Max Lucado Daily: JESUS IN THE STORM - October 19, 2026
Jesus’ disciples went down to the lake where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark. Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. The disciples were too far from the shore, too long in the struggle, too small against the waves. And Jesus was nowhere to be seen.
Have you ever encountered a dangerous, ominous, seemingly God-forsaken storm? Storms overtake us, and it sometimes seems they will never end. But then the unimaginable happens. John gives no details, just this economical statement. “They saw Jesus walking on the water” (John 6:19). That’s all we need to know. Before Jesus stills the storms, he comes to us in the midst of our storms. And he’ll come and meet you in yours. Remember friend, you are never alone.
You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God's Presence & Power
Song of Solomon 3
Restless in bed and sleepless through the night,
I longed for my lover.
I wanted him desperately. His absence was painful.
So I got up, went out and roved the city,
hunting through streets and down alleys.
I wanted my lover in the worst way!
I looked high and low, and didn’t find him.
And then the night watchmen found me
as they patrolled the darkened city.
“Have you seen my dear lost love?” I asked.
No sooner had I left them than I found him,
found my dear lost love.
I threw my arms around him and held him tight,
wouldn’t let him go until I had him home again,
safe at home beside the fire.
5Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem,
by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer:
Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,
until the time is ripe—and you’re ready.
6–10What’s this I see, approaching from the desert,
raising clouds of dust,
Filling the air with sweet smells
and pungent aromatics?
Look! It’s Solomon’s carriage,
carried and guarded by sixty soldiers,
sixty of Israel’s finest,
All of them armed to the teeth,
trained for battle,
ready for anything, any time.
King Solomon once had a carriage built
from fine-grained Lebanon cedar.
He had it framed with silver and roofed with gold.
The cushions were covered with a purple fabric,
the interior lined with tooled leather.
11Come and look, sisters in Jerusalem.
Oh, sisters of Zion, don’t miss this!
My King-Lover,
dressed and garlanded for his wedding,
his heart full, bursting with joy!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, October 19, 2026
By Tim Gustafson
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Ezekiel 26:1-6, 17-18
As the Waves of the Sea, Surging Against the Shore
1–226In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, Tyre cheered when they got the news of Jerusalem, exclaiming,
“ ‘Good! The gateway city is smashed!
Now all her business comes my way.
She’s in ruins
and I’m in clover.’
3–6“Therefore, God, the Master, has this to say:
“ ‘I’m against you, Tyre,
and I’ll bring many nations surging against you,
as the waves of the sea surging against the shore.
They’ll smash the city walls of Tyre
and break down her towers.
I’ll wash away the soil
and leave nothing but bare rock.
She’ll be an island of bare rock in the ocean,
good for nothing but drying fishnets.
Yes, I’ve said so.’ Decree of God, the Master.
‘She’ll be loot, free pickings for the nations!
Her surrounding villages will be butchered.
Then they’ll realize that I am God.’
Today's Insights
Ezekiel pronounces judgment not only against Jerusalem but also the nations who celebrated the downfall of God’s people. Chapters 25-32 include prophecies against seven nations, including Tyre (26:1–28:19). Judgment would be thorough; for instance, Egypt would go down “to the earth below . . . to the pit” (32:18), a reference to the place of the dead. And Tyre, a preeminent naval power (26:17), would disappear beneath “the ocean depths” as they also would go “down to the pit” (vv. 19-20). Pride inevitably leads to a fall. Serving God ultimately leads to peace (28:26). Today, God can help us serve Him in His strength.
For further study, read: The Promised King
The Lesson in the Ruins
Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us . . . worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Hebrews 12:28
“You have to be careful about the snakes, insects, jaguars and everything else,” said archaeologist Ivan Šprajc. Wielding chainsaws and machetes, he and his team slashed through thick jungle to try to reach the lost city of Ocumtún. The ancient metropolis had disappeared along with the rest of the once-vibrant Mayan civilization on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. No one knows why.
“The study of history is, in large measure, the study of ruins,” says author George Will—an apt testimony to our human inability to do things that last.
In the Bible, we read a prophecy about a thriving city. “They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers,” God said through His prophet Ezekiel (26:4). “Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets” (v. 5). Tyre had been “a power on the seas” who put “terror on all who lived there” (v. 17). They’d also celebrated Jerusalem’s fall (v. 2). A companion prophecy says of Tyre’s destruction, “The Lord Almighty planned it, to bring down her pride in all her splendor” (Isaiah 23:9). Tyre fell because of its pride.
