July 6th

ENTRUST THE WORLD TO GOD - July 6, 2026

By Max Lucado

If anyone had a reason to be anxious it was the apostle Paul. Envision an old man as he gazes out the window of a Roman prison. Half-blind, squinting just to read. Awaiting trial before the Roman emperor. His future is as gloomy as his jail cell.

Yet to read his words, you’d think he’d just arrived at a Jamaican beach hotel. His letter to the Philippians bears not a word of fear or complaint. Not one! Instead, he lifts his thanks to God and calls on his readers to do the same. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4)

Paul’s challenge is a decision deeply rooted in the confidence that God exists, that he is in control, and that he is good. Rejoice in the Lord always. You can’t run the world, but you can entrust it to God.

Read more Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World

Psalm 17

The Message

17 1-2 Listen while I build my case, God,

    the most honest prayer you’ll ever hear.

Show the world I’m innocent—

    in your heart you know I am.

3 Go ahead, examine me from inside out,

    surprise me in the middle of the night—

You’ll find I’m just what I say I am.

    My words don’t run loose.

4-5 I’m not trying to get my way

    in the world’s way.

I’m trying to get your way,

    your Word’s way.

I’m staying on your trail;

    I’m putting one foot

In front of the other.

    I’m not giving up.

6-7 I call to you, God, because I’m sure of an answer.

    So—answer! bend your ear! listen sharp!

Paint grace-graffiti on the fences;

    take in your frightened children who

Are running from the neighborhood bullies

    straight to you.

8-9 Keep your eye on me;

    hide me under your cool wing feathers

From the wicked who are out to get me,

    from mortal enemies closing in.

10-14 Their hearts are hard as nails,

    their mouths blast hot air.

They are after me, nipping my heels,

    determined to bring me down,

Lions ready to rip me apart,

    young lions poised to pounce.

Up, God: beard them! break them!

    By your sword, free me from their clutches;

Barehanded, God, break these mortals,

    these flat-earth people who can’t think beyond today.

I’d like to see their bellies

    swollen with famine food,

The weeds they’ve sown

    harvested and baked into famine bread,

With second helpings for their children

    and crusts for their babies to chew on.

15 And me? I plan on looking

    you full in the face. When I get up,

I’ll see your full stature

    and live heaven on earth.

Our Daily Bread:

Today's Scripture:

2 Samuel 6:9-15

Then David got angry because of God’s deadly outburst against Uzzah. That place is still called Perez Uzzah (The-Explosion-Against-Uzzah). David became fearful of God that day and said, “This Chest is too dangerous to handle. How can I ever get it back to the City of David?” He refused to take the Chest of God a step farther. Instead, David removed it off the road and to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The Chest of God stayed at the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months. And God prospered Obed-Edom and his entire household.

12-16 It was reported to King David that God had prospered Obed-Edom and his entire household because of the Chest of God. So David thought, “I’ll get that blessing for myself,” and went and brought up the Chest of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David, celebrating extravagantly all the way, with frequent sacrifices of choice bulls. David, ceremonially dressed in priest’s linen, danced with great abandon before God. The whole country was with him as he accompanied the Chest of God with shouts and trumpet blasts. But as the Chest of God came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, happened to be looking out a window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before God, her heart filled with scorn.

By K.T. Sim

Insight

The Bible records several occasions when David lost the joy described in 2 Samuel 6:12-15 and instead found himself estranged from God because of his sin (see Psalm 32; 38:1-4; 40:12). After he committed the double sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah, he was unrepentant for close to a year until the prophet Nathan confronted him (2 Samuel 11-12). Psalm 51 describes how David confessed his sin (vv. 1-7) and longed for renewed intimacy with God. He prayed, “Oh, give me back my joy again; . . . Create in me a clean heart . . . . Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you” (vv. 8-12 nlt). Like David, when we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can ask Him to “unseal [our] lips” (v. 15 nlt) so we may praise Him again and “joyfully sing of [His] forgiveness” (v. 14 nlt).

Thriving in God’s Presence

David was dancing before the Lord with all his might.

2 Samuel 6:9-15

Zoologists describe what they call “turtle dancing”—the charming behavior of loggerhead turtles when they are in the presence of food. The turtles tilt their bodies vertically, open their mouths, clap their front flippers, and spin around in the water. But research has shown that radio-wave interference can disrupt the turtle’s internal “GPS.” It confuses their navigation, distracts them from their food source, and, sadly, stops their dancing.

The Bible tells of a time when David danced. The ark of the covenant conveyed the very presence of God. At a certain time, the ark was brought to Jerusalem and “David was dancing before the Lord with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:14). But years later, the king became distracted. He sinned with Bathsheba, sending her husband to death in war (11:4, 14-15). Now the child he’d borne with her was dying. In remorse and anguish, David “fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground” (12:16). 

