Max Lucado Daily: WORSHIP OF A RISK FREE LIFE - February 5, 2026
When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god. We worship the risk-free life. The fear-filled cannot love deeply because love is risky. They cannot give to the poor because benevolence has no guarantee of return. The fear-filled cannot dream wildly. What if their dreams fail?
No wonder Jesus wages such a war against fear. In Matthew 8:26 “Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves, and it became completely calm.” The sea became as still as a frozen lake, and the disciples were left wondering, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” (vs. 27 NCV) What kind of man, indeed. Turning typhoon time into nap time, silencing waves with one word.
Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear
Judges 7
Jerub-Baal (Gideon) got up early the next morning, all his troops right there with him. They set up camp at Harod’s Spring. The camp of Midian was in the plain, north of them near the Hill of Moreh.
2–3 God said to Gideon, “You have too large an army with you. I can’t turn Midian over to them like this—they’ll take all the credit, saying, ‘I did it all myself,’ and forget about me. Make a public announcement: ‘Anyone afraid, anyone who has any qualms at all, may leave Mount Gilead now and go home.’ ” Twenty-two companies headed for home. Ten companies were left.
4–5 God said to Gideon: “There are still too many. Take them down to the stream and I’ll make a final cut. When I say, ‘This one goes with you,’ he’ll go. When I say, ‘This one doesn’t go,’ he won’t go.” So Gideon took the troops down to the stream.
5–6 God said to Gideon: “Everyone who laps with his tongue, the way a dog laps, set on one side. And everyone who kneels to drink, drinking with his face to the water, set to the other side.” Three hundred lapped with their tongues from their cupped hands. All the rest knelt to drink.
7 God said to Gideon: “I’ll use the three hundred men who lapped at the stream to save you and give Midian into your hands. All the rest may go home.”
8 After Gideon took all their provisions and trumpets, he sent all the Israelites home. He took up his position with the three hundred. The camp of Midian stretched out below him in the valley.
9–12 That night, God told Gideon: “Get up and go down to the camp. I’ve given it to you. If you have any doubts about going down, go down with Purah your armor bearer; when you hear what they’re saying, you’ll be bold and confident.” He and his armor bearer Purah went down near the place where sentries were posted. Midian and Amalek, all the easterners, were spread out on the plain like a swarm of locusts. And their camels! Past counting, like grains of sand on the seashore!
13 Gideon arrived just in time to hear a man tell his friend a dream. He said, “I had this dream: A loaf of barley bread tumbled into the Midianite camp. It came to the tent and hit it so hard it collapsed. The tent fell!”
14 His friend said, “This has to be the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite! God has turned Midian—the whole camp!—over to him.”
15 When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he went to his knees before God in prayer. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up and get going! God has just given us the Midianite army!”
16–18 He divided the three hundred men into three companies. He gave each man a trumpet and an empty jar, with a torch in the jar. He said, “Watch me and do what I do. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly what I do. When I and those with me blow the trumpets, you also, all around the camp, blow your trumpets and shout, ‘For God and for Gideon!’ ”
19–22 Gideon and his hundred men got to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the sentries had been posted. They blew the trumpets, at the same time smashing the jars they carried. All three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, ready to blow, and shouted, “A sword for God and for Gideon!” They were stationed all around the camp, each man at his post. The whole Midianite camp jumped to its feet. They yelled and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, God aimed each Midianite’s sword against his companion, all over the camp. They ran for their lives—to Beth Shittah, toward Zererah, to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.
23 Israelites rallied from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all over Manasseh. They had Midian on the run.
24 Gideon then sent messengers through all the hill country of Ephraim, urging them, “Come down against Midian! Capture the fords of the Jordan at Beth Barah.”
25 So all the men of Ephraim rallied and captured the fords of the Jordan at Beth Barah. They also captured the two Midianite commanders Oreb (Raven) and Zeeb (Wolf). They killed Oreb at Raven Rock; Zeeb they killed at Wolf Winepress. And they pressed the pursuit of Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, February 05, 2026
by Xochitl Dixon
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Hebrews 4:1-4, 6-7, 9-11
When the Promises Are Mixed with Faith
1–3 4 For as long, then, as that promise of resting in him pulls us on to God’s goal for us, we need to be careful that we’re not disqualified. We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t receive the promises with faith. If we believe, though, we’ll experience that state of resting. But not if we don’t have faith. Remember that God said,
Exasperated, I vowed,
“They’ll never get where they’re going,
never be able to sit down and rest.”
3–7 God made that vow, even though he’d finished his part before the foundation of the world. Somewhere it’s written, “God rested the seventh day, having completed his work,”
So this promise has not yet been fulfilled. Those earlier ones never did get to the place of rest because they were disobedient. God keeps renewing the promise and setting the date as today, just as he did in David’s psalm, centuries later than the original invitation:
Today, please listen,
don’t turn a deaf ear …
The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience.
Today's Insights
The book of Hebrews urges Jewish believers in Jesus not to abandon their faith in Him and revert to a form of Judaism that didn’t acknowledge Him as the Messiah. Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus is God’s ultimate revelation (1:1-3)—greater than the angels (2:5, 9) and greater than Moses (3:3)—and that Israel’s Scriptures point to the fulfillment God brought through Him. In chapter 4, this theme of fulfillment is explained as the ultimate Sabbath rest, made possible through Christ, the great high priest (vv. 8-11, 14-16).
