus. Why would God permit such imprisonment? To what purpose? Jeremiah 30:24 promises, "The Lord will not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the intents of His mind."
This season in which you find yourself may puzzle you, but it doesn't bewilder God. He will use it for His purpose. Please be reminded…You will get through this!
From You'll Get Through This
Numbers 2
Marching Orders
1–2 2 God spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, “The People of Israel are to set up camp circling the Tent of Meeting and facing it. Each company is to camp under its distinctive tribal flag.”
3–4 To the east toward the sunrise are the companies of the camp of Judah under its flag, led by Nahshon son of Amminadab. His troops number 74,600.
5–6 The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them, led by Nethanel son of Zuar. His troops number 54,400.
7–8 And the tribe of Zebulun is next to them, led by Eliab son of Helon. His troops number 57,400.
9 The total number of men assigned to Judah, troop by troop, is 186,400. They will lead the march.
10–11 To the south are the companies of the camp of Reuben under its flag, led by Elizur son of Shedeur. His troops number 46,500.
12–13 The tribe of Simeon will camp next to them, led by Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai. His troops number 59,300.
14–15 And the tribe of Gad is next to them, led by Eliasaph son of Deuel. His troops number 45,650.
16 The total number of men assigned to Reuben, troop by troop, is 151,450. They are second in the order of the march.
17 The Tent of Meeting with the camp of the Levites takes its place in the middle of the march. Each tribe will march in the same order in which they camped, each under its own flag.
18–19 To the west are the companies of the camp of Ephraim under its flag, led by Elishama son of Ammihud. His troops number 40,500.
20–21 The tribe of Manasseh will set up camp next to them, led by Gamaliel son of Pedahzur. His troops number 32,200.
22–23 And next to him is the camp of Ben-jamin, led by Abidan son of Gideoni. His troops number 35,400.
24 The total number of men assigned to the camp of Ephraim, troop by troop, is 108,100. They are third in the order of the march.
25–26 To the north are the companies of the camp of Dan under its flag, led by Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai. His troops number 62,700.
27–28 The tribe of Asher will camp next to them, led by Pagiel son of Ocran. His troops number 41,500.
29–30 And next to them is the tribe of Naphtali, led by Ahira son of Enan. His troops number 53,400.
31 The total number of men assigned to the camp of Dan number 157,600. They will set out, under their flags, last in the line of the march.
32–33 These are the People of Israel, counted according to their ancestral families. The total number in the camps, counted troop by troop, comes to 603,550. Following God’s command to Moses, the Levites were not counted in with the rest of Israel.
34 The People of Israel did everything the way God commanded Moses: They camped under their respective flags; they marched by tribe with their ancestral families.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 20, 2025
by Brent Hackett
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Psalm 19:7-14
The revelation of God is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
and easy on the eyes.
God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate
down to the nth degree.
10 God’s Word is better than a diamond,
better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,
better than red, ripe strawberries.
11–14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins,
from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
Today's Insights
In Psalm 19, David’s love for Scripture (revealed as law, statutes, precepts, or commands) is evident in the descriptive language he uses: it’s “more precious than gold” (v. 10); it refreshes us, makes us wise, gives insight, brings joy, warns, and brings rewards (vv. 7-11). We see a similar love for the words of God in Psalm 119:97-104. The psalmist, like David, describes the words of Scripture as “sweeter than honey” (v. 103). In them we find wisdom for living; they’re “a lamp to guide [our] feet and a light for [our] path” (v. 105 nlt). In the New Testament, Paul says that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). When we crave the sweetness of Scripture and read and meditate on its words, we too will delight in the Bible and reap its rewards.
The Sweetness of Scripture
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. Psalm 19:7
On September 22, 1959, a devotional article appeared in Our Daily Bread written by Dr. M. R. DeHaan. He wrote about how he yearned for a box of Cracker Jack candied popcorn. His intention was to relate it to the yearning for the Scriptures. But to his surprise, a few weeks later, boxes upon boxes of Cracker Jack popcorn began arriving at his office. His desire for Cracker Jack was satisfied by the loyal readers of his devotional.
Letting the practice of regular immersion in Scripture slip away is always easy. That’s why we need to yearn for something “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19:10). The psalmist David encourages us to know that God’s words are “perfect, refreshing the soul”; they’re “trustworthy” and full of wisdom (v. 7). He explains that “the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart” (v. 8).
Dr. DeHaan encouraged readers to make interaction with the Scriptures a habit, something they craved each day, just like sweet popcorn. It’s vital for us as well to develop a habit of meditating and reflecting on the Bible, and responding to its truths, in a regular manner. As God helps us, let’s be like David, who said, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight” (v. 14).
Reflect & Pray
How “sweet” is the Bible to you each day? How can you share with others that the Scriptures are more precious than gold?
Dear God, thank You for Your Scriptures, for they point me to Jesus. Please help me be engaged with them each day so I’m reminded of Your truth.
Discover more about A Prayer Before Reading the Bible, written by Reclaim Today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 20, 2025
The Divine Rule of Life
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. — Matthew 5:48
In Matthew 5, our Lord calls on us to be generous in our behavior with everyone we meet. Be careful of allowing yourself to be led by your natural affinities in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affinities—everyone likes some people and dislikes others—but we must never let these likes and dislikes rule in our Christian life. If we “walk in the light, as he is in the light” (1 John 1:7), God will give us communion with people for whom we have no affinity.
The example Jesus holds up for us in Matthew 5:48 isn’t of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God himself. When Jesus says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” he means that we must show to others what God has shown to us. In our lives, God will give us many opportunities to prove whether we are perfect as he is perfect. He will ask us to deliberately identify ourselves with his interests in other people.
“Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). The expression of Christian character isn’t good-doing; it’s God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you on the inside, then on the outside you will display divine characteristics, not human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of being Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in us by the grace of God. We experience this in the regular, busy moments of our lives, not in times of quiet communion. When we come into contact with people or circumstances that should throw us off-balance, we find to our amazement that we have the power to keep wonderfully poised in the center of it all.
Ecclesiastes 4-6; 2 Corinthians 12
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure.
The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R
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