Max Lucado Daily: STEADFAST FAITH CONFRONTS SIN - September 28, 2026
“This is what the Lord says: ‘You will not get down from the bed upon which you have lain, but you shall certainly die'” (2 Kings 1:4 NASB).
Elijah dispatched this verdict to the king. Ahaziah reacted in fear-filled vengeance. He sent fifty soldiers to do battle with the prophet. “But Elijah responded to the captain of fifty, ‘If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty’” (2 Kings 1:10 NASB). White-hot heat fell and cremated the soldiers.
Once again, Elijah does not shy away from taking a stand against sin. Take note of this lesson: steadfast faith confronts blatant sin.
Unbreakable Courage
Proverbs 19
If You Quit Listening
1 19 Better to be poor and honest
than a rich person no one can trust.
2 Ignorant zeal is worthless;
haste makes waste.
3 People ruin their lives by their own stupidity,
so why does God always get blamed?
4 Wealth attracts friends as honey draws flies,
but poor people are avoided like a plague.
5 Perjury won’t go unpunished.
Would you let a liar go free?
6 Lots of people flock around a generous person;
everyone’s a friend to the philanthropist.
7 When you’re down on your luck, even your family avoids you—
yes, even your best friends wish you’d get lost.
If they see you coming, they look the other way—
out of sight, out of mind.
8 Grow a wise heart—you’ll do yourself a favor;
keep a clear head—you’ll find a good life.
9 The person who tells lies gets caught;
the person who spreads rumors is ruined.
10 Blockheads shouldn’t live on easy street
any more than workers should give orders to their boss.
11 Smart people know how to hold their tongue;
their grandeur is to forgive and forget.
12 Mean-tempered leaders are like mad dogs;
the good-natured are like fresh morning dew.
13 A parent is worn to a frazzle by a stupid child;
a nagging spouse is a leaky faucet.
14 House and land are handed down from parents,
but a congenial spouse comes straight from God.
15 Life collapses on loafers;
lazybones go hungry.
16 Keep the rules and keep your life;
careless living kills.
17 Mercy to the needy is a loan to God,
and God pays back those loans in full.
18 Discipline your children while you still have the chance;
indulging them destroys them.
19 Let angry people endure the backlash of their own anger;
if you try to make it better, you’ll only make it worse.
20 Take good counsel and accept correction—
that’s the way to live wisely and well.
21 We humans keep brainstorming options and plans,
but God’s purpose prevails.
22 It’s only human to want to make a buck,
but it’s better to be poor than a liar.
23 Fear-of-God is life itself,
a full life, and serene—no nasty surprises.
24 Some people dig a fork into the pie
but are too lazy to raise it to their mouth.
25 Punish the insolent—make an example of them.
Who knows? Somebody might learn a good lesson.
26 Kids who lash out against their parents
are an embarrassment and disgrace.
27 If you quit listening, dear child, and strike off on your own,
you’ll soon be out of your depth.
28 An unprincipled witness desecrates justice;
the mouths of the wicked spew malice.
29 The irreverent have to learn reverence the hard way;
only a slap in the face brings fools to attention.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, September 28, 2026
By Karen Huang
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Judges 10:17–11:8, 29
Jephthah
17–18 The Ammonites prepared for war, setting camp in Gilead. The People of Israel set their rival camp in Mizpah. The leaders in Gilead said, “Who will stand up for us against the Ammonites? We’ll make him head over everyone in Gilead!”
1–3 11 Jephthah the Gileadite was one tough warrior. He was the son of a whore, but Gilead was his father. Meanwhile Gilead’s legal wife had given him other sons, and when they grew up, his wife’s sons threw Jephthah out. They told him: “You’re not getting any of our family inheritance—you’re the son of another woman.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. Some riffraff joined him and went around with him.
4–6 Some time passed. And then the Ammonites started fighting Israel. With the Ammonites at war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. They said to Jephthah: “Come. Be our general and we’ll fight the Ammonites.”
7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: “But you hate me. You kicked me out of my family home. So why are you coming to me now? Because you are in trouble. Right?”
8 The elders of Gilead replied, “That’s it exactly. We’ve come to you to get you to go with us and fight the Ammonites. You’ll be the head of all of us, all the Gileadites.”
29–31 God’s Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites.
Today's Insights
Jephthah the warrior was rejected by others, but God used him for His purpose (Judges 11:2-3, 29). Jesus also understood rejection. He was rejected by the people of His hometown of Nazareth, who doubted His authority (Mark 6:1-6). He was rejected by the Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders who plotted to kill Him (3:6). Many of His followers deserted Him (John 6:60-66). For a time, His siblings failed to believe He was the Messiah (7:5). His disciple Judas Iscariot betrayed Him (18:2-3). At His trial, the people shouted for His crucifixion (Mark 15:13). When we face rejection, we can bring our pain to Him knowing He understands. He sees us, loves us, and accepts us.
For further study, read: The Peace that Jesus Brings
Accepted by God
The Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. Judges 11:29
He was the doctor who never turned away a patient—even if some couldn’t pay him and even though he himself had experienced rejection from society. In spite of Harold’s outstanding record in his medical studies, no hospital in London hired him because of the color of his skin. So in 1913 he opened his own practice in his home, often treating the poor for free. Dr. Harold Moody spent his life helping those discriminated against, earning him the title “Britain’s Martin Luther King.”
