Resources to Help You Grow
The Daily Walk 2026
The Daily Walk includes devotion and Bible readings for each day of the year and informative charts and insights that will help you understand more as you read from Genesis to Revelation in 2026.
January 16
Genesis 45–47
Genesis 47
Overview
Joseph, no longer able to maintain the masquerade, reveals his true identity to his terrified brothers. His explanation of recent events (45:5-8) reveals the spiritual perspective that sustained him through years of heartache and uncertainty. In keeping with the prophecy given to Abram (15:13), God assures Jacob that a sojourn in Egypt is divinely approved (46:3). So the entire family of 70 moves to Goshen, which will become home for the fledgling nation Israel for the next 400 years.
Your Daily Walk
The contrast must have been striking. Into the court of the most powerful king on earth hobbled an old man dressed in the rough garb of a Bedouin tent dweller. Pharaoh was granting an audience to Jacob out of respect for Joseph. And Jacob, the seemingly insignificant old man, blessed the king (47:7-10).
Pharaoh didn’t know it, but he was being blessed by none other than Israel. For all his immediate importance, Pharaoh would subsequently fade into oblivion. Even his name would disappear from historical records. Yet this old shepherd would continue to occupy a place of honor throughout the centuries. God’s people would be called the “children of Israel,” and God would now identify Himself as “the God of Jacob.” From Jacob’s line would come the King of kings, who “will reign over the house of Jacob forever” (Luke 1:33).
Appearances can be deceiving. You, like Jacob, may not look like a V.I.P. in the eyes of the world. But you are. Your importance, like Jacob’s, does not stem from what you have made of yourself, but from what Jesus has made of you. See if you can complete this sentence 10 ways: “Because I am a child of God, I am____________.” Then live out your identity today as a child of the King.
Insight - “You Did It…He Did It!”
“Do not be distressed…for selling me…God sent me” (45:5) is a classic statement of God’s providence. Looking back, Joseph could clearly see both elements—human and divine—at work in God’s plan.
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January 17/18
Genesis 48–50
Genesis 50
Overview
Chapters 48–50 conclude the Book of Genesis by recording the final acts of Jacob and Joseph, along with their deaths and burials. Jacob’s blessing upon Joseph’s two sons, announcing that the younger would be more honored than the older, is in keeping with the pattern established in Genesis (Isaac instead of Ishmael, Jacob instead of Esau, Joseph instead of Reuben). As his final earthly act, Jacob blesses each of his 12 sons, giving a divinely guided pronouncement on their future. Jacob’s body is embalmed and taken back to Canaan for burial, while Joseph’s body remains in Egypt until the release of the newly born nation of Israel.
Your Daily Walk
Do you sometimes wish your life could count more for God—that you could have more of an impact for good in the lives of those around you? You plod along faithfully, but nothing much ever seems to come of it. In fact, you’re tempted to throw in the spiritual towel.
God’s plan is larger than any one person. Amazingly, He weaves together the lives of many different people to accomplish His will. Joseph is a good example. Torn from his family, ill-treated, and imprisoned, he later emerges as ruler in Egypt. And why? “God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (50:20). Joseph’s family and the entire nation of Egypt soon owed their survival to Joseph’s leadership.
How many lives do you touch every day? The number might surprise you: your spouse, your parents, the kids, the boss, the teacher. Don’t forget your neighbors, your co-workers, the server, and the cashier. Select one name and one way God could use you to touch that life with a smile, a kind word, a thoughtful act. Then allow God to use you today for good.
Insight - Egyptian Mortuary Service
Embalming usually took 40 days and was available in three different price ranges. When completed, the coffin was left standing upright against the wall of the burial chamber.
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Exodus
January 19
Exodus 1–2
Exodus 2:11-22
Overview
Exodus opens where Genesis leaves off: with Jacob’s descendants multiplying in Egypt. A new ruler emerges who respects neither Joseph’s memory nor the Israelites’ human rights. Though Pharaoh attempts to kill all newborn Hebrew males, the infant Moses is providentially spared and raised in the very palace of the one who sought his death. At the age of 40, Moses aims to do the right thing (deliverance) in the wrong way (murder) and spends the next four decades in exile, tending sheep in the Midian wilderness.
