2 Samuel 21,Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: PRAYER WIMPS - June 11, 2026

I’m a card-carrying member of the PWA.  “Prayer Wimps Anonymous.” Can you relate?  We pray.  We pray to stay sober, centered, and solvent. We pray when the lump is deemed malignant, when the money runs out before the month does.

We all pray some but wouldn’t we like to pray more?  Like the disciples, when they ask Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” Teach us to find strength in prayer, to banish fear in prayer.  Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and you.  A prayer as simple as this one: “Father you are good.  I need help, heal me and forgive me. They need help. Thank you in Jesus name.”

Every day for four weeks. Pray four minutes and then and get ready to connect with God like never before.

Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

2 Samuel 21

Famine and War

1  21 There was a famine in David’s time. It went on year after year after year—three years. David went to God seeking the reason.

God said, “This is because there is blood on Saul and his house, from the time he massacred the Gibeonites.”

2  So the king called the Gibeonites together for consultation. (The Gibeonites were not part of Israel; they were what was left of the Amorites, and protected by a treaty with Israel. But Saul, a fanatic for the honor of Israel and Judah, tried to kill them off.)

3  David addressed the Gibeonites: “What can I do for you? How can I compensate you so that you will bless God’s legacy of land and people?”

4  The Gibeonites replied, “We don’t want any money from Saul and his family. And it’s not up to us to put anyone in Israel to death.”

But David persisted: “What are you saying I should do for you?”

5–6  Then they told the king, “The man who tried to get rid of us, who schemed to wipe us off the map of Israel—well, let seven of his sons be handed over to us to be executed—hanged before God at Gibeah of Saul, the holy mountain.”

And David agreed, “I’ll hand them over to you.”

7–9  The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the promise David and Jonathan had spoken before God. But the king selected Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons that Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, plus the five sons that Saul’s daughter Merab had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. He turned them over to the Gibeonites who hanged them on the mountain before God—all seven died together. Harvest was just getting underway, the beginning of the barley harvest, when they were executed.

10  Rizpah daughter of Aiah took rough burlap and spread it out for herself on a rock from the beginning of the harvest until the heavy rains started. She kept the birds away from the bodies by day and the wild animals by night.

11–14  David was told what she had done, this Rizpah daughter of Aiah and concubine of Saul. He then went and got the remains of Saul and Jonathan his son from the leaders at Jabesh Gilead (who had rescued them from the town square at Beth Shan where the Philistines had hung them after striking them down at Gilboa). He gathered up their remains and brought them together with the dead bodies of the seven who had just been hanged. The bodies were taken back to the land of Ben-jamin and given a decent burial in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father.

They did everything the king ordered to be done. That cleared things up: from then on God responded to Israel’s prayers for the land.

15–17  War broke out again between the Philistines and Israel. David and his men went down to fight. David became exhausted. Ishbi-Benob, a warrior descended from Rapha, with a spear weighing nearly eight pounds and outfitted in brand-new armor, announced that he’d kill David. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to the rescue, struck the Philistine, and killed him.

Then David’s men swore to him, “No more fighting on the front-lines for you! Don’t snuff out the lamp of Israel!”

18  Later there was another skirmish with the Philistines at Gob. That time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, another of the warriors descended from Rapha.

19  At yet another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jaar, the weaver of Bethlehem, killed Goliath the Gittite whose spear was as big as a flagpole.

20–21  Still another fight broke out in Gath. There was a giant there with six fingers on his hands and six toes on his feet—twenty-four fingers and toes! He was another of those descended from Rapha. He insulted Israel, and Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him.

22  These four were descended from Rapha in Gath. And they all were killed by David and his soldiers.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, June 11, 2026

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Peter 3:13-17

  If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad.

Today's Insights

The key idea in 1 Peter 3:13-17 is that a hope-filled life in Christ can trigger conversations about the gospel. Notice how the apostle puts it: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (v. 15). In a world filled with brokenness and despair, when people see someone living with hope that transcends this world, it gets their attention and can cause them to desire what that person has. When they ask about this hope, we can point them to the message of Jesus, who’s “given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1:3). When we’re prepared to share God’s love with others, we’ll have the privilege of telling them about Jesus, our living hope.

Be Prepared to Share by Dave Branon

Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15

The teenager stood her ground. While her high school group was visiting a home for people in rehab from addictions, Claire engaged in conversation with a twentysomething man who towered over her in size. They talked about faith.

Claire clearly presented the gospel of Jesus. He countered with his spiritual views, which were very different. Back and forth they went in a friendly give-and-take way. Finally, the young man looked at Claire and said, “You got me. I can’t argue with what you’re saying.”

Though he didn’t put his faith in Jesus, a seed had been planted. And while Claire would have loved for the young man to have received Christ, her disappointment was balanced by the reality that she’d done what God had called her to do that day: “Be prepared to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15). She had lovingly shared God’s plan of salvation.

Claire wasn’t ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16). She was prepared to “give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). And she knew how to let her “conversation be . . . full of grace” so she would “know how to answer” (Colossians 4:6) the young man in the right spirit.

What a privilege God gives us to make Christ known to others! Let’s be ready to share with others as He provides what we need.

Reflect & Pray

How can you prepare for an opportunity to share your faith? Who do you know who needs to hear the gospel?

Dear God, please encourage my heart and open my mouth so I can “give an answer” to others who need You.

Learn how to effectively share your witness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Getting There

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28

Do I want to get to this place of rest? I can, right now. The questions that matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by the words “Come to me.” Not “Do this, don’t do that” but “Come to me.” If I will simply come to Jesus, my life will be brought into accordance with my deepest desires. I will cease sinning, and I will hear the song of the Lord begin.

Have you ever come to Jesus? Watch the stubbornness of your heart. You will do anything besides the simple, childlike thing. But if you want to stop sinning, you must be simple enough to come and commit yourself to what Jesus says. The attitude of coming is one of complete surrender; you let go of everything and commit all to him.

Jesus Christ makes himself the touchstone for our lives. Look at how he uses the word come. At the most unexpected moments, he whispers, “Come to me.” The instant you hear his voice, you are drawn to him, changed by him. Personal contact with Jesus changes everything.

“And I will give you rest.” Jesus isn’t saying that he’ll put you to bed, hold your hand, and sing you to sleep. He’s saying, “I will get you out of bed—out of the inertia and the exhaustion, out of the state of being half dead while you are alive.” He’s saying, “I will fill you with the spirit of life, and you will be sustained by the perfection of vital activity.”

Sometimes we get pathetic; instead of accepting the will of the Lord with confidence, we start talking about “suffering” it. Where is the majestic vitality of the Son of God in that?

Ezra 1-2; John 19:23-42

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance.

Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Lazy Listeners - #10284

June 11, 2026

If you ever saw my oldest son, when he was younger, eating a hamburger, you’d see how quickly it disappears. I’m sure that you would find it hard to believe that there was a time when he was actually too young to eat one. Yes, but we have the movies at home to prove it! You’ve seen this little baby eating this mush that only babies eat. He didn’t have any equipment to chew a hamburger with, right? So we’d feed him this smooth, beaten-to-death version of the real thing – no chewing, no effort, it just kind of slides right on down. Now he has to work harder on it these days, like when you’re eating a steak. But he seems to have no desire to go back to the good old days of baby food. The best food will require some effort, but it’s worth it.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Lazy Listeners.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 5, and it’s about lazy eaters. I’m beginning at verse 11. The writer says, “We have so much to say to you, but it’s hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need somebody to teach you the elementary truth of God’s Word all over again. You need milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

Now, the writer of Hebrews is writing to some Christians who insisted on food that didn’t demand much of them. In this case, milk. They were lazy eaters. Well, that kind of laziness is all too common among a lot of us Christians today; we are, in North America, some of the most entertained Christians in history. We’re so spoiled by our radio preachers, our TV shows, our seminars, our Christian celebrities. We want our sermons to be funny, and exciting, red-hot challenging, and short. We want our speakers to be entertainers. We expect our teachers to be brief, to the point. How dare they talk too long! And we want our pastor to chop up our food for us and give it to us Gerber-ized. We like melt-in-your-mouth messages that don’t take a lot of effort.

Well, there are a few very gifted pastors or speakers who do 80% of the chewing for you. All you have to do is meet them with maybe 20% of your attention; you don’t have to put a lot of effort into it. But most of God’s messengers require careful attention from you, a determination to follow along with them, a willingness to make your own applications and connections.

There are some people who have a lot to say from the Lord, but they require you to come maybe 40-50-70% of the way. There are writers like that. You say, “This is hard to read.” But it’s worth sticking with it; it’s worth chewing. See, a spiritual leader doesn’t have to be funny or have a ton of charisma in order to feed you God’s Word. He doesn’t have to be some famous preacher or TV celebrity. God has put you under the teaching care of someone who loves God and cares about you; one of his servants. Don’t expect that leader, that pastor, that teacher, that writer to do all the chewing for you. Give your God-appointed teachers your very best.

