Max Lucado Daily: Tough Questions
Some questions aren’t always easy to answer. Maybe that’s the way it should be! Here’s just that kind of question:
“I get tired of hearing people brush aside troubles with the platitude in Romans 8:28, ‘All things work together for good.’ Isn’t saying that cruel?”
The verse says, “We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him.” I think it’s one of the most helpful, comforting verses in the entire Bible. It announces God’s sovereignty in any painful, tragic situation we face. Why? Because we know God is at work for our good! He uses our struggles to build character.
So what do we do? We trust. Totally! And we remember. . .God is working for the good. Yes, any verse can be misused, but that doesn’t make it useless!
Joshua 23
Joshua’s Charge
1–2 23 A long time later, after God had given Israel rest from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was a venerable old man, Joshua called all Israel together—elders, chiefs, judges, and officers. Then he spoke to them:
2–3 “I’m an old man. I’ve lived a long time. You have seen everything that God has done to these nations because of you. He did it because he’s God, your God. He fought for you.
4–5 “Stay alert: I have assigned to you by lot these nations that remain as an inheritance to your tribes—these in addition to the nations I have already cut down—from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. God, your God, will drive them out of your path until there’s nothing left of them and you’ll take over their land just as God, your God, promised you.
6–8 “Now, stay strong and steady. Obediently do everything written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses—don’t miss a detail. Don’t get mixed up with the nations that are still around. Don’t so much as speak the names of their gods or swear by them. And by all means don’t worship or pray to them. Hold tight to God, your God, just as you’ve done up to now.
9–10 “God has driven out superpower nations before you. And up to now, no one has been able to stand up to you. Think of it—one of you, single-handedly, putting a thousand on the run! Because God is God, your God. Because he fights for you, just as he promised you.
11–13 “Now, vigilantly guard your souls: Love God, your God. Because if you wander off and start taking up with these remaining nations still among you (intermarry, say, and have other dealings with them), know for certain that God, your God, will not get rid of these nations for you. They’ll be nothing but trouble to you—horsewhips on your backs and sand in your eyes—until you’re the ones who will be driven out of this good land that God, your God, has given you.
14 “As you can see, I’m about to go the way we all end up going. Know this with all your heart, with everything in you, that not one detail has failed of all the good things God, your God, promised you. It has all happened. Nothing’s left undone—not so much as a word.
15–16 “But just as sure as everything good that God, your God, has promised has come true, so also God will bring to pass every bad thing until there’s nothing left of you in this good land that God has given you. If you leave the path of the Covenant of God, your God, that he commanded you, go off and serve and worship other gods, God’s anger will blaze out against you. In no time at all there’ll be nothing left of you, no sign that you’ve ever been in this good land he gave you.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, January 25, 2026
by Elisa Morgan
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
1 John 3:1-3
What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at
it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.
2–3 But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.
Today's Insights
In his first letter, John carries forward many of the same themes that frequently appear in his gospel account. These include love (1 John 3:11-15; 4:7-12; see John 3:16; 15:9-13) and light (1 John 1:5-7; 2:8-11; see John 1:9-13; 8:12; 9:5), both of which have been perfectly represented in the person of the Savior, Jesus Christ. John also mirrors his gospel by opening his letter with a statement of the incarnation of Jesus—the Son of God, who has come in the flesh (1 John 1:1-4; see John 1:1-5). While John’s writings contain many eternally important ideas, the concepts of love and light continually bubble to the surface as he seeks to describe both who Christ is and what He came to bring. He’s the Son of God, who came to penetrate the world’s darkness with His perfect light and to heal the brokenhearted with His perfect love. As we yield to Him, God grows His character in us, and we become more and more like Jesus.
Be Like Jesus
We all . . . are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18
The tall passenger seemed to unfold as he stood up in the aisle of the small regional jet. Then I noticed the title of his boldly displayed book: Be Like Jesus. A few minutes later, I saw that same man push others aside to grab his bag off the waiting trolley. Be like Jesus? I didn’t know if he was truly a “brother” who knew Christ, but I was dismayed by this display of selfishness that misrepresented Jesus.
As my feet hit the escalator, I saw the man again, book cover still visible. The words then elbowed my own heart. Be like Jesus, Elisa. Don’t judge. I wondered, was my presence emanating anything of Jesus?
Becoming like Jesus is a transformational process—a metamorphosis—of God growing His character in us as we yield to His ways. Paul wrote that believers in Jesus “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). John marvels at how hard this is for us to understand—much less achieve: “Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him [in purity], for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2-3).
As the escalator spilled us out, I glanced again at the book. Be Like Jesus—the words took on new meaning for me and redirected my gaze to my own heart and life.
Reflect & Pray
In what way do you long to be like Jesus? How can you cooperate with His work in your life?
Oh, God, how I want to be like You! Please have Your transformative way in my heart.
Learn more about letting God transform your heart by reading this article.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Leave Room for God
But when it pleased God . . . —Galatians 1:15 kjv
Have you learned how to leave space for God—to give him a little elbow room to work in your life? Too often, as we go about making our plans, we forget to leave a place for God to come in as he chooses. We say that this or that will happen, but none of our predictions leave room for the element of divine surprise.
Would we be shocked if God came into our meetings, our prayers, or our preaching in a way we’d never expected? However well we think we know God, we can never know exactly what he’ll do. What we can know is that, when it pleases him, he will break in. This is the great lesson to learn—that at any minute God may arrive. We tend to overlook this element of surprise, and yet God never works in any other way.
Keep in constant, intimate contact with God, so that his surprising power may break through at any time and any place. Always be in a state of expectancy, and remember to leave room. Do not look for God to come in any particular way, but do look for him.
Exodus 12-13; Matthew 16
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony
