Max Lucado Daily: Defiant Joy
My friend Rob cried freely telling his story about his young son's challenging life.
Daniel was born with a double cleft palate, dramatically disfiguring his face. He had surgery, but the evidence remains, so people constantly notice and occasionally make remarks.
Daniel, however, is unfazed! He just tells people God made him this way so, what's the big deal? He was named student of the week, so was asked to bring something to show his classmates for show and tell. Daniel told his mom he wanted to take the pictures that showed his face prior to the surgery. His mom was concerned. "Won't that make you feel a bit funny?" she asked. But Daniel insisted, "Oh, no, I want everyone to see what God did for me!"
Try Daniel's defiant joy and see what happens. God has handed you a cup of blessings. Sweeten it with a heaping spoonful of gratitude!
From You'll Get Through This
Proverbs 29
If People Can’t See What God Is Doing
1 29 For people who hate discipline
and only get more stubborn,
There’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break,
but by then it’ll be too late to help them.
2 When good people run things, everyone is glad,
but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans.
3 If you love wisdom, you’ll delight your parents,
but you’ll destroy their trust if you run with whores.
4 A leader of good judgment gives stability;
an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste.
5 A flattering neighbor is up to no good;
he’s probably planning to take advantage of you.
6 Evil people fall into their own traps;
good people run the other way, glad to escape.
7 The good-hearted understand what it’s like to be poor;
the hardhearted haven’t the faintest idea.
8 A gang of cynics can upset a whole city;
a group of sages can calm everyone down.
9 A sage trying to work things out with a fool
gets only scorn and sarcasm for his trouble.
10 Murderers hate honest people;
moral folks encourage them.
11 A fool lets it all hang out;
a sage quietly mulls it over.
12 When a leader listens to malicious gossip,
all the workers get infected with evil.
13 The poor and their abusers have at least something in common:
they can both see—their sight, God’s gift!
14 Leadership gains authority and respect
when the voiceless poor are treated fairly.
15 Wise discipline imparts wisdom;
spoiled adolescents embarrass their parents.
16 When degenerates take charge, crime runs wild,
but the righteous will eventually observe their collapse.
17 Discipline your children; you’ll be glad you did—
they’ll turn out delightful to live with.
18 If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.
19 It takes more than talk to keep workers in line;
mere words go in one ear and out the other.
20 Observe the people who always talk before they think—
even simpletons are better off than they are.
21 If you let people treat you like a doormat,
you’ll be quite forgotten in the end.
22 Angry people stir up a lot of discord;
the intemperate stir up trouble.
23 Pride lands you flat on your face;
humility prepares you for honors.
24 Befriend an outlaw
and become an enemy to yourself.
When the victims cry out,
you’ll be included in their curses
if you’re a coward to their cause in court.
25 The fear of human opinion disables;
trusting in God protects you from that.
26 Everyone tries to get help from the leader,
but only God will give us justice.
27 Good people can’t stand the sight of deliberate evil;
the wicked can’t stand the sight of well-chosen goodness.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, October 11, 2026
by Tom Felten
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Luke 15:3-7
Their grumbling triggered this story.
4–7 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
Today's Insights
In our text, Jesus points to the rejoicing that follows when a sinner “repents” (Luke 15:7). The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible defines repentance as “a change in the whole personality from a sinful course of action to God.” It’s a complete about-face. This theme of repentance is found throughout the Bible and was especially prominent in the ministries of Christ and John the Baptist. Mark tells us, “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (1:4). In fact, John’s very first recorded words were, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). Jesus’ ministry began with the very same message (4:17). It’s imperative that all of us, as sinners, repent: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). The way to salvation is through belief in Christ, who died so we could live (John 3:16).
For further study, read: The Gift of Confession
Jesus Looks for the Lost
Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Luke 15:6
“I’ve been looking for him all my life.” With tears in his eyes, Bill Cordes spoke those words after being reunited with his younger brother, Robert. The men hadn’t seen each other for eighty years after being split up when Robert was just four months old due to a troubled family situation. Bill’s granddaughter helped him finally find his baby brother—someone he’d never stopped thinking about or seeking to find.
In Luke 15, Jesus told three parables of people who refused to stop looking for something or someone precious. In the parable of the lost sheep, He said to the Pharisees who were challenging Him, if a shepherd lost one sheep of his hundred, wouldn’t he “leave the ninety-nine . . . and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” (v. 4). His point? The Pharisees—the “ninety-nine”—thought they were right with God, but they weren’t. And Christ told them, there’s “more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents”—who turns from sin to God’s forgiveness—than for those who don’t think they need to (v. 7).
Our Great Shepherd never stops looking for us, and He’ll never stop seeking others as well. When we repent and receive salvation in Christ, there’s great joy in heaven—in God’s heart—because what “was lost . . . is found” (v. 32). And what joy we experience in being found by the one who sought us!
Reflect & Pray
Why should you repent of your sins? How does it encourage you to know that Jesus looks for the lost?
Dear Jesus, because You sought me, I can repent of my sins and receive Your salvation.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 11, 2026
After God’s Silence, What?
When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. — John 11:6
Has God trusted you with a silence, one that is full of meaning? God’s silences are his answers. Think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany, as Lazarus lay sick and dying, tended by Mary and Martha (John 11). Is there anything similar to those days in your life? Can God trust you as he trusted Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, or are you still asking for a visible answer? If you refuse to go on without certain blessings, God will give them to you. But his silence is the sign that he is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? You will find that God has trusted you in the most intimate way possible—with a silence that is not of despair but of pleasure, because he saw that you could handle a bigger revelation.
If God has given you a silence, praise him. He is bringing you into the great flow of his purpose. Precisely when the answer will manifest itself is a matter of God’s sovereign choice. Time is nothing to God. Perhaps you’ve grown impatient and you think, “I asked God to give me bread, and he gave me a stone.” He did not. Soon you will find he gave you the bread of life.
A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that the contagion of his stillness gets into you and you become perfectly confident: “I know God has heard me.” His silence is the proof that he has. As long as you have the idea that God will bless you in answer to a prayer, he will do it. But he will never give you the grace of silence. When Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer isn’t for blessings but for the glorifying of the Father, he will give you the first sign of his intimacy—silence.
Isaiah 37-38; Colossians 3
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