When you listen to them, go prepared to chew, to work for your good meal. You’re too big for baby food. Lazy eaters never grow up. So, don’t be too lazy to chew a good piece of meat.

Luke 22:1-23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD WILL TEACH YOU - June 10, 2026

This much is sure:  God will teach you to pray. Don’t think for a minute that he’s glaring at you from a distance with crossed arms and a scowl, waiting for you to get your prayer life together.  Just the opposite! In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you will eat with Me.”

Jesus waits on the porch.  He taps…and calls. He waits for you to open the door. To pray is the hand of faith on the door handle of your heart. The happy welcome to Jesus: “Come in, O King.  Come in. The kitchen is messy, but come in. I’m not much of a conversationalist, but come in.”

Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer! God changes His people through such moments.

Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

Luke 22:1-23

The Passover Meal

1–2  22 The Feast of Unleavened Bread, also called Passover, drew near. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way to do away with Jesus but, fearful of the people, they were also looking for a way to cover their tracks.

3–6  That’s when Satan entered Judas, the one called Iscariot. He was one of the Twelve. Leaving the others, he conferred with the high priests and the Temple guards about how he might betray Jesus to them. They couldn’t believe their good luck and agreed to pay him well. He gave them his word and started looking for a way to betray Jesus, but out of sight of the crowd.

7–8  The Day of Unleavened Bread came, the day the Passover lamb was butchered. Jesus sent Peter and John off, saying, “Go prepare the Passover for us so we can eat it together.”

9  They said, “Where do you want us to do this?”

10–12  He said, “Keep your eyes open as you enter the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him home. Then speak with the owner of the house: The Teacher wants to know, ‘Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will show you a spacious second-story room, swept and ready. Prepare the meal there.”

13  They left, found everything just as he told them, and prepared the Passover meal.

14–16  When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, “You’ve no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It’s the last one I’ll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God.”

17–18  Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, “Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I’ll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives.”

19  Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory.”

20  He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.

21–22  “Do you realize that the hand of the one who is betraying me is at this moment on this table? It’s true that the Son of Man is going down a path already marked out—no surprises there. But for the one who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man, this is doomsday.”

23  They immediately became suspicious of each other and began quizzing one another, wondering who might be about to do this.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

by Karen Huang

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Revelation 21:1-5

Everything New

1  21 I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea.

2  I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband.

3–5  I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”

Today's Insights

The “new heaven and . . . new earth” (Revelation 21:1) will permanently reestablish God’s original design that was present in the garden of Eden (see Genesis 1-2). In this new creation, predicted in Isaiah 65:17, His sovereign provision and protection will be enjoyed forever (Revelation 7:14-17). God offers His presence to His people throughout Scripture: the flood (Genesis 8:13-21), the exodus (Exodus 15), settling into the promised land (Deuteronomy 8:7-10; 12:10), the inauguration of the temple (1 Kings 8:27-29), and, especially, the ministry of Jesus (John 1:14, 18; 14:16-17). Believers in Christ have been “born again” (3:3) and have become a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The presence of God once enjoyed in Eden and then accessible primarily in the temple became available to all when Jesus came as Immanuel—“God with us” (Matthew 1:23). His Spirit indwells all believers who await His coming (Romans 8:9, 23). We can look forward to a future with Christ where we’ll experience His presence and joy that will never be taken away.

For further study read Yet We Shall Live.

Our Future with Christ

The old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4

Visiting Switzerland had been my dad’s lifelong dream. After his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, my mom decided to go with him while he was still physically able. “One day, with the snow blowing around us on Mount Titlis,” she said, “I saw the profound joy in your father’s face. It was the joy of a dream come true.” Later, however, my mom’s tears flowed when my dad asked, “Where are we again?”

My dad may have forgotten he was in Switzerland, but “the visit was worth it,” my mom said. “At least for one moment, he knew, and he was happy.” 

God reassures us of a time when joy will never be taken away from us again. Because of our hope in Jesus, we can look forward to “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1), where we’ll be free from sin and death (Romans 5:12). In this perfect world, God will make “everything new” (Revelation 21:5). “ ‘He will wipe every tear from [our] eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (v. 4). Whatever suffering we experience now is temporary. God promises that one day “the former things will not be remembered” (Isaiah 65:17). They will forever be no more.        

I know that one day, when we’re with God (Revelation 21:3), I’ll see profound joy on Daddy’s face. This time, it will stay.

Reflect & Pray

How does the hope of your future dwelling place give you hope now? What do you look forward to seeing there?

Dear Jesus, I praise You. One day, You’ll make all things new.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Seek If You Have Not Found

Seek and you will find. — Luke 11:9

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (James 4:3). What motivates you when you ask? If you are asking to receive things from life rather than from God, you are motivated by a desire for self-realization. Watch out if this is the case. The more you realize yourself, the less will you seek God.

“Seek and you will find.” Have you ever sought God with your whole heart? Or do you merely give a half-hearted cry in his direction in moments of doubt? Get to work. Narrow your interests until they are centered on God. Seek, concentrate, and you will find.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or are you so satisfied with your experience that you want nothing more from God? Experience is a gateway, not a destination. Beware of building your faith on experience. If you do, you run the risk of becoming so smug that you wind up driving others away from God. You can never give other people what you’ve found, but you can make them homesick for what you’ve got.

“Knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). The door is closed; your heart is pounding. “Wash your hands, you sinners.” Knock a bit louder; you notice that you are dirty. “Purify your hearts.” This is even more personal; you are filled with sincerity now. “Grieve, mourn and wail.” Have you ever gone before God full of grief about the state of your inner life? Have you gone without an ounce of selfpity remaining inside you, only a heartbreaking amazement that you are what you are? “Humble yourselves” (James 4:8–10). It is deeply humbling to knock at God’s door; you knock with the crucified thief. “To the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:8).

2 Chronicles 34-36; John 19:1-22

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. 

Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Miracles With Damaged Goods - #10281

June 8, 2026

Scripture:  Revelation 21:5

As Lenny left our headquarters, I said, “Man, you have really made a difference around here!” He really had. A company that was getting rid of a lot of office furniture donated about a dozen desks to our ministry, and we were thrilled to get them! Good desks, but well, not exactly beautiful desks. They were all scarred and beat up, and on the surface they didn’t look particularly useful. In fact, the company that donated them actually was getting ready to discard them before they learned about our need. So, here in a storage area were all these ugly desks…until Lenny got his hands on them. One by one, he went to work with his magic touch and he slowly restored their original beauty. By the time he was done, it looked almost like we had just gotten a shipment of expensive new desks.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Miracles With Damaged Goods.”

As our amazing desk restorer stood in my office with hands so stained that they actually looked like they’d never be clean again, I thanked him for the amazing difference he’d made. He just broke into a big smile and he said, “Oh, I love doing this.”

I know someone else like that. His name is Jesus and He, too, is in the restoring business. It took His hands being stained with His own blood to make His restoring work possible. But as He looks at countless scarred and undervalued lives that He has restored, I believe He says, “Oh, I love doing this.” And He would love to do it for you.

There’s a simple, five-word promise Jesus made that might mark for you the possibility of a fresh new start. That promise is in our word for today in the Word of God in Revelation 21:5. Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Did you get that, “All things new”? That may be exactly the kind of miracle you need right now. Because, like that office furniture we received, life has left you pretty beat up…scarred, maybe deeply scarred. You feel broken—useless. You’ve never been able to answer that haunting question, “Why am I here?” You’re carrying a lot of regrets over things that, well, you wish you had done differently. You carry a lot of pain from things that have been done to you, and things you’ve done to others.

But then there’s Jesus, the one who makes all things new, but at a very high price—to Him that is, not to you. He said at the Last Supper as He broke a loaf of bread and handed it to His friend, “This is My body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19). He was broken so you could be fixed. He paid for your sin on the cross so you wouldn’t have to. That’s what was happening on that horrific cross when He died. And in dying for your sin and then coming out of His grave, He broke the power of the thing that ultimately causes all the scars, and the regrets, and the hurts—the spiritual cancer called sin. And with hands that bear nail prints from His sacrifice for you, He reaches out to you and says, “I will make all things new.”

The Bible says He will restore what sin has taken from you (Joel 2:25)…that He will “bind up the brokenhearted.” He’ll “release the prisoner from darkness.” He’ll “exchange the ashes of your life for beauty.” And then the Bible says, “He’ll turn a ‘spirit of despair’ into a ‘garment of praise’” (Isaiah 61:1-3). You don’t have to be defined any longer by your pain or by your sin. You can now be defined by who you belong to forever—to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the King of all kings. Your life-changing relationship with Him begins when you come to Him and you say, “Jesus, You’re my only hope. You died for me. Forgive me. Change me. I’m Yours.”