Your Daily Walk
The man sitting by the desert well was lost in his thoughts. With dejection on every line of his face, he felt much older than his 40 years. Moses was miserable—and with good reason.
He was the one man in all of Egypt who might have had a chance to bring relief to his people. He had position, training, natural ability, and the desire to help. But in one foolish act, he killed a man and forfeited all the advantages he had hoped to use.
Satan delights in convincing believers that they are of no use to God. And God delights in building cathedrals out of rubble. Moses’ life needed reconstruction, to be sure. But when that rebuilding process was complete, he was a monument to God’s grace.
Where in your life have you nearly given up hope that God could ever salvage the situation? First, walk a mile in Moses’ sandals. Study his failures. Learn about God’s patience in his life. Then find your own “desert well” to sit by and meditate on the encouraging words for discouraged disciples found in Exodus 3:10-14.
Insight - The Ark Revisited
The same Hebrew word for ark (as in Noah’s) describes the vessel used by Moses’ mother to hide him in the bulrushes. Once again, we see God deliver His chosen from destruction by water after an obedient act of the faithful (Noah and Moses’ mother, of Levi’s lineage; see Exodus 2:1).
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January 20
Exodus 3–6
Exodus 3; 6:1-13
Overview
After 40 years of reflection, Moses concludes he is permanently disqualified from God’s service. In a remarkable debate with the living God, Moses offers four excuses and begs the Lord to send someone else as His spokesman. Finally, when God provides Aaron as a mouthpiece, Moses confronts Pharaoh with God’s message. As predicted, Pharaoh not only denies God’s demand but also increases the misery of the Hebrews. Moses’ popularity with his people plummets, but God assures Moses that He will keep His promise of deliverance.
Your Daily Walk
The church has been likened to a football game in which thousands of spectators, desperately in need of exercise, are watching a handful of players, desperately in need of rest. Are you a spectator or a player?
Before you pull out your list of reasons excusing you from active duty in your church, eavesdrop on an 80-year-old shepherd as he argues with a burning bush. With good reason, Moses anticipated resistance and rejection from his own people—to say nothing of Pharaoh. Besides, he had a speech impediment and an inferiority complex. Surely God was showing poor judgment (so Moses thought) in His choice of a deliverer for His people.
Patiently, thoroughly, God gave His rebuttal: “I can use this bush, that rod in your hand, or even your stammering lips—whatever is available—to accomplish My plan and fulfill My promises. For all that you lack, and everything you are not, I AM.”
God probably isn’t recruiting you to lead a nation out of bondage. But He definitely wants to show what He can accomplish through you. In response to His promise that “I AM all you need,” will you answer, “I am available”?
Insight - Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick
God subsequently used Moses’s staff to turn water into blood, bring hail and lightning, summon locusts, divide the Red Sea, bring water out of rocks, and signal victory in battle.
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January 21
Exodus 7–10
Exodus 7; 8:25-32
Overview
Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to release God’s people prompts Him to unleash nine devastating plagues against Egypt. Moved by this display of God’s power, Pharaoh repeatedly promises to release the nation. But when the time arrives, his heart is hardened and he breaks his word. To shatter Pharaoh’s unyielding will, God prepares one last plague—death in every unprepared home in the land.
Your Daily Walk
Have you ever yielded to the temptation to take what you thought was a shortcut, only to find yourself hopelessly lost? Maybe you’ve experienced the same thing in your spiritual life as you looked for a shortcut to accomplish God’s will.
Alternate routes may look attractive, but they can often have un- expected consequences. Pharaoh offered Moses four shortcuts to releasing the people from bondage (8:25, 28; 10:11, 24). None of the four conformed to God’s specific instructions. They were only attempts by Pharaoh to hide his refusal to obey God. Moses detected Pharaoh’s motives, for he knew that anything short of obedience is disobedience.
That principle is still true today. There is no safe alternate route when the Bible clearly states: “This is what the Lord says.” Nothing short of doing God’s will in God’s way will guarantee that you arrive at your intended destination. Look up the following verses to discover how God wants to guide you from the pages of His Word:
- The Bible is a ___________ and a __________ (Psalm 119:105).
