Max Lucado Daily: ENTRUST CHILDREN TO CHRIST - February 16, 2026
Fear turns some parents into paranoid prison guards who monitor every minute and check the background of every friend. A family with no breathing room suffocates a child.
On the other hand, fear can also create permissive parents. Fearing that their child will feel too confined or fenced in, they are high on hugs and low on discipline. They don’t realize that appropriate discipline is an expression of love.
Permissive parents. Paranoid parents. How can we avoid the extremes? We pray. Jesus’ big message to moms and dads? Bring your children to me. Pray that your children have a profound sense of place in this world and a heavenly place in the next. Parents, we can entrust our kids to Christ.
Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear
Judges 15
Later on—it was during the wheat harvest—Samson visited his bride, bringing a young goat. He said, “Let me see my wife—show me her bedroom.”
But her father wouldn’t let him in. He said, “I concluded that by now you hated her with a passion, so I gave her to your best man. But her little sister is even more beautiful. Why not take her instead?”
3 Samson said, “That does it. This time when I wreak havoc on the Philistines, I’m blameless.”
4–5 Samson then went out and caught three hundred jackals. He lashed the jackals’ tails together in pairs and tied a torch between each pair of tails. He then set fire to the torches and let them loose in the Philistine fields of ripe grain. Everything burned, both stacked and standing grain, vineyards and olive orchards—everything.
6 The Philistines said, “Who did this?”
They were told, “Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite who took his bride and gave her to his best man.”
The Philistines went up and burned both her and her father to death.
7 Samson then said, “If this is the way you’re going to act, I swear I’ll get even with you. And I’m not quitting till the job’s done!”
8 With that he tore into them, ripping them limb from limb—a huge slaughter. Then he went down and stayed in a cave at Etam Rock.
9–10 The Philistines set out and made camp in Judah, preparing to attack Lehi (Jawbone). When the men of Judah asked, “Why have you come up against us?” they said, “We’re out to get Samson. We’re going after Samson to do to him what he did to us.”
11 Three companies of men from Judah went down to the cave at Etam Rock and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines already bully and lord it over us? So what’s going on with you, making things even worse?”
He said, “It was tit for tat. I only did to them what they did to me.”
12 They said, “Well, we’ve come down here to tie you up and turn you over to the Philistines.”
Samson said, “Just promise not to hurt me.”
13 “We promise,” they said. “We will tie you up and surrender you to them but, believe us, we won’t kill you.” They proceeded to tie him with new ropes and led him up from the Rock.
14–16 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of God came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands. He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company. And Samson said,
With a donkey’s jawbone
I made heaps of donkeys of them.
With a donkey’s jawbone
I killed an entire company.
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. He named that place Ramath Lehi (Jawbone Hill).
18–19 Now he was suddenly very thirsty. He called out to God, “You have given your servant this great victory. Are you going to abandon me to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” So God split open the rock basin in Lehi; water gushed out and Samson drank. His spirit revived—he was alive again! That’s why it’s called En Hakkore (Caller’s Spring). It’s still there at Lehi today.
20 Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 16, 2026
by Anne Cetas
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Genesis 33:1-10
Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.
5 Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are these with you?”
Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.”
6–7 Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.
8 Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?”
“I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.”
9 Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.”
10–11 Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me.
Today's Insights
The rift between Jacob and his brother Esau began when Jacob first stole Esau’s birthright and then through treachery gained the blessing his father had intended for his older brother Esau (Genesis 27:27-36). Esau had vowed to murder Jacob in revenge (v. 41). In Genesis 32-33, Jacob sent ahead of his traveling party many gifts, hoping the gifts would soften Esau’s anger (32:13-21). When Jacob finally encountered Esau face to face, he said, “Please accept the present that was brought to you” (33:11). The word translated “present” here is literally “blessing,” the same word used for the blessing Jacob stole from Esau (27:35-36). In this way, Jacob emphasized that he recognized how he’d harmed Esau and desired to make amends. Today, as we humbly seek to bring healing to our broken relationships, God will help us.
It Takes Humility
[Jacob] bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. Genesis 33:3
My cousins, who lived only two miles away when we were growing up, weren’t allowed to interact with my family. They never came to reunions or talked to us at the local grocery store. Their parents said it was because, back then, we didn’t attend church and we’d be a bad influence on them. What a surprise when many years later, a cousin attended my eldest brother’s funeral! He approached us one by one and humbly apologized for their attitude. Our relationship with him began to be restored.
Jacob needed a humble heart to seek restoration with his twin brother, Esau. Jacob, the second born, had connived against Esau: He stole his brother’s birthright (Genesis 25:19-34) and deceived his elderly father into giving him the firstborn’s blessing (26:34–27:40). Furious, Esau threatened to kill him, so Jacob had run to another country.
