DAILY BREAD READING (Published Daily by Our Daily Bread Ministries)
MARCH 31, 2026
READ: Exodus 14 (Focus vs. 1-4; 8; 10-14)
MEMORY VERSE
Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring. Exodus 14:13
BACKGROUND
Hudson Taylor was troubled. He’d left England to share the gospel about Christ in China, and ministry—though challenging—had gone well. But in 1865, as he considered sending more people to minister to a more dangerous part of the country, without protection, he felt “intense conflict.”
After wrestling with God in prayer, he wrote, “The Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God . . . [recognizing] that all responsibility . . . and consequences must rest with him.”
Moses received a call from God that likely left him troubled. As he was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, God said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea” (Exodus 14:2).
This meant they were trapped between Pharaoh and a vast body of water! The Israelites trembled as “Pharaoh approached” (v. 10). Panic-stricken, they told Moses, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (v. 12).
But Moses replied, “Do not be afraid” (v. 13). And he was right. God provided rescue and victory for His people as they rested in Him (vv. 15-31).
At times, we won’t understand what God’s doing in our lives because we don’t have His view. It was during such a moment that Hudson Taylor wrote, “As his servant it was [my responsibility] to obey and to follow him.” We too can rest in God’s view and plans.
Tom Felten
INSIGHT
Exodus 14:1-14 shows the tension between how things can appear to us and what God’s really doing. When the Israelites were fleeing from Pharaoh, God told them to turn back, placing them in what looked like a military trap—boxed in between Pharaoh’s army and the sea (v. 2).
But this was God’s plan to lure and defeat Pharaoh once and for all (v. 4). When Israel panicked (vv. 10–12), Moses reminded them that their rescue wasn’t dependent on their strength but on God’s (vv. 13-14).
Even when we don’t understand His plans, this passage invites us to trust that His purposes are always good.
Monica La Rose
APPLICATION
Why is it vital for you to surrender to God’s plans for you? How can you rest in Him?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS (From Today’s Post)
“At times, we won’t understand what God’s doing in our lives because we don’t have His view… Even when we don’t understand His plans, this passage invites us to trust that His purposes are always good.”
PR’s TAKE
Even those select humans with so-called perfect vision (20/20) and the very few with the “abnormal” perfect vision (20/15; 20/10) they are still susceptible to vision glitches, but God’s view is FLAWLESS. PR
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,”
declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
PRAYER
“Loving God, please help me rest in Your perfect plans for my life.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“THY WAY NOT MINE O LORD”
Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
However dark it be;
Lead me by thine own hand,
Choose out the path for me.
Smooth let it be or rough,
It will be still the best;
Winding or straight, it leads
Right onward to thy rest.
I dare not choose my lot;
I would not if I might:
Choose thou for me, my God,
So shall I walk aright.
The Kingdom that I seek
Is thine; so let the way
That leads to it be Thine,
Else I must surely stray.
Take thou my cup, and it
With joy or sorrow fill,
As best to Thee may seem;
Choose Thou my good and ill.
Choose thou for me my friends,
My sickness or my health;
Choose thou my cares for me,
My poverty or wealth.
Not mine, not mine, the choice
In things or great or small;
Be thou my guide, my strength,
My wisdom, and my all.