Working hard to create new things is one way we reflect God’s image. But beware the fatal trap of pride. Whatever we do, let’s do it for our eternal God and in His strength. He promises us “a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28).
Reflect & Pray
What city or civilization do you admire and why? How do you think of it when you consider that one day it will no longer exist?
Dear God, please help me serve You well as a citizen of Your kingdom, which can never be shaken.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 19, 2026
The Unheeded Secret
My kingdom is not of this world. — John 18:36
Today, a great enemy of Jesus Christ is the idea we have of practical work. This idea doesn’t come from the New Testament but rather from systems of the world in which endless energy and activity are insisted upon, but no private life with God. The emphasis is placed on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21 kjv); it is hidden and obscure. Too often Christian workers live in the shop window. They’ve forgotten that it is the innermost of the innermost that reveals the power of the disciple’s life.
We have to rid ourselves of the spirit of the religious age we live in. As disciples, our lives are supposed to resemble our Master’s life; in his life, there was none of the stress and rush of tremendous activity that are regarded so highly today. The cornerstone of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship to him, not public usefulness to other people. Rather than wasting our time in activity, we should be soaking in the great fundamental truths of his redemption.
If we don’t get into the habit of soaking in God’s truths, we will snap when the strain comes—and it will come. None of us has any idea where God is going to put us nor any knowledge of what kinds of difficulty we will face. But if we’ve prepared ourselves beforehand by getting rooted and grounded in God, we will remain true to him whatever happens.
Isaiah 56-58; 2 Thessalonians 2
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.
The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 19, 2026
How Hard You Try - #10376
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:5
Gym class can be a pretty unfair place in school. You’ve got your natural athletes, your average athletes, and your basic klutzes, like me, who are all lumped together in the same class. It’s tough to get a decent grade if the teacher compares your performances. The natural athletes, of course, are going to play better, score higher, run farther than many others who are trying just as hard. And many a good student has had his grade point dragged down. Not because of a C effort in gym, but because of a C result.
I guess we could debate about what’s fair, but I for one appreciate the breed of physical education teacher that my son had, and he said this about him, “Dad, you know, he grades you not on how well you finish, but on how hard you try.” Well, you know, I know someone else who grades that way.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “How Hard You Try.”
The Apostle Paul is, as we get to the end of 2 Timothy, a man about to receive his report card, and he’s about to graduate. This is the last letter he will write in his many letters of the New Testament, writing to his dear son in the faith, Timothy. Looking at his present situation, he doesn’t look very successful. He’s a prisoner in Caesar’s prison, he’s facing execution, there are no awards being given, there’s no applause, he’s very alone and he really has nothing on earth to look forward to. He is apparently a victim, not a victor. Maybe you know someone like that right now. Maybe it’s someone like you. He is looking forward, though, to God’s grades and God’s rewards.
Listen to what he says in 2 Timothy 4, beginning at verse 5, “Discharge all the duties of your ministry, for I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, and now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day.” I love this! He’s looking for the Lord’s awards.
We know Paul’s result. We look back on the tremendous results of his life. But where he was in that prison, he didn’t have much to show for his efforts there. It could be you right now. This word, “having fought a good fight” is the word for wrestling in the Olympics, and from that word we get our word agonize. He has agonized; he has agonizingly fought a good fight. It means he’s fought with good technique. He doesn’t say, “I won!” He says, “I have fought well.” Winning wasn’t the issue. Paul knew the issue was what kind of a fight he gave. Paul knows that his Lord rewards the effort, not the result, and so does your Lord. That’s why His welcoming words are, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Not successful, faithful servant.
Maybe you’ve have been in a dark, discouraging time. You’ve worked hard, you’ve served faithfully, you’ve witnessed sincerely, you’ve lived Christ in front of the people you love, and there just seems to be very little to show for it. The results aren’t there. And maybe you feel like you’ve failed. Maybe others even think you’ve failed.
But the question is, “Did you fight the good fight? Did you discharge your duties?” Maybe not perfectly, but faithfully, wholeheartedly. Well, then, I think you can expect A’s from the only person who really matters; the One who made you; the One who paid for you with His life.
You see, the awards of God are based on how hard you try.
