Proverbs 24, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Definitive Answer

At some point, we all stand at an intersection and ask this question:  Is God good when the outcome is not?

The definitive answer to the goodness of God comes in the person of Jesus Christ.  He's the only picture of God ever taken. He pressed his fingers into the sore of the leper. He inclined his ear to the cry of the hungry. He didn't retreat at the sight of pain.  Just the opposite. Cruel accusations of jealous men?  Jesus knows their sting.

Is it possible that the wonder of heaven will make the most difficult life a good bargain?  This was Paul's opinion.  He said, "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Your pain won't last forever, my friend, but you will. Whatever we go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us! You'll get through this! God is good even when the outcome is different.  Hang onto this promise!

From You'll Get Through This

Proverbs 24

Intelligence Outranks Muscle

19

1–2  24 Don’t envy bad people;

don’t even want to be around them.

All they think about is causing a disturbance;

all they talk about is making trouble.

20

3–4  It takes wisdom to build a house,

and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;

It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms

with fine furniture and beautiful draperies.

21

5–6  It’s better to be wise than strong;

intelligence outranks muscle any day.

Strategic planning is the key to warfare;

to win, you need a lot of good counsel.

22

7  Wise conversation is way over the head of fools;

in a serious discussion they haven’t a clue.

23

8–9  The person who’s always cooking up some evil

soon gets a reputation as prince of rogues.

Fools incubate sin;

cynics desecrate beauty.

Rescue the Perishing

24

10  If you fall to pieces in a crisis,

there wasn’t much to you in the first place.

25

11–12  Rescue the perishing;

don’t hesitate to step in and help.

If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,”

will that get you off the hook?

Someone is watching you closely, you know—

Someone not impressed with weak excuses.

26

13–14  Eat honey, dear child—it’s good for you—

and delicacies that melt in your mouth.

Likewise knowledge,

and wisdom for your soul—

Get that and your future’s secured,

your hope is on solid rock.

27

15–16  Don’t interfere with good people’s lives;

don’t try to get the best of them.

No matter how many times you trip them up,

God-loyal people don’t stay down long;

Soon they’re up on their feet,

while the wicked end up flat on their faces.

28

17–18  Don’t laugh when your enemy falls;

don’t crow over his collapse.

God might see, and become very provoked,

and then take pity on his plight.

29

19–20  Don’t bother your head with braggarts

or wish you could succeed like the wicked.

Those people have no future at all;

they’re headed down a dead-end street.

30

21–22  Fear God, dear child—respect your leaders;

don’t be defiant or mutinous.

Without warning your life can turn upside down,

and who knows how or when it might happen?

MORE SAYINGS OF THE WISE

An Honest Answer

23  It’s wrong, very wrong,

to go along with injustice.

24–25  Whoever whitewashes the wicked

gets a black mark in the history books,

But whoever exposes the wicked

will be thanked and rewarded.

26  An honest answer

is like a warm hug.

27  First plant your fields;

then build your barn.

28–29  Don’t talk about your neighbors behind their backs—

no slander or gossip, please.

Don’t say to anyone, “I’ll get back at you for what you did to me.

I’ll make you pay for what you did!”

30–34  One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones,

and then passed the vineyard of a lout;

They were overgrown with weeds,

thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.

I took a long look and pondered what I saw;

the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:

“A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,

sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?

Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life,

with poverty as your permanent houseguest!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, October 04, 2026

by Cindy Hess Kasper

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 63:1-8

God—you’re my God!

I can’t get enough of you!

I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,

traveling across dry and weary deserts.

2–4  So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,

drinking in your strength and glory.

In your generous love I am really living at last!

My lips brim praises like fountains.

I bless you every time I take a breath;

My arms wave like banners of praise to you.

5–8  I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;

I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!

If I’m sleepless at midnight,

I spend the hours in grateful reflection.

Because you’ve always stood up for me,

I’m free to run and play.

I hold on to you for dear life,

and you hold me steady as a post.

Today's Insights

Psalm 63 portrays someone who actively pursues God. David declares, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you” (v. 1). He praises Him because His “love is better than life” (v. 3). The psalmist discovers that satisfaction isn’t found in what can be held in our hands, but in who can be known. He valued time with God even more than the satisfaction received from eating the finest of foods: “I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you” (v. 5). The language of thirst, longing, and clinging reveals a relationship pursued with intensity and love. Psalm 63 reminds us that intimacy with God grows as we seek God in stillness.

For further study, listen to the following podcast: Be Still

In the Stillness

I think of you through the watches of the night . . . because you are my help. Psalm 63:6-7

When I was a kid and got up in the middle of the night, I often found Mom sitting in her chair in the living room. The glow of the table lamp revealed a book on her lap—her Bible. My mom had trouble sleeping because of her insomnia and chronic pain, but she made good use of her time. We rarely spoke those nights. I was too sleepy to do anything but nod and shuffle down the hall. But I know Mom connected with God in those quiet early morning hours, and God spoke to her.

How can we find moments to know God more fully? We don’t have to wait for a sleepless night, of course. Jesus left His companions to spend time talking alone with His Father (Mark 1:35).

The Scriptures say, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). And David’s poetry often reveals how he sought out an intimate relationship with God to praise Him for who He is (63:1-8).

The world is loud, and we’re often distracted by the noise. It claims our attention and demands our participation. That’s why we need to actively seek out the quiet moments rarely found in the chaos of family life or the busyness of work. We find God in the stillness.

He’s awake. He’s listening. And He’s always ready to spend time with those who seek Him.

Reflect & Pray

What distractions keep you from finding time for conversation with God? What’s a good way to prepare your heart to “be still” before Him?

Dear Jesus, please teach me to seek You out and rest in Your presence. Help me to put aside the distractions and to praise You for who You are.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, October 04, 2026

Put to the Test

. . . called to be his holy people. — 1 Corinthians 1:2

Thank God for the sight of all you haven’t yet become. God has called you to be one of his holy people, you’ve had the vision of what he wants, but you aren’t there yet by any means.

God calls his children to the mountaintop and gives them a vision. Then he sends them down into the valley of everyday life, the valley where the vision will be put to the test. It’s in the valley that most of us turn back, because it’s there that we must prove whether or not we’ll be the chosen ones. We aren’t quite prepared for the blows that must come if we’re going to be turned into the shape of the vision. Are we willing to be hammered into shape by God’s hand? The hammering always comes in commonplace ways, through the circumstances and people we encounter in our daily lives.

There are times when we know God’s purpose for us, times when he’s given us a vision and we see it clearly. Whether this vision will be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to bask in the memory of the vision, we’ll be of no use in the ordinary stuff of human life. We have to learn to live in reliance on what we saw in the vision—not in ecstasies and conscious contemplation of God, but living our ordinary lives in light of the vision. We must do this until the vision becomes a reality. Every bit of the training God is putting us through is leading us to this goal. Learn to thank God for making his demands known.

The little “I am” always sulks when God says, “Do.” Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in the face of the great “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). God must dominate our lives. Isn’t it startling to realize that he knows where we live? That he knows the burrows we crawl into? He’ll hunt us up like a lightning flash. No human being knows human beings as God does.

Isaiah 20-22; Ephesians 6

 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. 

Not Knowing Whither, 888 L