Years later, Jacob wanted to return home but was afraid the deep division between him and his brother wouldn’t be resolved without bloodshed (32:6-8). When he and Esau finally met, he humbly “bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother” (33:3). He feared Esau would kill him, but instead Esau came running “and embraced him” (v. 4).
Whether we’ve harmed another or have been harmed, it takes humility, openness, and often much work to heal the brokenness. But God can and will help us.
Reflect & Pray
What relationships in your life might need restoration? How can you start the process?
Dear Father, please keep me from holding grudges or becoming bitter and help me forgive others and ask for forgiveness.
Broken relationships can be hard to mend, but God calls us to be in community with one another. Learn how we can work to mend relationships by reading this article.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 16, 2026
Inspired Initiative
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. — Ephesians 5:14
Not all initiative is inspired. “Just do it,” people say. “Just get on with it.” That is ordinary human initiative. But when the Spirit of God comes in and says, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead,” we find ourselves genuinely inspired and ready to act.
We all have visions and ideals when we are young, but sooner or later we find that we have no power to make them real. We give up on our dreams and let them die; we let our ideals wither away. Then God comes in with his miraculous power, and we find we are able to do the impossible.
A mistake we make is believing that, because God is capable of miracles, we don’t need to put forth any effort of our own. When God says, “Rise from the dead,” we have to get up; God will not lift us up. In Matthew 12, Jesus heals a man with a shriveled hand—but first, Jesus asks the man to reach out to him. “He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ So he stretched it out and it was completely restored” (v. 13). As the man acted in faith, Jesus acted to help the man. The same principle holds true in our lives: Although God, in his infinite power, could give us a life of instant, effortless gratification, this is not his will for us. Instead, he asks us to extend ourselves to him as he extends himself to us.
If the Lord has extended the hand of spiritual initiative to you, reach out and take it. As soon as you do, you will find that the light of God’s inspiration is yours: “And Christ will shine on you.”
Leviticus 19-20; Matthew 27:51-66
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him.
Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 16, 2026
AT THE DOWN END OF YOUR DAY - #10201
Our family, and probably yours, can be divided into two functional groups: the morning people and the night people. Which, by the way, are dysfunctional the other part of the day. You have those at your house? Well, often they marry each other. I don't know why that happens. And then they drive each other nuts at the beginning and at the end of the day. Now, my daughter, for example, oh, she was the slow freight train in the morning. She was almost a no freight train in the morning. It was hard to get her up; it took a long time to get her going, not much spark there, not too many smiles. She was not really like that the rest of the day. But morning was just not her time.
Now, I'm a morning person. Then about 10 or 11 o'clock at night, I start to unravel. I'm the slow freight or the no freight then. Well, I hate to tell you this, but I get to be less and less fun to be with as it gets a little later. Meanwhile, guess what my daughter was doing? She was bouncing off the walls at this point. See, we both could use a little help at the down end of our day. So could you probably.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "At the Down End of Your Day."
Well, our word for today from the Word of God has something for both the morning people and the night people. It comes from Psalm 92:1-2. "It is good to praise the Lord and to make music to Your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night." This is talking about praising, and making music at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. It says we should be, as followers of the Most High God, positive at the beginning and at the end - both ends of the day.
Now, I've noticed a gap between my metabolism; especially my late night metabolism, and my desire to be like Jesus. See, they're in conflict. Oh, I can be having a good day of serving, and being unselfish, and caring about other people, being positive all day, and then the hour starts getting late. The later it gets, sometimes it just seems like the more selfish I get, the crankier I get, the more brittle, irritable. I'm less likely to go out of my way. I'm more likely to say something cutting or sarcastic, or to complain about having to do something. Now, maybe that happens to you in the morning.
Guess when I need God's resources the most? I need them at night, because I'm a morning person. I need to consciously stretch the lordship of Christ to cover the down end of my day. There's a part of my day that seems like I'm the least under His lordship, and I'll bet there's one for you. And that's the part I need to depend on Him the most. Maybe morning's your toughest time to be a Christian.
Well, David said in Psalm 90:14, "Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." See, in your case, you've got to wake up and think of Jesus first thing. Whichever is your down end of the day, be sure that Christ's lordship reaches from your first waking moments to your last conscious moments. You can really hurt those you love the most at your harsh end of the day.
Remember, our Lord is the One who gives you a pillar of cloud to wake up to in the morning assuring you of a God-designed day, and who gives you a pillar of fire at night to assure you of His illuminating presence at night time.
So, here's a practical take home test on your spiritual maturity. What difference is Christ making at the down end of your day?