I want to be sure you belong to Him. That's why we've got our website. That's really what it's for, and I want to urge you to go there and check it out as soon as you can today...ANewStory.com.

Because of Jesus, who is the Master Restorer, your life doesn’t have to be more of what it’s been for so long. No, see, He makes all things new, and right now He is waiting to do that for you.

Psalm 70, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: JESUS PRAYED BY EXAMPLE - June 9, 2026

Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer!  Jesus set a compelling prayer example. He prayed before He ate.  He prayed for children.  He prayed for the sick.  He prayed with thanks.  With tears. He had made the planets and shaped the stars, yet He prayed.

Here’s a prayer for us today! “Father, you’ve made me your child through your Spirit. In your kindness you have adopted me and delivered me from sin and death. Remind me today what it means to be your child.  It’s so easy for me to live every day on my own terms. Help me live it in light of your grace.  Thank you for accepting me as I am but not leaving me the same.  In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for 4 weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!

Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

Psalm 70

A David Prayer

1–3  70 God! Please hurry to my rescue!

God, come quickly to my side!

Those who are out to get me—

let them fall all over themselves.

Those who relish my downfall—

send them down a blind alley.

Give them a taste of their own medicine,

those gossips off clucking their tongues.

4  Let those on the hunt for you

sing and celebrate.

Let all who love your saving way

say over and over, “God is mighty!”

5  But I’ve lost it. I’m wasted.

God—quickly, quickly!

Quick to my side, quick to my rescue!

God, don’t lose a minute.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, June 09, 2026

by Sheridan Voysey

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 14:12-15

What a comedown this, O Babylon!

Daystar! Son of Dawn!

Flat on your face in the underworld mud,

you, famous for flattening nations!

13–14  You said to yourself,

“I’ll climb to heaven.

I’ll set my throne

over the stars of God.

I’ll run the assembly of angels

that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon.

I’ll climb to the top of the clouds.

I’ll take over as King of the Universe!”

15–17  But you didn’t make it, did you?

Instead of climbing up, you came down—

Down with the underground dead,

down to the abyss of the Pit.

Today's Insights

In Daniel 4:37, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, declares, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” This ancient king had to learn the crucial lesson of humility the hard way.

His words of praise to God (vv. 2-3, 34-37) contrast with his words of self-adulation before his humiliation: “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (v. 30; see vv. 31-34). The Babylonian ruler of Isaiah 14:12-14 said something similar. Indeed, kings and kingdoms will all pass away but God’s kingdom endures forever (see Daniel 2:44; 4:3, 34). To Him alone belong all power and glory and majesty.

God’s Glory and Majesty

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens . . . .” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead. Isaiah 14:13, 15

The ceiling of London’s Banqueting House is magnificent. Painted by Sir Peter Paul Rubens between 1629 and 1634, it was commissioned by King Charles I to glorify his family’s reign. In one painting, the goddess Minerva celebrates the achievements of Charles’ father, King James I. In another, James is carried to heaven on the wings of an eagle. Gazing up at the ceiling, banquet guests got a clear message: Kings like Charles and his father were virtually divine. 

In the prophet Isaiah’s day, the king of Babylon felt similarly about himself. Here was a king who longed to “ascend to the heavens” and “sit . . . on the mount of assembly,” where the gods were thought to reign (Isaiah 14:13). Instead, Isaiah prophesied that this king would fall (vv. 3-4), being “brought down to the realm of the dead” (v. 15) without even a tomb to be remembered by (vv. 18-19). Charles I met a similar fate. In an ironic twist, he was marched beneath the very ceiling depicting his supposed divinity before being executed outside Banqueting House in 1649.

It’s a sad fact that has repeated through time: Powerful people who claim divine glory for themselves will one day discover how human they are. For there is only one who is worthy of reigning from heaven, and all power, glory, and majesty are His alone (1 Chronicles 29:11).

Reflect & Pray

Why do you think rulers throughout history have claimed divinity for themselves? How does Jesus compare to the attitude of such rulers?

Heavenly Father, You are God, and all power and glory are Yours!

For further study, read The Chilling Tale of a King.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, June 09, 2026

Ask If You Have Not Received

For everyone who asks receives. — Luke 11:10

There is nothing more difficult than to ask. We desire and crave and suffer, but only when we’ve reached our absolute limit do we ask. What finally makes us ask God for the Holy Spirit is a sense of unreality. We sense that we are not spiritually real and that we cannot become spiritually real on our own. When this happens, when we glimpse our powerlessness, we must ask God for the Spirit, basing our request on the words of Jesus: “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes real in us all that Jesus did on our behalf.

“For everyone who asks receives.” This doesn’t mean that if we don’t ask, we’ll get nothing; God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good” alike (Matthew 5:45). But until we ask, we won’t receive from God directly. To receive from God directly means that we have come into a specific relationship with him—we have become his children— and now we perceive, with moral appreciation and spiritual under- standing, that all things come from him.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God” (James 1:5). If you realize you lack wisdom, it is because you’ve come into contact with spiritual reality, and your eyes have been opened. Don’t put on the blinders of reasonableness again. Don’t listen when people say, “Be reasonable; preach the simple gospel. Don’t tell us we have to be holy, because that makes us feel abjectly poor.”

If we are abjectly poor, we are in the right condition for asking. “Ask” means “beg.” We must ask out of poverty. If instead we ask out of greed, we’ll never receive. We must ask because we know that, without God, we have nothing. A pauper isn’t ashamed to beg. Paupers beg because they are poor; there is no other reason. Blessed are the paupers in spirit (Matthew 5:3).

2 Chronicles 32-33; John 18:19-40

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. 

My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, June 09, 2026

Tuesday, June 09, 2015

Asking the Question That Decides Your Eternity - #7412

Years ago in college, our son and a young lady friend of his decided they needed to have an RDT. I know it sounds like an injection or like bug spray. But it actually had to do with what was going on between them. See, men and women at the college that they attended often would have an RDT with someone. And I guess history does repeat itself, because I actually had one with my future wife one night many years ago. We didn't call it that, but that's what it was. I told her this: "I'm just sick and tired of just having a brother/sister relationship. I want it to be more." I risked it all that day.

Well, after she picked herself up off the floor, she got my drift. And we've been married a long time now. It worked! Whenever a man or woman in my son's school wanted to figure out what their relationship was, they would say, "It's RDT time." That's when they found out, "Is this a friendship? Or are we dating? Are we going steady? Is this a possible marriage situation? Are we pre-engaged? What do we call this?" Well, actually there comes a time when you need to know where you stand. Oh, and what is an RDT? I probably should tell you that. It's a Relationship Definition Time!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Asking the Question That Decides Your Eternity."

It may be RDT time for you in the most important relationship of all. See, Jesus Christ calls for you and Him to have a relationship definition time. Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 13:5 is sobering. Listen, "Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that you have not failed the test."

Okay, you know about Jesus. You like Jesus. You agree with Jesus. You try to live like Jesus would want you to live, and that's all good. But have you ever made the Savior your Savior and put all your trust in Him; grabbing Him like he's your only hope? See, when it comes to getting things really settled with Jesus Christ once and for all, many of us are like a plane that keeps circling the airport. We're close. We're circling, but we never landed. And you're looking down on that cross where God's One and only Son is dying to pay your sin bill with God. You know that's where you'll get the sins of a lifetime erased from God's book.

You know that's where you can find the greatest love of all. But maybe you've never really landed. John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." The New Testament makes it clear that believing in Jesus is telling Him He's your only hope. You're putting your total trust in what He did on the cross for you, abandoning any other hope. He's your only hope of knowing God, of going to heaven.

Have you ever done that with Jesus? Have you ever really believed in Him? And there's only one other relationship option according to Jesus. You're rejecting Him. No matter how politely or religiously you do it, not to believe is to reject. Not to decide is to decide.

The Roman Governor who tried Jesus unknowingly asked the question that decides every person's eternity, "What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?" It's time for you to answer that question. It's relationship definition time. You've circled long enough. It's time to land! The Savior is waiting one more time.

If you're ready to finally get this settled, would you tell Him right now, "Lord, you're my only hope of having my sins erased from God's book, of ever having a relationship with my Creator and of going to heaven. I believe You died for me, and beginning right now I want to belong to You." I want to invite you to visit our website, and there let me walk you through the steps to take to know you belong to Jesus for sure. It's ANewStory.com.

Today is relationship definition time. There's an old gospel song that makes it pretty clear. "What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be. For some day your heart will be asking, 'What will He do with Me?'"