- The revelation of God’s Word gives ___________ (Psalm 119:130).
- The best place to hide God’s Word is ___________ (Psalm 119:11).
Now map out God’s route to one of your destinations today.
Insight - Terror in the Sky
The locust, often a tool of divine judgment in the pages of Scripture, is one of nature’s most destructive creatures. A locust swarm may number more than 100,000 insects per square mile and has the capacity to eat thousands of acres of vegetation in a single day.
The religion of ancient Egypt is very difficult to analyze, for the Egyptians were one of the most polytheistic people of antiquity. The total number of their gods is uncertain, but most lists include at least 80. Most living creatures and many inanimate objects became the embodiment of some deity (Romans 1:23), and even Pharaoh himself was considered to be divine, on a level with other deities in the Egyptian pantheon (Exodus 5:2).
January 22
Exodus 12:1-8, 37-51
Overview
In the end, it’s no contest. Death touches every Egyptian family as the final plague brings destruction to every firstborn child and beast. But the Israelite homes escape death because their households are protected by the blood of a sacrificial animal slain as a substitute for the firstborn. Pharaoh, the stubborn monarch, finally commands the Hebrews to leave, and the long-awaited Exodus begins. Passover thereafter becomes an annual memorial of the salvation of God’s people from their Egyptian homes of bondage.
Your Daily Walk
“One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts” (Psalm 145:4).
If someone were to write an article titled “What to Do Between God’s Miracles,” it might consist of a single word: Remember. The mighty supernatural acts of God on behalf of His people have been relatively few and far between. One of God’s purposes for such spectacular demonstrations has been to reveal His power quietly at work behind the scenes. Because miracles like the 10 plagues occurred infrequently, God’s people were instructed to recall the past as a basis for faith in the present. And as an aid to feeble memories, God instituted memorials such as the Passover—to be observed regularly by His people throughout the generations.
What was a good idea then is a good idea now. Are there objects in your home that can remind you of God’s faithfulness in the past—a picture on the wall, a cancelled check, a scrapbook? Are there certain dates you could designate “Memorial Anniversaries” to recall special provisions of God? Select your own memorial today and plan now to recall a mighty act of God in your life. Like Passover, make it a yearly habit to recall God’s goodness.
Insight - Israel’s Severance Pay for Forced Labor
In their eagerness to remove the Israelites (and the plagues) from their land, the Egyptians turned over vast quantities of gold, jewelry, and clothing—fair payment for 400 years of slave labor.
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January 23
Exodus 14:19–15:27
Overview
Things get worse for the Israelites before they get better. God leads His band of three million refugees to the intersection of Baalzephon and the Red Sea, a seemingly inescapable dead end. Pharaoh, experiencing yet another change of heart, dispatches a crack chariot division to bring the Israelite Exodus to an end. Instead, the Egyptian army meets its end in the swirling waters of the Red Sea. Moses watches the people’s panic turn to praise as they walk across the seabed dryshod and sing a great song of jubilation to their Savior God.
Your Daily Walk
You are seated in church when you hear the words, “Please bow your head and worship the Lord in the quietness of your own heart.” You set your bulletin aside and close your eyes. Then you think to yourself, What am I supposed to do now?
Worshipping God is a skill seldom taught and infrequently practiced. At its root, worship involves recognizing the “worth-ship” of another. It is a response to God's greatness. People in the Bible worshiped God for who He was (His person) and for what He did (His works), because His actions are always consistent with His character.
If you had been standing with the Israelites on the far banks of the Red Sea as the waters swallowed up the Egyptian army, you would have had no trouble responding in an attitude of worship. Even today, you can join in their chorus of praise. Read through their song in chapter 15 again, making a list of God’s actions (conduct)—which prompted worship from His people—and a second list of what is proclaimed about God’s attributes (character). Now you, too, should be ready to “sing the praises” of your God and Savior today.