Like David, we thrive in the presence of God, but our sin distracts us from Him, and we stop “dancing.” How can we find our joy again? By turning from the sin that confuses our connection to God. When we repent, we find hope in Him. David himself writes of God’s mercy: “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy” (Psalm 30:11). God, after all, is the true Lord of the dance.

By:  Kenneth Petersen

Reflect & Pray

When have you “danced” for God? What has led you away from that?

Dear God, I’ve gone so long in this dark time. There is no joy. Please help me to dance again.

Vision and Reality

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

The burning sand will become a pool. —Isaiah 35:7

When God gives us a vision of what he wants us to be, there is always a time of preparation before the vision becomes a reality. During this time, God takes us down into the valley of humiliation and begins to batter us into shape.

Life is not as idle ore,

But iron dug from central gloom, . . .

And batter’d with the shocks of doom

To shape and use.

—Alfred Tennyson

It is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Satan comes in with his temptations, and we wonder if there’s any point in going on. But every vision will be made real if we have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. We are always in a hurry. Inspired by the vision God has given us, we rush out to try to accomplish it, then meet with failure because we aren’t yet in proper shape. We have to stay in the valley with God until we get to the place where he can trust us with the reality. Ever since we first glimpsed the vision, God has been at work, battering us into the shape of the ideal. Over and over again, we escape from his hand, trying to shape ourselves.

The vision isn’t a castle in the air. It’s a vision God fully intends to make real. Trust yourself in the potter’s hands. Let God put you on his wheel and whirl you as he likes. As sure as God is God and you are you, you will turn out exactly in accordance with the vision. Don’t lose heart in the process. Once you’ve had a vision from God, you can try to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never let you.

Job 32-33; Acts 14

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are not fundamentally free; external circumstances are not in our hands, they are in God’s hands, the one thing in which we are free is in our personal relationship to God. We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. 

Conformed to His Image, 354 L

Star Wars - And Our Wars - #10301

Ron Hutchcraft

Scripture:  Romans 7:15

It's been a long time since the "Star Wars" trilogy of movies exploded into our popular culture like, well, like Darth Vader's Death Star. Millions of people developed a fascination for the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and, of course, the infamous Darth Vader. Hero Luke Skywalker became a Jedi knight and he learned the power of what was called The Force. Darth Vader, who was the villain, had mastered the power of the "dark side" of The Force. And then, decades later, a new "Star Wars" trilogy began, telling the story of the events that preceded the original episodes. So there's not Luke or Han or Princess Leia for a while, but guess what was still there? Yeah, The Force. And in subsequent movies, of course, still there. And what is The Force? No one's really sure, but it seems to be the spiritual power you can tap into to help you win your battles.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about “Star Wars - And Our Wars.”

Spiritual power you can harness to help you win battles that you can't win with your own resources - that's actually a pretty interesting idea. Of course, our battles aren't about storm troopers or villains with light sabers.

No, we're trying to make a marriage work, to beat the monsters of anger, depression, addiction, selfishness, or loneliness. We battle real challenges, not computer-animated fantasy foes. And as you face the battles raging around you right now - maybe even in you right now - you're having to admit that they are bigger than you are. Actually, there is inside us a deep desire for some power - some spiritual power really - beyond our own to enable us to be the man or woman we desperately want and need to be.

But we need something better than The Force. That's a fictional, impersonal spiritual energy that only the spiritually elite can tap into. Our biggest struggles are actually against the "dark side" that’s inside us. In our word for today from the Word of God, one of the writers of the Bible spoke about our dark side when he said, "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out...it is sin living in me that does it." And then he speaks for all of us who battle our dark side when he says, "Who will rescue me?" (Romans 7:15, 20, 24)

Thankfully, the Bible doesn't leave us there. The answer follows. "Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" The "force" that we need to conquer the dark side is actually a Person - Jesus Christ, the One who gave His life on a cross to pay the death penalty for all the sinning we've ever done. His act of deep love for you and me broke the power that sin has had over the human race since the first man and woman took their lives into their own hands.

We don't need some impersonal force or spirituality that doesn't really help us. We need a living Savior! That's what we need. The power of Jesus is demonstrated, above all else, by His empty grave there on Easter morning. He walked out of His grave under His own power! Now, look, if He can conquer death, the darkness that has stopped every person who has ever lived, He can sure conquer the darkness inside you!

Jesus says to those who belong to Him, "All power is given to Me in heaven and earth...and I am with you always" (Matthew 28:18, 20). Man! Wow! He’s the spiritual power you need to win your battles. He is the love you've been looking for all your life, and Jesus becomes your Savior from your sin when you tell Him you're putting your life into His nail-scarred hands.

You can do that today when you tell Him, “Jesus, I’m Yours.” Then check out our website because the information you’ll need to understand and confirm this is right there. It’s ANewStory,com.

Look, your battles have probably left you pretty wounded and pretty tired. The dark side has won long enough; it’s hurt enough people. You don't ever have to fight those battles alone again, my friend. Jesus Christ - the Creator of every faraway galaxy - stands ready to fight for you from that moment that you open up to His amazing love.