Psalm 64, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: PRAYER BRINGS HOPE - June 8, 2026

We are never without hope because we are never without prayer. Prayer confesses, “God can handle it, and since he can, I have hope!” When we pray in the name of Jesus, we come to God on the basis of Jesus’ accomplishment. The Scripture says, “Since we have such a great high priest [Jesus] over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:21-22).

Some people say, “Prayer changes things because it changes us.” I agree, but only in part. Prayer changes things because prayer appeals to the top power in the universe. It is the yes to God’s invitation to invoke his name. Prayer moves the world because prayer moves the heart of God.

God Is with You Every Day

Psalm 64

A David Psalm

1  64 Listen and help, O God.

I’m reduced to a whine

And a whimper, obsessed

with feelings of doomsday.

2–6  Don’t let them find me—

the conspirators out to get me,

Using their tongues as weapons,

flinging poison words,

poison-tipped arrow-words.

They shoot from ambush,

shoot without warning,

not caring who they hit.

They keep fit doing calisthenics

of evil purpose,

They keep lists of the traps

they’ve secretly set.

They say to each other,

“No one can catch us,

no one can detect our perfect crime.”

The Detective detects the mystery

in the dark of the cellar heart.

7–8  The God of the Arrow shoots!

They double up in pain,

Fall flat on their faces

in full view of the grinning crowd.

9–10  Everyone sees it. God’s

work is the talk of the town.

Be glad, good people! Fly to God!

Good-hearted people, make praise your habit.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, June 08, 2026

by Kirsten Holmberg

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Philippians 4:10-19

Philippians 4:10-19

God’s Provision

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length zyou have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be acontent. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and bhunger, abundance and cneed. 13 I can do all things dthrough him who strengthens me.

14 Yet it was kind of you eto share6 my trouble. 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that fin the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, gno church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. 17 hNot that I seek the gift, but I seek ithe fruit that increases to your credit.7 18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, jhaving received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, ka fragrant offering, la sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And my God mwill supply every need of yours naccording to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Today's Insights

The church in Macedonia received high praise from Paul. Not only were the Macedonians quick to respond to his needs, in this case they were the only church to do so (Philippians 4:15). Additionally he notes, “You sent me aid more than once when I was in need” (v. 16). Indeed, in 2 Corinthians 8, the apostle pointed to the economically poor Macedonian church as an example for the wealthy church in Corinth (vv. 1-2). This is the context in which the apostle writes, “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). As God provides for us today, we can in turn give to others.

Reciprocal Generosity

I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. Philippians 4:18

When Melanie began having regular headaches, her doctors discovered she had a benign tumor in her pituitary gland. The tumor was about the size of a plum and was surgically removed in 2003 and again in 2006 when it recurred. Then in 2017, when it came back a third time, Melanie underwent radiation treatment instead, which caused her to lose her hair. Her twenty-seven-year-old son, Matt, decided to grow out his own hair to make a wig for her.

Matt’s selfless, loving act illustrates how one person’s abilities and resources can supply the needs of another person or group. Paul highlights the beauty of such reciprocal generosity in his letter to the Philippians. The believers in Philippi had shared in his “troubles” and “sent . . . aid more than once when [he] was in need” (Philippians 4:14, 16). Having received their gifts, Paul recognized that God had provided amply for his needs.

Our willingness to share with one another is often the conduit of God’s provision in our lives. Sometimes we’re in a position to give of our time, talent, or treasure; other times we’re in need ourselves and must rely on the support of another. Through His Spirit working in us, our gifts are “pleasing to God” and a manifestation of our shared life in the body of Christ (v. 18).

Reflect & Pray

When has God supplied your needs through another person? How might He provide for someone else through your generous giving today?

Father God, thank You for providing for me. Please help me share what You’ve given me as I seek to cheerfully and generously help others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, June 08, 2026

Determine to Know More

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. — John 13:17

If you do not cut the moorings, God will have to break them with a storm and send you out. Launch all on God, go out on the swelling tide of his purpose, and you will have your eyes opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time safe inside the harbor, full of delight. You have to get out into the great deeps of God and begin to know for yourself. You have to develop spiritual discernment.

When you know you should do a thing and you do it, God immediately grants you more knowledge. Look at the places where you’ve become stuck spiritually. You’ll find that your entrenchment began when you failed to do something you knew you should. You procrastinated, thinking there was no urgency. Now you have no perception and no discernment. In times of crisis, you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-possessed.

Your spiritual destiny is to know and to do the will of God (Romans 12:1–2). Many who refuse to know God’s will practice a counterfeit form of obedience: they manufacture crises in order to play at sacrificing themselves, hoping their passion will be mistaken for discernment. It’s easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, but God’s word on the matter is clear: “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22).

Never live on memories. Beware of nostalgically pining for the safety of the harbor, for the person you used to be. God wants you to be something you’ve never been. He wants you to find out all you long to know. “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out . . .” (John 7:17).

2 Chronicles 30-31; John 18:1-18

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, June 08, 2026

You Be You - #10280

June 5, 2026

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:10

My next door neighbor in our dorm in college always wanted to preach like Billy Graham. I mean he really wanted to preach like Billy Graham. He would record Billy Graham on his radio program, and then he would listen to the tapes over and over again. He would copy everything, including even the inflections of Billy’s voice. And then he would watch Billy Graham. He studied his gestures; he’d try to get them down and gesture just when Billy Graham would. He’d hold his Bible like Billy Graham. Now you are going to think he was really a fanatic, but this really is true. He told me he even counted the words per minute that Billy Graham averaged and tried to get the same pace. Wow! That’s a crazy way to approach ministry, huh? Well, it’s more common than you might think.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “You Be You.”

Our word for today from the Word of God – one of the most challenging, exciting statements in all of the New Testament – is in Ephesians 2:10. This is about you now. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Wow! God has created you as a unique, one-of-a-kind servant, uniquely prepared, uniquely wired by Him for a very unique set of plans which He prepared in advance for you to carry out.

The problem comes when we start to compare ourselves with other people. You really can’t compare yourself because you are a category all by yourself. You might never count the words per minute in somebody’s sermon to copy them, but maybe you are looking at someone else God is using and you’re saying, “You know, I can’t talk like that. I don’t know what they know. I’m sort of shy; I’m not that outgoing. You know, I don’t have the training they have. I could never serve God like that; I’m not like that person.” You’re right! You’re not like them. Hurray! You weren’t meant to be. You were created for works only you can do.

I think we should look for models and learn from their values and their thinking and their ways of working, but not to become clones. The Mona Lisa is an original, it’s priceless, but you can buy a postcard of the Mona Lisa for like 50 cents at the museum, because copies are cheap. Originals are priceless. Don’t devalue yourself by copying someone else; trying to be like someone else. There’s so much in social media that makes us want to do that. Don’t do it! That’s an awful, unnatural bondage if you’re still trying to be like someone else.

You see, everything you need - to do what God put you here to do - you have. And all those things that you don’t have? Guess what? You don’t need. You’ve got the right hair, you’ve got the right height, you’ve got the right body, you’ve got the right voice, you’ve got the right intelligence, you’ve got the right talents, and you’ve got the right limitations - even your background. See, God is using your background to make you into that unique servant of His. He’s weaving a tapestry, and putting into that tapestry the people and experiences that will make you the man or woman you were designed by Him to be.

So be yourself! Relax! Be the person that God made for a unique role that you are destined to fulfill. You compare with somebody else? You’ll never get off the ground. You try to copy someone else, and you will never be the person you were created to be.

I think you can say as you look at your life and the plans that God has for it, “God, you know what You’re doing.” He sure does. Thank Him for making you the only you there is, and don’t try to be a Christian clone. You are an original. So, you be you.

John 13:1-20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Do it God’s Way

In the game of golf, logic says, “Don’t go for the green.” Golf 101 says, “Don’t go for the green.”  But I say, “Give me my driver, I’m going for the green!”  Golf reveals a lot about a person.  I don’t need advice—whack!  I can handle this myself—clang!

Can you relate? We want to do things our way.  Forget the easy way and forget the best way. Forget God’s way. Too much stubbornness. Too much independence.  Too much self-reliance.  All I needed to do was apologize, but I had to argue.  All I needed to do was listen, but I had to open my big mouth.  All I needed to do was be patient, but I had to take control.  All I had to do was give it to God, but I tried to fix it myself.

Scripture says, “Do it God’s way.”  Experience says, “Do it God’s way.”  And every so often, we do!  We might even make the green.

From Traveling Light

John 13:1-20

Washing His Disciples’ Feet

1–2  13 Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.

3–6  Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”

7  Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”

8  Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”

Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”

9  “Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”

10–12  Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you.”) After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.

12–17  Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.

The One Who Ate Bread at My Table

18–20  “I’m not including all of you in this. I know precisely whom I’ve selected, so as not to interfere with the fulfillment of this Scripture:

The one who ate bread at my table

Turned on his heel against me.