Insight - Taking the Scenic Route
Israel’s God and Guide (in the form of a cloudy pillar) steered the travelers away from the most direct route to Canaan, the “way of the sea,” for at least two reasons: (1) to avoid certain warfare; and (2) to take Israel to the mountain of God (3:12). The nation needed to learn to walk with God before learning to fight for God.
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January 24-25
Exodus 16–18
Exodus 16:1–17:7
Overview
Only days after the miracle of the Red Sea, grumbling and discontent began to surface among the people on the march. The nation God delivered by faith must now learn to walk by faith, and they have much to learn. Of prime concern is finding sufficient water and food to sustain a caravan of three million people in the desolate wilderness. A month into the journey, when food and water supplies are exhausted, the people cry out anxiously to Moses. Miraculously, God provides manna, quail, and water in abundance to remind them that He is the source of their supply. Even Moses must learn this lesson. Exhausted from attempting to administer the nation single-handedly, Moses follows his father-in-law's advice and selects assistants to help him with the work.
Your Daily Walk
Have you found that your blessings arealso your biggest problems? The things you thought would bring you the greatest joy are, in fact, the things that cause you the most headaches. For instance: the new car (which spends more time in the shop than on the road), the long-awaited child (who now has the house under siege), the unexpected promotion (which produced those equally unexpected ulcers).
Israel learned the hard way that blessings bring responsibility. Daily manna was a wonderful provision from God, but it had to be collected and eaten in a particular way. God’s presence in the pillar of cloud and fire was comforting, but it meant unquestioned obedience. When the pillar moved, Israel moved.
Make a list of some of God’s recent blessings to you, including the ones that seem to give you grief. Next to each, put an obligation that is yours if you enjoy the blessing as God intended.
Insight - A Subtle Prophecy
The water from the rock at Rephidim beautifully symbolizes Christ, our life-giver (John 7:37-39). The smitten rock illustrates Christ's death, resulting in an outpouring of life through the Holy Spirit because of accomplished redemption.
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January 26
Exodus 19–20
Exodus 20
Overview
Israel could scarcely be called a nation. Up to this point, she’s just a vast group of unorganized people. Self-government was impossible in Egypt, and as yet, there are no laws. But at Mount Sinai, in a setting designed to remove distractions and focus attention on God, the people receive their charter as God’s chosen nation. After declaring their willingness to obey the commands they are about to receive, the Israelites spend two days preparing themselves to hear God. On the third day, beginning with an awe-inspiring display on Mount Sinai, God delivers the spiritual and moral principles by which the nation’s social and religious life will be conducted.
Your Daily Walk
“The Christian life is a bunch of dos and don’ts!” “The Christian life is liberty to do as I please!”
To be sure, in Christ there is freedom from bondage to sin and release from the guilt of past failures. But liberty does not mean license to live as you please. Just because the Israelites were free from Egyptian slavery did not mean they were free to follow their every desire. God still wanted them to live as His chosen people, so He gave them rules for their daily conduct—not a list of dos and don’ts to spoil their fun, but a series of commands for their protection and profit.
Imagine what a football game would be like without rules: no boundaries, no clock, no referees, no time limit. And probably no fun. Rules are essential for the enjoyment of life.
Read your way slowly and thoughtfully down the list of commandments in today’s reading again. Try to think of at least one reason why each command would make your life happier or safer if you kept it unquestioningly. Is there one you need to work on?
Insight - What Was the Hike up Sinai Like?
Mount Sinai is best identified as Jebel Musa, a 7,363-foot peak on the southern end of a mountain ridge two miles long and one mile wide. Before it stretches a plain adequate to hold Israel’s camp.
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January 27
Exodus 21–24
Exodus 24
Overview
The law given by God to Israel at Sinai falls into three categories: moral and spiritual laws (Exodus 20), civil and social laws (Exodus 21–23), and religious laws (Exodus 24–Leviticus). Today’s reading contains the civil and social laws that comprise “the Book of the Covenant” (24:7), given alongside the Ten Commandments. Following a formal ceremony ratifying the covenant, Moses is called again by God to Mount Sinai to receive further revelation.