Rejuvenating Rest
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish. Hebrews 4:11
During a birthday party, five-year-old Mia enjoyed playing, singing “Happy Birthday,” eating cake, and watching her friend open gifts. When everyone went outside to play, Mia said, “Mom, I’m ready to go.” They thanked their host. Pulling out of the driveway, Mia’s mom asked her to share the best part of her day. “Leaving,” said Mia. Smiling, she fell asleep before they turned the corner.
Even if we don’t realize we’re exhausted, we all need physical, mental, and emotional rest. God also provides divine rest when we accept both the good news of salvation through Christ and daily spiritual rest as the Spirit enables us to live for Christ by faith. Those who place their trust in God can depend on His unending presence, unlimited power, and unchanging promises. Saved through Christ’s work on the cross, we can rest in the peace of His sufficiency (Hebrews 4:1-4). We can experience divine rest as a guarantee fulfilled eternally now and when Jesus comes again (vv. 5-8).
“Anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his” (v. 10). So, secured in Christ, we can enjoy a hope-filled life of surrender and loving obedience as we trust and rely on Him. Only He can provide rejuvenating rest yesterday and today and forever.
Reflect & Pray
How does believing God enable you to rest in the surety of your salvation and rest physically, emotionally, and mentally each day? What has kept you from resting in God’s promises in the past?
Faithful God, thank You for being my enduring resting place.
Learn more about abiding in God's peace by watching this video.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 05, 2026
Are You Ready to Be Offered?
I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith. — Philippians 2:17
Are you ready to be offered, to become broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of the Lord? Or are you full of hesitation, saying to yourself, “I’m not going to be offered up just yet. I’m not going to let God choose my work or the setting of my sacrifice. I’ll only offer myself when the ‘right’ kind of people are watching, so they can congratulate me and say, ‘Well done’”?
It’s one thing to go about God’s business unnoticed, walking a lonely path and filled with dignified heroism; it’s quite another to become a doormat under other people’s feet. Sometimes, the role God wants you to play is the lowly role. He wants to teach you to say, “I know how to be humbled.”
Are you ready to be offered up like this? To be just a drop in the bucket, so hopelessly insignificant that no one even thinks of you in connection to the deeds you’ve done? Are you willing to spend and be spent, not seeking to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28)?
Some saints are too holy for menial work. Are you one of them? Or will you decide that nothing God gives you to do is beneath you?
Exodus 36-38; Matthew 23:1-22
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own.
Biblical Ethics, 99 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, February 05, 2026
A BROKEN SAVIOR FOR BROKEN PEOPLE - #10194
Maybe it's because my father-in-law was a corrections officer for a while, and I've heard his stories about the wasted lives behind prison bars. Whatever the reason, I've always admired the men who minister as prison chaplains. That's a tough ministry, but it's a ministry so desperately needed.
My friend Bill works as a prison chaplain. This particular incident he shared with me touched me then and touches me now. Bill had been visiting this cell block and as chaplain, he went out to the exercise yard for some fresh air. Three tough young inmates walked up to him and one said, "Hey, mister, are you broke?" Bill kind of fished around in his pocket and didn't find any money in there. And the inmate said, "It doesn't matter, man. Your money's no good in here anyway. Now, are you broke?" This time the inmate was insistent about it. Here's what he said, "Mister, don't try to minister to people in here if you ain't broke, because we all are."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Broken Savior for Broken People."
You don't have to go inside a prison to find people who are, in the words of that inmate, broke. There's so much pain today and so much heartache from broken things: broken families, broken health, a broken heart, and broken trust. You may be "broke" perhaps even in spite of a life that's successful and an outward image that's looking fine.
Now, our word for today from the Word of God, Hebrews 4:14 - "Since we have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." Here Jesus is called High Priest. And we learn from the Old Testament that those are the ones who represented people to God. So Jesus is now our personal representative with God in heaven.
Let's say that young inmate could walk up to Jesus and ask, "Are you broke?" He would need to hear that next verse, verse 15. Here's what it says, "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence." He's walked in our shoes. He's felt what we feel and we can come to Him with confidence.
We're coming to a Savior who has lived the feelings that we are bringing to Him. He knows what it is to be poor. He knows what it feels like to be turned on by your family; to be betrayed by someone very close. It all happened to Him. He knew what it was like to be lonely. He was all of those. This Savior knows our pain. He gets us! There are other people who could empathize. There are some counselors who can help you understand the pain, but only Jesus can carry your pain and begin to heal a lifetime of scars.
He says, "I came to bind up the broken hearted." But the great tragedy could be this: You're needlessly carrying all your hurt alone, because this Savior isn't your Savior, because you've never given yourself to Him. We're all the victims of people's sin, and we're sinners ourselves. Sin is our personal rebellion against our Creator saying, "God, you run the universe and I'll run me" because we're away from the One we were made by. We keep making choices that increase our pain.
But Jesus is saying to you today, "Why are you carrying that all alone? I died for you. Won't you let Me be your Savior? Let me pick up your pain. Let me begin to apply my love to your wounds."
Don't walk alone one more day. Let this be the day you let this Jesus start driving the life that He died for and that He made. You ready for Him to take over? Well, then, why don't you tell Him that right now, "Jesus, I'm yours."
Our website can help you get there. Please go there today. It's ANewStory.com. I hope you'll check it out.
If a person says, "Jesus, I'm broke." Someone who's been broke can help you. You see that mangled body of Jesus on that blood-stained cross, and you see that the Son of God was broken so you don't have to be broken any more.
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