“I’m telling you all this ahead of time so that when it happens you will believe that I am who I say I am. Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, June 07, 2026

by Marvin Williams

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Ruth 1:11-18

  But Naomi was firm: “Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I’m too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, ‘There’s still hope!’ and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow.”

14  Again they cried openly. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.

15  Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her.”

16–17  But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!”

18–19  When Naomi saw that Ruth had her heart set on going with her, she gave in.

Today's Insights

Ruth’s devotion to her mother-in-law Naomi was a hard choice that carried with it the prospects of great difficulties. Ruth, a Moabitess, would’ve faced tremendous challenges in moving to Bethlehem. Moab, though a distant cousin of Israel, had become Israel’s enemy (Judges 3), resulting in significant hostilities. Additionally, being a widow in a strange land where she didn’t have the support of family and friends (aside from Naomi) would’ve been potentially dangerous. Through Naomi’s extended family (Boaz), however, God would provide both sustenance and safety (Ruth 2:1, 8-9). Ruth would eventually be enfolded into that community as the wife of Boaz and would become the great-grandmother of King David (4:17). For us today as well, God often uses community to remind us of His great care for us.

Remembering Who We Are

Ruth replied, . . . “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Ruth 1:16

A restaurant employee discovered an unconscious man beside a dumpster. He was sunburned, bitten by ants, and showed signs of blunt force trauma. He had no memory of who he was. The man, later self-named “Benjamin Kyle,” lived in limbo for more than a decade. He couldn’t work, collect benefits, or even reclaim his past. His healing began when a community of strangers helped him rediscover his identity through genetic testing and investigation. “I have a history,” he said. “I’m not just some stranger that materialized out of thin air.”

The story of Ruth in the Bible can also be seen as one of rediscovered belonging. After losing her husband and leaving her homeland, she chose to bind herself to her mother-in-law Naomi and her people. She said, “Where you go I will go . . . . Your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). Ruth connected her identity and destiny to that of Naomi and her people in life and in death. She was “determined to go with her” (v. 18)—prioritizing community over clarity, belonging over certainty. In doing so, she stepped into God’s redemptive story and is remembered forever as part of the lineage of Christ (4:18-22; Matthew 1:3-5).

When we as believers in Jesus forget who we are—or when life’s pain leaves us disoriented—God often uses community to reconnect us with our most authentic identity. In Him we’re beloved, chosen, and known.

Reflect & Pray

Who is God using to help you remember who you are in Him? What does it mean to be known by Him?

Dear God, please help me remember who I am in You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, June 07, 2026

Don’t Slack Off

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. — John 15:7

Am I fulfilling the ministry of the interior life, taking time alone with the Father to intercede for others in prayer? I need not worry that the moments I claim for prayer are selfish. There is no danger of infatuation or pride in intercession; it is a hidden ministry which brings forth the fruit that glorifies the Father. Am I slacking off in my spiritual life, allowing my spiritual energies to be frittered away? Or am I learning to remain in Jesus? To remain in Jesus is to concentrate my spiritual energies around a single point: the atonement of the Lord.

I must begin to realize this central point of power in my life. Do I give one minute out of sixty to concentrate upon it? “If you remain in me” means “If you continually act and think and work on the basis of my atonement.” What holds the most power over me right now? Is it my job? Serving others? Trying to work for God? It isn’t the thing I spend the most time on that shapes me the most; it’s the thing that exerts the greatest power over me. What ought to exert the greatest power over me is Jesus Christ. I must decide to be limited in my affinities, to choose carefully where I place my attention. If Jesus Christ is more and more my dominating interest, every phase of my life will bear fruit for him.

Jesus says that if we remain in him and his words remain in us, God will answer our prayers. Do we recognize this truth? “But,” you say, “suppose I ask for something not according to God’s will?” You won’t—not if you’re fulfilling Jesus’s wish that you remain in him. The disciple who remains in Jesus is the will of God. The choices this disciple makes, though they appear to be made freely, are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Mysterious? Yes. Logically contradictory and absurd? Yes. But a glorious truth to those who remain in him.

2 Chronicles 28-29; John 17

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.

Disciples Indeed

2 Samuel 18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

A D-Day Prayer by Franklin D. Roosevelt June 6, 1944:"In this poignant hour, I ask you to join me in prayer:…"

Max Lucado Daily: A Human Being

One night I was on baby duty and Jenna’s breathing slowed. I leaned my ear onto her mouth to see if she was alive. And when she burbled and panted, so did I. That’s when a tsunami of sobriety washed over me. We are in charge of a human being!

I don’t care how tough you are. You may be a Navy SEAL who skydives behind enemy lines. It doesn’t matter. Every parent melts the moment he or she feels the full force of parenthood. How did I get myself into this? Moms have thirty-six weeks of reminders elbowing around inside them. Dads, our kick in the gut comes later… but it does come. And for me it came years ago in the midnight quiet of an apartment living room—as I held a human being in my arms!

From Dad Time

2 Samuel 18

David organized his forces. He appointed captains of thousands and captains of hundreds. Then David deployed his troops, a third under Joab, a third under Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third under Ittai the Gittite.

The king then announced, “I’m marching with you.”

3  They said, “No, you mustn’t march with us. If we’re forced to retreat, the enemy won’t give it a second thought. And if half of us die, they won’t do so either. But you are worth ten thousand of us. It will be better for us if you stay in the city and help from there.”

4  “If you say so,” said the king. “I’ll do what you think is best.” And so he stood beside the city gate as the whole army marched out by hundreds and by thousands.

5  Then the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” The whole army heard what the king commanded the three captains regarding Absalom.

6–8  The army took the field to meet Israel. It turned out that the battle was joined in the Forest of Ephraim. The army of Israel was beaten badly there that day by David’s men, a terrific slaughter—twenty thousand men! There was fighting helter-skelter all over the place—the forest claimed more lives that day than the sword!

9–10  Absalom ran into David’s men, but was out in front of them riding his mule, when the mule ran under the branches of a huge oak tree. Absalom’s head was caught in the oak and he was left dangling between heaven and earth, the mule running right out from under him. A solitary soldier saw him and reported it to Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging from an oak tree!”

11  Joab said to the man who told him, “If you saw him, why didn’t you kill him then and there? I’d have rewarded you with ten pieces of silver and a fancy belt.”

12–13  The man told Joab, “Even if I’d had a chance at a thousand pieces of silver, I wouldn’t have laid a hand on the king’s son. We all heard the king command you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake, protect the young man Absalom.’ Why, I’d be risking my life, for nothing is hidden from the king. And you would have just stood there!”

14–15  Joab said, “I can’t waste my time with you.” He then grabbed three knives and stabbed Absalom in the heart while he was still alive in the tree; by then Absalom was surrounded by ten of Joab’s armor bearers; they hacked away at him and killed him.

16–17  Joab then blew the ram’s horn trumpet, calling off the army in its pursuit of Israel. They took Absalom, dumped him into a huge pit in the forest, and piled an immense mound of rocks over him.

Meanwhile the whole army of Israel was in flight, each man making his own way home.

18  While alive, Absalom had erected for himself a pillar in the Valley of the King, “because,” he said, “I have no son to carry on my name.” He inscribed the pillar with his own name. To this day it is called “The Absalom Memorial.”

19–20  Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, said, “Let me run to the king and bring him the good news that God has delivered him from his enemies.” But Joab said, “You’re not the one to deliver the good news today; some other day, maybe, but it’s not ‘good news’ today.” (This was because the king’s son was dead.)

21  Then Joab ordered a Cushite, “You go. Tell the king what you’ve seen.”

“Yes sir,” said the Cushite, and ran off.

22  Ahimaaz son of Zadok kept at it, begging Joab, “What does it matter? Let me run, too, following the Cushite.”

Joab said, “Why all this ‘Run, run’? You’ll get no thanks for it, I can tell you.”

23  “I don’t care; let me run.”

“Okay,” said Joab, “run.” So Ahimaaz ran, taking the lower valley road, and passed the Cushite.

24–25  David was sitting between the two gates. The sentry had gone up to the top of the gate on the wall and looked around. He saw a solitary runner. The sentry called down and told the king. The king said, “If he’s alone, it must be good news!”

25–26  As the runner came closer, the sentry saw another runner and called down to the gate, “Another runner all by himself.”

And the king said, “This also must be good news.”

27  Then the sentry said, “I can see the first man now; he runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.”

“He’s a good man,” said the king. “He’s bringing good news for sure.”

28  Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Peace!” Then he bowed deeply before the king, his face to the ground. “Blessed be your God; he has handed over the men who rebelled against my master the king.”

29  The king asked, “But is the young man Absalom all right?”

Ahimaaz said, “I saw a huge ruckus just as Joab was sending me off, but I don’t know what it was about.”