Your Daily Walk
Some things bear repeating, and even then, they don’t always sink in. God’s word to Israel in the first two commandments could hardly have been clearer: “No other gods … no idols.” Yet He would later repeat those same warnings again and again. He wanted to impress upon His people the seriousness of His lordship, and to make certain they understood the necessity for exclusive devotion to the God of Israel.
God knew that we eventually worship that which we serve (23:24). Therefore, whatever or whoever commands our attention becomes our god. Recognizing that fact can help us guard against idolatry. Here are two good questions that point to the real “Lord” of your life:
1. What do you think about when your mind is in neutral?
2. What do you do during your idle moments?
Review your own loyalties, and then fill in the blank: “An objective observer of my life over the past week would conclude that _______________ is my god.” Is there something that needs to change so that you, like Israel, have “no other gods” besides the Lord?
Insight - A Forbidden Recipe
The prohibition against boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk (23:19) made little sense to modern scholars until archaeological discoveries revealed that the practice was current in Canaan as a pagan magic spell connected with agricultural fertility rites.
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January 28
Exodus 25–27
Exodus 25:1-9
Overview
During Moses’s stay on the mountain, God reveals His detailed plans for the tabernacle in which He will dwell and receive His people’s worship. No item is overlooked in God’s design of this portable tent of worship. Everything is to be done “according to the plan shown you on the mountain” (26:30). God’s dwelling place with His people, Israel, will be the central structure in the camp and the focus of the nation’s attention and activities.
Your Daily Walk
How big is your God? Having studied the tabernacle in detail, keep in mind this was a portable building, capable of being dismantled and carried around as Israel journeyed. Though God’s presence uniquely inhabited the tabernacle, the fact that it could be disassembled for travel reminded the Israelites that their God could not be confined to four walls. He was with them in the fire and cloud; He could divide great seas and drown mighty armies; He could provide water from rocks and manna from the morning dew. Contrast this with the pagan gods of neighboring nations—powerless idols that had to be carried on their worshipers’ shoulders (Isaiah 46:5-7). Israel’s priests carried God’s temporary house on their shoulders, but Israel’s God carried them!
If at times you find yourself wishing God were a little more flexible, yielding more to your own desires and expectations, consider this fact: If God were small enough for you to control, He would not be strong enough to help you in times of need.
If you can, visit your church sometime today, and in the quiet, worshipful atmosphere of the silent sanctuary, spend a few minutes praising the God you serve—a God no building can contain.
Insight - How Would You Like to Hang These Drapes?
The Jewish historian Josephus explained that the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was four inches thick. It was so sturdy that it could not be torn apart by horses tied to it, pulling in opposite directions.
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January 29
Exodus 28–31
Exodus 29
Overview
No center of worship is complete without people to minister in it and utensils to use in the worship services. Chapters 28–31 describe the priests, Israel’s representatives before God, who are chosen to lead the worship in the tabernacle. Everything about them is special, from the clothing they wear to the elaborate sacrifices needed to prepare them for ministry, as well as the utensils and supplies they use (such as incense, perfumes, oil, the altar, and the basin) in the tabernacle worship. Even the designers and construction workers are handpicked by God.
Your Daily Walk
Preparing a priest for service in the tabernacle was no small chore (chapter 29). The most curious part of the ceremony involved killing a ram and applying the blood to the tip of the priest’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot (29:20). The blood was a picture of cleansing. Before the priest could minister before the Lord, he had to be cleansed from the sin that polluted him. Then he needed to be dedicated to the Lord from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Every part of him, from his ear (which hears God’s Law) to his hand (which does God’s will) to his foot (which follows in God’s steps) must be surrendered to the will of God.
Does God have that kind of control over your whole life? If not, starting with your head, give each part of your body to Him in a prayer of dedication: “Lord, take my eyes; help me to look at those things that please You. Take my ears; help me to listen to things that build up, not tear down…” Then you, like Israel’s priests, will be ready to do His will—from head to toe.
Insight - Mystery Stones
The Urim and Thummim were probably two flat stones kept in the high priest's breastplate and used to determine the will of God. Each may have had one dark side and one light. Some scholars speculate that they were tossed into the air and allowed to fall to the ground. Two dark sides showed “yes,” two light sides showed “no,” and one of each showed “no reply.”