Dr. Moody shows that our life need not be determined by the rejection of others. Scripture also shows us this truth in the story of Jephthah. Although a mighty warrior, Jephthah was rejected by his half brothers and driven away from their town. They told him, “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family . . . because you are the son of another woman” (Judges 11:2). “So Jephthah fled from his brothers” and settled in another area (v. 3).
Although his family rejected him, God didn’t. When an enemy made war on Israel, it was Jephthah that the people turned to for help (vv. 4-6). They said, “Be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites” (v. 6). God used and helped Jephthah to subdue their enemy (vv. 29, 32-33) and to later lead Israel (Judges 12:7).
When we’re rejected by others, let’s keep trusting and obeying God. It’s how He sees us and what He wants us to do that matters.
Reflect & Pray
How does rejection affect you? How does God’s acceptance of you encourage you?
Thank You, Father, for Your love and acceptance.?For further study, read The Peace that Jesus Brings at odbm.org.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 28, 2026
The “Go” of Unconditional Identification
“One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” — Mark 10:21
The rich young ruler in this verse was driven by a passion to be perfect. When he saw the personal holiness of Jesus Christ, the ruler wanted to be like him. But personal holiness is never what our Lord puts first when he calls a disciple. What he puts first is the absolute annihilation of my right to myself in favor of my identification with him. Jesus Christ wants me to be in a relationship with him in which there is no other relationship. That is why he says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother . . . such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Discipleship has nothing to do with perfection, nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. It has everything to do with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. This is what our Lord was expressing when he told the ruler to go and sell everything. Very few of us understand this absolute “go” of abandonment.
“Jesus looked at him and loved him” (Mark 10:21). To receive the look of Jesus is to have a heart broken forever from allegiance to anyone or anything else. Has Jesus ever looked at you? His look transforms and transfixes. Where I am soft with God is where the Lord has looked at me. If instead I am hard and vindictive, insistent on my own way, certain that the other person is in the wrong, it’s a sign that whole regions of my nature have never been transformed by his gaze.
“One thing you lack . . .” The only good thing, from Jesus Christ’s point of view, is union with himself, and nothing in between.
“Sell everything you have.” I must reduce myself until I’m a mere conscious being. I must renounce possessions of all kinds. I do this not to save my soul (only one thing saves me: absolute reliance on Jesus Christ), but to follow my Lord.
“Come, follow me.”
Isaiah 5-6; Ephesians 1
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God.
Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 28, 2026
The Only Way to Be Free - #10361
Scripture: Isaiah 61:1
I've had lots of friends in law enforcement, and I've even had the opportunity to ride in the front seat with a police officer. But the experience I had recently had a totally different feel to it. I was speaking in a large youth festival, and I had to get across this festival's grounds quickly to my next speaking venue. Two police officers working security said, "Hey, hop in our squad car, we'll take you over there." Well, I jumped into the back seat of the police car and I quickly realized I had never experienced a little of what it feels like to be on the custody end of things like that. There was this wall between me and the officers in the front seat. When we arrived at our destination and I tried to open my door…in vain…there was no way. My officer friend had a good laugh. He said, "Ron, there's no way you can get yourself out of there. See, somebody has to let you out." Okay, I've decided I am not excited about being in the prisoner seat any more.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to Be Free."
"There's no way you can get yourself out of there." Well, that's a feeling a lot of us have experienced, without ever being physically locked up. It's like there are these hurtful emotional cycles and spiritual cycles that we just can't seem to get ourselves out of.
Maybe you know what it is to be trapped in a cycle of destructive behavior, or damaged relationships, or maybe a cycle of guilt and shame over repeated mistakes, or a cycle of slavery to a behavior you just can't seem to change, or a cycle of unfulfillment; where one experience after another just fails to give you the peace and the meaning you've always hoped for. There are no bars, no prison walls, but we know the feeling of being locked up in a way of living that we can't get out of. Just like a prisoner in a cell, or me in the prisoner seat of a police car, somebody has to let you out. And for 2,000 years, "the" Somebody has been doing that for millions of us spiritual prisoners.
In fact, in Isaiah 61:1, our word for today from the Word of God, He announced His reason for coming to earth this way: "The Lord has...sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners." Jesus understands the powerful force that ultimately keeps us locked up in our destructive cycles. He said, "Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). Sin is simply our hijacking of our life from the God who was supposed to run it. And because we're away from our Creator, we're trapped in this self-run orbit where life just doesn't work right.
It took the coming and the dying of the Son of God to break the enslaving power of sin. By taking the death penalty for what we've done, Jesus has the power, not only to save us from our own hurtful ways, but to save us from the eternal penitentiary the Bible calls hell. He's come from the outside to let you out, to set you free. But He waits for your invitation to do that; your invitation for Him to come into your life, to forgive every sin of your life, and to change you from the inside out.
That glorious freedom that so many have experienced, you can experience beginning this very day. It actually begins when you tell Jesus, "I am turning from my sin that has enslaved me, Lord; from the sin that nailed You to a cross. You had to do that to pay for my sin, and I know you walked out of your grave. You are alive! I want you to walk into my life today. I want to give myself to You because you died for my sin. I’m Yours beginning today."
Do you want a new story to begin in your life? I want to encourage you to go to our website - ANewStory.com. You're going to find some information there from God's very own words that will help you start on that road.
This could be your day to finally be able to say, "Free at last, free at last - thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!"