30  The king said, “Step aside and stand over there.” So he stepped aside.

31  Then the Cushite arrived and said, “Good news, my master and king! God has given victory today over all those who rebelled against you!”

32  “But,” said the king, “is the young man Absalom all right?”

And the Cushite replied, “Would that all of the enemies of my master the king and all who maliciously rose against you end up like that young man.”

33  The king was stunned. Heartbroken, he went up to the room over the gate and wept. As he wept he cried out,

O my son Absalom, my dear, dear son Absalom!

Why not me rather than you, my death and not yours,

O Absalom, my dear, dear son!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, June 06, 2026

by Elisa Morgan

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 23:1-6

God, my shepherd!

I don’t need a thing.

You have bedded me down in lush meadows,

you find me quiet pools to drink from.

True to your word,

you let me catch my breath

and send me in the right direction.

4  Even when the way goes through

Death Valley,

I’m not afraid

when you walk at my side.

Your trusty shepherd’s crook

makes me feel secure.

5  You serve me a six-course dinner

right in front of my enemies.

You revive my drooping head;

my cup brims with blessing.

6  Your beauty and love chase after me

every day of my life.

I’m back home in the house of God

for the rest of my life.

Today's Insights

Despite David’s failings, he was a man who loved God and was loved by Him. We see this clearly expressed in the psalmist’s writings. Psalm 23 is a classic example that still speaks to us today. With God as our “shepherd,” we truly “lack nothing” (v. 1). He leads, refreshes, guides, and comforts us (vv. 2-4); and our “cup overflows” with His blessings (v. 5). He surrounds us with His love and goodness in this life and for all eternity (v. 6). With such a God, we don’t need to live in fear (v. 4). In Psalm 27:4, David exudes, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” Like David, may our longing be for God. In His presence, we find rest and restoration.

God’s Provision

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. Psalm 23:1-2

I was putting my grandson to bed during a sleepover. When his Bible bookmark opened to Psalm 23, he objected, “We already read this one.” After I suggested we might learn something new, he read aloud, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastries.” Green pastries?! I explained that the word was pastures, not pastries. Hours earlier, he’d stood before a bakery shelf, selecting treats. His interpretation came into focus: To him, a bakery conveyed a place of rest and enjoyment.

Psalm 23 may be so familiar to us that we miss its deep offering. David, a king well acquainted with shepherding, describes God’s provision over a lifetime of things both idyllic (vv. 5-6) and challenging (v. 4). He points out that our good God leads us to places where we can partake of His presence, be rejuvenated, and prepare for what will come. “Green pastures” (v. 1) and “quiet waters” (v. 2) are such dwellings for sheep, and we are God’s sheep (v. 1).

My grandson’s innocent interpretation opened my eyes to the “green pastures” God provides for me—places of rest and enjoyment in everyday life where He restores me. A gold-hued sunset. A verdant field. A quiet corner. A bakery shelf of green pastries, wafting out delight. I’m so glad we read Psalm 23 again!

Reflect & Pray

What unexpected “green pasture” moment have you experienced? How does Psalm 23 invite you into the provision of God’s presence?

Dear God, please open my eyes to the “green pasture” moments You provide. Help me to enter Your presence each day.

For further study, read Why Doesn’t God Answer Me?.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, June 06, 2026

Work Out What God Works In

Work out your own salvation. — Philippians 2:12

After God has done the work of our salvation, there is something we must do: we must begin to work out what God has worked in, bringing every aspect of our lives into alignment with his will.

Do you find it difficult to do the will of God? Perhaps you want to obey, but something in your flesh makes you powerless to do what you know you should.

The barrier that keeps you from obeying God isn’t your own will. Will is the essential element in God’s creation of humankind; its source, in those who have been reborn, is almighty: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). What stops you from following God is the stub- bornness that arises from your sinful nature. Sin is something much less profound than will. Sin is a perverse disposition that entered into humanity after the fall; will comes directly from God. The only way to get rid of sin and stubbornness is to blow them up with dynamite— the dynamite of obedience to the Holy Spirit.

When you begin to obey the Holy Spirit, you’ll find that your will agrees with God, because God is its source. You do not bring an opposed will to God’s will; God’s will is your will. When the Lord, through the Spirit, presents himself to your conscience, the first thing your conscience does is ignite your will, urging you to action. If you remain steadfastly established on the complete and perfect redemp- tion of the Lord, this process becomes as natural as breathing, and stubbornness no longer gets in the way.

Do I believe that almighty God is the source of my will? God not only expects me to do his will; he is in me to help me do it.

2 Chronicles 25-27; John 16

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence. 

Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L

2 Samuel 17, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: PRAYER IN IT’S PUREST FORM - June 5, 2026

Mark 1:35 says, “Jesus went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”

This dialogue must have been common among His friends: “Has anyone seen Jesus?”  “Oh, you know.  He’s up to the same thing.”  “Praying again?”  “Yep. He’s been gone since sunrise.”

Jesus would even disappear for an entire night of prayer. Prayer for most of us, isn’t a matter of a month-long retreat or even an hour of meditation. It’s a conversation with God while driving to work or waiting for an appointment. God will teach you to pray. We speak. He listens. He speaks. We listen. It’s prayer in its purest form. God changes His people through such moments.

Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!

Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

2 Samuel 17

Next Ahithophel advised Absalom, “Let me handpick twelve thousand men and go after David tonight. I’ll come on him when he’s bone tired and take him by complete surprise. The whole army will run off and I’ll kill only David. Then I’ll bring the army back to you—a bride brought back to her husband! You’re only after one man, after all. Then everyone will be together in peace!”

4  Absalom thought it was an excellent strategy, and all the elders of Israel agreed.

5  But then Absalom said, “Call in Hushai the Arkite—let’s hear what he has to say.”

6  So Hushai came and Absalom put it to him, “This is what Ahithophel advised. Should we do it? What do you say?”

7–10  Hushai said, “The counsel that Ahithophel has given in this instance is not good. You know your father and his men, brave and bitterly angry—like a bear robbed of her cubs. And your father is an experienced fighter; you can be sure he won’t be caught napping at a time like this. Even while we’re talking, he’s probably holed up in some cave or other. If he jumps your men from ambush, word will soon get back, ‘A slaughter of Absalom’s army!’ Even if your men are valiant with hearts of lions, they’ll fall apart at such news, for everyone in Israel knows the kind of fighting stuff your father’s made of, and also the men with him.

11–13  “Here’s what I’d advise: Muster the whole country, from Dan to Beer-sheba, an army like the sand of the sea, and you personally lead them. We’ll smoke him out wherever he is, fall on him like dew falls on the earth, and, believe me, there won’t be a single survivor. If he hides out in a city, then the whole army will bring ropes to that city and pull it down and into a gully—not so much as a pebble left of it!”

14  Absalom and all his company agreed that the counsel of Hushai the Arkite was better than the counsel of Ahithophel. (God had determined to discredit the counsel of Ahithophel so as to bring ruin on Absalom.)

15–16  Then Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel thus and thus, and I advised them thus and thus. Now send this message as quickly as possible to David: ‘Don’t spend the night on this side of the river; cross immediately or the king and everyone with him will be swallowed up alive.’ ”

17–20  Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting around at En Rogel. A servant girl would come and give them messages and then they would go and tell King David, for it wasn’t safe to be seen coming into the city. But a soldier spotted them and told Absalom, so the two of them got out of there fast and went to a man’s house in Bahurim. He had a well in his yard and they climbed into it. The wife took a rug and covered the well, then spread grain on it so no one would notice anything out of the ordinary. Shortly, Absalom’s servants came to the woman’s house and asked her, “Have you seen Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

The woman said, “They were headed toward the river.”

They looked but didn’t find them, and then went back to Jerusalem.

21  When the coast was clear, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed out of the well and went on to make their report to King David, “Get up and cross the river quickly; Ahithophel has given counsel against you!”

22  David and his whole army were soon up and moving and crossed the Jordan. As morning broke there was not a single person who had not made it across the Jordan.

23  When Ahithophel realized that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and left for his hometown. After making out his will and putting his house in order, he hanged himself and died. He was buried in the family tomb.

24–26  About the time David arrived at Mahanaim, Absalom crossed the Jordan, and the whole army of Israel with him. Absalom had made Amasa head of the army, replacing Joab. (Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, an Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.) Israel and Absalom set camp in Gilead.

27–29  When David arrived at Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Ammonite Rabbah, and Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim brought beds and blankets, bowls and jugs filled with wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans and lentils, honey, and curds and cheese from the flocks and herds. They presented all this to David and his army to eat, “because,” they said, “the army must be starved and exhausted and thirsty out in this wilderness.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, June 05, 2026

by Nancy Gavilanes

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Jonah 2:1-10

At the Bottom of the Sea

1–9  2 Then Jonah prayed to his God from the belly of the fish.

He prayed:

“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.

He answered me.

From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’

You heard my cry.

You threw me into ocean’s depths,

into a watery grave,

With ocean waves, ocean breakers

crashing over me.

I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away,

thrown out, out of your sight.

I’ll never again lay eyes

on your Holy Temple.’

Ocean gripped me by the throat.

The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.

My head was all tangled in seaweed

at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.

I was as far down as a body can go,

and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever—

Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive,

O God, my God!

When my life was slipping away,

I remembered God,

And my prayer got through to you,

made it all the way to your Holy Temple.

Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds,

walk away from their only true love.

But I’m worshiping you, God,

calling out in thanksgiving!

And I’ll do what I promised I’d do!

Salvation belongs to God!”

10  Then God spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on the seashore.

Today's Insights

The Bible records various places where people cried out to God. Samson prayed while chained in a pagan temple (Judges 16:28), Jesus prayed from a cross (Luke 23:46), and Paul frequently prayed while in prison (Philippians 1). One of the most unusual places of prayer was in the belly of “a huge fish” (Jonah 1:17; 2:1-9). Imagine how different his story might have been had Jonah prayed while still at home, rather than after God had pursued him to the depths of the sea. When Jonah cried out to God in prayer, He delivered him and gave him a second chance to fulfill his mission (3:1-2). Running from God only makes our problems worse. But when we walk in obedience to Him and cry out to Him in prayer, He’ll hear us and do what’s best within His perfect plans.

Running to God in Prayer

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. Jonah 2:1

One moment Adrián Simancas was kayaking in the Strait of Magellan in Chile with his father. The next, the twenty-four-year-old was engulfed in the mouth of a humpback whale. “I thought I was dead,” Adrián told a news outlet. After a few seconds, the whale released Adrián into the frigid waters. His life vest caused him to float to the water’s surface, and his father helped him to safety.

The Old Testament prophet Jonah also had an encounter with a large sea creature. Jonah refused to follow God’s directive to preach a message of repentance to the Israelites’ enemies, the Ninevites, so he boarded a ship in the opposite direction of Nineveh. When the ship got caught in a storm, Jonah convinced the crew to throw him overboard (Jonah 1:11-12, 15). “Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (v. 17). Jonah went from fleeing from God to crying out to Him: “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God” (2:1).

God heard Jonah and rescued him (v. 10). Then Jonah preached to the Ninevites, and they repented (3:8-10).

If God could hear Jonah’s plea from inside a big fish, He can hear us and rescue us from wherever we are. Instead of running from God, let’s run to Him in prayer, knowing that He will answer us when we cry out to Him.

Reflect & Pray

Why do you sometimes run from God? How can you run to Him today?

Dear God, thank You for the rescue You alone provide.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, June 05, 2026

God’s Promise

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” — Hebrews 13:5-6

“Never will I leave you.” God’s promise allows me to go through life without being haunted by fear. This doesn’t mean I won’t be tempted to fear; rather, in the midst of temptation, I will remember what God has said and so be full of courage—just like a child who picks himself up and dusts himself off in order to please his father.

So many of us stumble in our faith when fear sets in. We forget the power of God’s promise; we forget to take a deep breath spiritually. We become filled with dread, convinced that nothing and no one can help us.

What are you dreading? You are not a coward; whatever it is, you’re going to face it. Yet you still have a feeling of dread. Build on God’s promise. Say with confidence, “In this moment, in my present mind- set, the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”

“God has said. … So we say…” Are you learning to speak only after you’ve listened to what God has said? Or are you trying to make his words fit into what you already believe? The only way to move past dread is to grasp the full meaning of God’s promise. “Never will I forsake you”—no matter what kind of evil or challenge is in your way.

Another thing that gets in the way of God’s promise is our own weakness. When we realize how frail we are in facing difficulties, the difficulties become like giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God becomes a nonentity (Numbers 13:33). Have we learned to sing after hearing God’s melody? Are we finding the courage to say, “The Lord is my helper”? Or are we succumbing to the weak side of our nature?

2 Chronicles 23-24; John 15

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.

He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, June 05, 2026

When You're Lost in the Fog - #10279

June 4, 2026

Scripture:  Luke 19:10

When I say this man is a veteran test pilot, I mean he’s easily old enough to be comfortably retired. Instead, he’s still blasting through the skies at these mind-boggling speeds, testing some of America’s most advanced aircraft. He told his amazing life story on a national television program. It’s a story of a lifelong adventure in the skies and a long spiritual search here on earth that ended, well, with the pilot of the universe piloting his life. As he concluded his story, he told about an incident where he was sent up in a state-of-the-art aircraft to help a pilot who was in distress.

The fog was thick; the weather was dangerous for flying, and a rookie pilot was lost in that fog and unable to get through the weather in a plane that really wasn’t equipped for it. Well, Mr. Test Pilot flew close to that imperiled aircraft until he was actually positioned right at its left wing. And then he radioed the desperate pilot and he simply said, “Look to your left.” Then he said, “Now stick with me. Turn when I turn.” Then in a plane so advanced that the veteran said it can make a game out of bad weather, he led his frightened fellow pilot to that glorious point where they broke through the fog and saw the bright lights of that landing strip below them. When they landed safely, well, you can guess. The rookie got out of his plane, he ran to his rescuer, and hugged him as if he had saved his life. Well, he probably had.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You're Lost in the Fog.”

A pilot lost, in a potentially fatal predicament. His only hope was someone who was equipped with everything needed to bring him safely home. We all need somebody like that. Because we are all, in the words the Bible uses to describe our spiritual condition, “lost.”

If we’re honest, we know that we really don’t know how life’s supposed to work, no matter how cool and how together we look on the outside. When it comes to knowing why we’re here, which way to go, and most importantly, how to land safely when we die, we’re all lost. Our only hope is someone who’s equipped with everything needed to lead us safely home; someone who will come beside us and take us the rest of the way through this life and on into the life to come.

His name is Jesus, and He came here for all of us lost pilots. He said so in His personal mission statement, which is recorded in Luke 19:10, our word for today from the Word of God. Here's what Jesus said about Himself, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Notice, He didn’t come to start a religion called Christianity or just give us a nice morality to live by. No, He came to rescue us from a spiritual predicament that will be eternally fatal unless we let Him lead us home. We’re lost because we took over the pilot’s seat that God was supposed to occupy.

In the Bible’s words, we're “sheep who have gone astray.” And you know what? Lost sheep just don’t find their way home. Their only hope is if the Shepherd comes looking for the one who’s lost. And Jesus did. He, in His own words, came to “lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:15). The only person who is equipped to lead you out of the guilt and the death penalty for your sin is the one who took all that guilt; who took all that dying on Himself. That’s what Jesus did when He was on that cross. And then, He walked out of His grave under His own power! He’s alive right now, and He’s pulled up next to you today.

That tug you feel in your heart—that’s Jesus seeking you so He can save you. He’s your only hope, but you've got to admit that. You have to tell Him that and start following where He leads you. Right now you could begin your personal relationship with Him. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours."

Listen, would you get to our website the rest of the information; everything you need to know from God's Word about getting home to Jesus is right there - ANewStory.com.

You don’t have to fly in the fog one more day. You don’t have to be lost anymore. Jesus has come close to you today, and He’s saying, “Look to Me. I’ll get you safely home.” Follow Him.

2 Samuel 16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: JESUS’ EXAMPLE OF PRAYER - June 4, 2026

We can’t even get the cable company to answer us, yet God will?  The doctor’s too busy, but God isn’t?  We have our doubts about prayer!

Jesus raised people from the dead.  But a “How to Vacate the Cemetery” seminar? His followers never called for one. But they did want Him to do this– “Lord, teach us to pray.” Might their interest have something to do with the jaw-dropping promise Jesus attached to prayer? “Ask and it will be given to you.” When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray He gave them a prayer.

Could you use the same?  Father, You are good.  I need help. Heal me and forgive me. They need help. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer. Punctuate your day with it!

Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

2 Samuel 16

Shortly after David passed the crest of the hill, Mephibosheth’s steward Ziba met him with a string of pack animals, saddled and loaded with a hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of fresh fruit, and a skin of wine.

2  The king said to Ziba, “What’s all this?”

“The donkeys,” said Ziba, “are for the king’s household to ride, the bread and fruit are for the servants to eat, and the wine is for drinking, especially for those overcome by fatigue in the wilderness.”

3  The king said, “And where is your master’s grandson?”

“He stayed in Jerusalem,” said Ziba. “He said, ‘This is the day Israel is going to restore my grandfather’s kingdom to me.’ ”

4  “Everything that belonged to Mephibosheth,” said the king, “is now yours.”

Ziba said, “How can I ever thank you? I’ll be forever in your debt, my master and king; may you always look on me with such kindness!”

5–8  When the king got to Bahurim, a man appeared who had connections with Saul’s family. His name was Shimei son of Gera. As he followed along he shouted insults and threw rocks right and left at David and his company, servants and soldiers alike. To the accompaniment of curses he shouted, “Get lost, get lost, you butcher, you hellhound! God has paid you back for all your dirty work in the family of Saul and for stealing his kingdom. God has given the kingdom to your son Absalom. Look at you now—ruined! And good riddance, you pathetic old man!”

9  Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “This mangy dog can’t insult my master the king this way—let me go over and cut off his head!”

10  But the king said, “Why are you sons of Zeruiah always interfering and getting in the way? If he’s cursing, it’s because God told him, ‘Curse David.’ So who dares raise questions?”

11–12  “Besides,” continued David to Abishai and the rest of his servants, “my own son, my flesh and bone, is right now trying to kill me; compared to that this Ben-jaminite is small potatoes. Don’t bother with him; let him curse; he’s preaching God’s word to me. And who knows, maybe God will see the trouble I’m in today and exchange the curses for something good.”

13  David and his men went on down the road, while Shimei followed along on the ridge of the hill alongside, cursing, throwing stones down on them, and kicking up dirt.

14  By the time they reached the Jordan River, David and all the men of the company were exhausted. There they rested and were revived.

15  By this time Absalom and all his men were in Jerusalem.

And Ahithophel was with them.

16  Soon after, Hushai the Arkite, David’s friend, came and greeted Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

17  Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this the way you show devotion to your good friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend David?”

18–19  “Because,” said Hushai, “I want to be with the person that God and this people and all Israel have chosen. And I want to stay with him. Besides, who is there to serve other than the son? Just as I served your father, I’m now ready to serve you.”

20  Then Absalom spoke to Ahithophel, “Are you ready to give counsel? What do we do next?”

21–22  Ahithophel told Absalom, “Go and sleep with your father’s concubines, the ones he left to tend to the palace. Everyone will hear that you have openly disgraced your father, and the morale of everyone on your side will be strengthened.” So Absalom pitched a tent up on the roof in public view, and went in and slept with his father’s concubines.

23  The counsel that Ahithophel gave in those days was treated as if God himself had spoken. That was the reputation of Ahithophel’s counsel to David; it was the same with Absalom.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, June 04, 2026

by Monica La Rose

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 John 1:5-9; 2:7-10

Walk in the Light

5  This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.

6–7  If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

8–10  If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.

7–8  My dear friends, I’m not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you’ve known it from day one. It’s always been implicit in the Message you’ve heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing!

9–11  Anyone who claims to live in God’s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It’s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God’s light and doesn’t block the light from others.

Today's Insights

The apostles wrote during a tumultuous time in the history of the church. They had to correct misunderstandings of the gospel, including who were truly part of the church as well as a broad range of misunderstandings of what God’s grace really meant.

In his first letter, John addressed early church teachings that openly tolerated worldly sin while still claiming one could be in fellowship with Jesus. The apostle shuts that down by saying that only those who “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7) have a true relationship with God. But that doesn’t mean believers in Christ don’t sin (v. 8). Instead, it means that because of their relationship with God, they can confess their sin and enjoy both forgiveness and fellowship no matter how heavy the burden of regret (v. 9).

Freedom in God’s Love

If we confess our sins, [God] . . . will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

If you’ve ever heard the expression “albatross around my neck”—a phrase referring to a tiresome burden—you’ve heard an allusion to English poet Samuel Coleridge’s famous poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” In the poem, a sailor shoots and kills a harmless, friendly albatross. The crew believes the mariner’s cruel deed curses their voyage and forces him to wear the dead bird around his neck as punishment.

Are there regrets in your life that feel like a heavy weight around your neck? All of us have moments we’d do anything to take back. It can feel like we’re cursed to carry the weight of our guilt and regret forever.

Yet God’s grace can free our hearts from even the most painful regret. We all have sin (1 John 1:8, 10), but when we honestly confess our burdens to God, we’re promised he “will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (v. 9). As His grace rushes in, His light and love can flow through us (2:10), freeing us to love those around us (3:14).

In Coleridge’s poem, the tormented mariner also eventually experiences this grace. When love for God’s creation rushes into his heart and compels him to pray, the albatross falls off his neck, vanishing forever “like lead into the sea.”

Reflect & Pray

What can feel like an “albatross” around your neck? What does it mean for you to accept God’s grace for your guilt?

Dear God, thank You that the guilt I carry doesn’t exclude me from experiencing Your beauty and grace. Please help me find freedom in Your love today.

Learn more about the power of forgiveness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, June 04, 2026

The Never-Failing God

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” — Hebrews 13:5

What path do my thoughts take? Do they turn to what God says or to what I fear? “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” If I am listening to God, I won’t simply take his comforting words and leave it at that; I’ll build upon them, adding words of my own: “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid’” (Hebrews 13:6).

“Never will I leave you.” God has promised that he will never leave us—not for all our sin and selfishness and stubbornness. Have I truly let God say to me that he’ll never leave me? If I have, let me listen again.“Never will I forsake you.” Difficulty isn’t always what makes me think God will forsake me. Sometimes it’s the tedium of the day-to-day, of living with no great challenge to meet, no special vision to pursue, nothing wonderful or beautiful to urge me on. Can I hear God’s promise when life is uninspiring?

We have the idea that God is going to do something exceptional with us, that he’s preparing us for some extraordinary feat. But as we grow in grace, we find that he is glorifying himself through us here and now. If we hold fast to God’s promise, we will find that we have the most amazing strength, and we will learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways.

2 Chronicles 21-22; John 14

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye.

Disciples Indeed, 385 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, June 04, 2026

Fishing for Fish, Fishing for People - #10278

June 3, 2026

Scripture:  Luke 19:5

My Dad worked to make the money for our family, so my Dad decided where we went on vacation—fishing. Now some people would consider that a dream vacation, but the high-energy, ten-year-old me? No, I didn’t think so. After just a little while, I was complaining. I was bored, but of course we kept fishing. Did I mention that my Dad made the money? Well, actually, we did have a good catch there and they were good eating. Catching them was fun. Eating them was fun. In between, there was this one step that was less fun - cleaning them. But for that fish to realize its culinary destiny, it had to be cleaned.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Fishing for Fish, Fishing for People.”

If you’re a fisherman, you’re probably Jesus’ kind of person. Four of the 12 disciples He called were fishermen by trade. When He summoned them to His service, He said, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). He told Simon Peter, “From now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:10).

So the business of bringing people into a relationship with Jesus Christ apparently has some things in common with fishing. For example, you don’t try to attract the fish with what you’re interested in, but what they’re interested in. Right? Look, I like pizza. I don’t like worms. But if I put pizza on my hook, I’m going home with an empty bucket buddy. I’ve got to offer what will be interesting to the fish I’m trying to attract. And so, that’s how it is with reaching people for Jesus Christ.

If all we offer is religious bait, come to our religious meeting to hear a religious speaker talk on a religious subject in a religious place, we probably won’t attract many of the lost people who need Christ so desperately. But if we’re talking about needs they care about in a place where they feel comfortable, in words they can understand, we have a far better chance of getting them within hearing distance of the gospel.

But there’s another very important fishing principle we need to keep in mind as we present Jesus to the people around us. It’s a principle it seems many believers have never thought about. You ready? You don’t clean fish until you catch them! See, too many times, lost people are judged by us rather than loved by us, because we’re attacking the things they do. And they do those because they’re lost, and instead we should be leading them to the One who will take them from lost to found!

You catch them, then you clean them! Actually, God catches them and cleans them, through you. You can see Jesus working that way in Luke 19, beginning with verse 5, our word for today from the Word of God. The whole town is shocked, scandalized, when Jesus says to Zacchaeus, of all people—the town crook, “I must stay at your house today.” As stunned as anyone, the Bible says Zacchaeus “welcomed him gladly. The people started muttering, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’”

But after meeting Jesus and experiencing His unconditional love, Zacchaeus can’t stand his sin anymore. He announces he’s going to make right the dishonest wrongs he has done, “If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus announced, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

Zacchaeus got clean, but he got caught first! The problem with the lost people you know is not their profanity, not their dishonesty, or not their immorality. They’re lost and they’re living like it! Their real problem is they need a Savior! Yes, they must repent, but that’s part of being rescued by Jesus from their sin! Don’t make their lifestyle the issue. Make Jesus the issue, and say with the great spiritual fisherman, Paul, “When I came to you…I resolved to know nothing…except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2).

If you want to help people be in heaven with you, stick to Jesus. And stick to His cross!