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January 30
Exodus 32–34
Exodus 33–34
Overview
Six weeks have passed since the people made their solemn vow of fidelity to God. Concluding that Moses has died on the mountain, they insist on creating a replica of an Egyptian god. Coming upon this grotesque scene, Moses dashes the newly inscribed tablets to pieces, dramatically proclaiming the broken covenant. He destroys the golden calf and orders the Levites to slay guilty Israelites. Israel’s repentance, Moses’ selfless intercession, and God’s faithfulness to His promises account for a renewal of the covenant. New tablets are engraved and Moses experiences yet another encounter with God on Mount Sinai.
Your Daily Walk
“I can’t understand teenagers. One minute they want to be treated like adults; the next minute they act like children.”
This oft-voiced exasperation of many a parent illustrates a fact about growth. The process of maturation does not always move in a consistently forward direction. Everyone at one time or another reverts to former patterns of behavior.
The incident of the golden calf is but one of many cases of backsliding in Israel’s history. One lesson is clear: Believers are not immune from the practice of reverting to old habits and patterns of living. It may occur in an unguarded moment, such as an outburst of temper. Or it may be the result of impatience, when God’s timetable seems agonizingly slow. Or it may be because of the world’s culture that still lures your unguarded heart.
Take a personal inventory of your spiritual life. Have you made a commitment to the Lord in recent weeks? If so, have you followed through on it, or did you revert to your previous behavior? If you see a “golden calf” in your life, deal with it now.
Insight - The Golden Calf—A Lingering Legacy
Calf worship was expressly forbidden in the law (Exodus 20:4-6) and shown to be utterly useless by the plagues in Egypt. Yet, at least twice in Israel’s history, golden calves spelled destruction for the people (see Exodus 32; 1 Kings 12:28).
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January 31
Exodus 35–40
Exodus 40
Overview
The Book of Exodus closes with a detailed account of the construction of the tabernacle, the new place of residence for the God of Israel as He accompanies His people to Canaan. Notice the many steps involved in the project: Moses organizes the needed workers and materials; skilled artisans do the actual construction; Moses inspects the finished work; the tabernacle is erected and the furniture set in place; and finally, the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle, showing God’s pleasure with the structure. From start to finish, the entire project is done “just as the Lord had commanded” Moses.
Your Daily Walk
God has always sought to dwell in the midst of people. Think back to the opening chapters of Genesis. There you find Adam and Eve in the garden. And in the cool of the evening, God walks through the garden, seeking face-to-face fellowship with His creation.
In today’s reading, God’s glory takes up residence in the tabernacle in order to accompany the Israelites on their journey to Canaan. Later in Israel’s history, God’s presence will reside in Solomon’s magnificent temple. And today God’s Holy Spirit indwells every child of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The lesson is clear: God wants to identify Himself with those who are truly His. More specifically, God wants to identify Himself with you, to fellowship with you, to spend time with you, and to help you get to know Him better.
How do you go about building a relationship like that? Jot down the first five things that come to mind. Now use your list to help you organize your day and assign priorities to your activities. Place “time with God” at the top of the list. After all, that’s His greatest desire: to walk and talk with you. If that’s your greatest desire, tell Him so right now.
Insight - A Long Way to Find Freedom
Exodus begins with a mob of miserable slaves held captive in Egypt, yet ends with an emancipated nation in fellowship with God and on its way to Canaan. No wonder Exodus is called the “book of redemption.”
Congratulations! You’ve started your new year the right way by beginning a journey through the Bible with this devotional guide.
But every walk demands a first step. Have you taken the crucial first step in the Christian life … the step of faith to salvation? Unless you take that step, your so-called relationship with God will meander aimlessly, and your path will lead only to frustration and defeat. But take this mandatory step, and your walk with Jesus will be vibrant and fulfilling for all eternity. Consider these stepping stones on the path of salvation:
- All people are sinners. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
- The penalty for sin is death.“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
- Salvation comes by personal trust in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
Christ paid the price on the cross for every one of your sins so that you might have eternal life. By believing in His death, burial, and resurrection all on your behalf, you enter into an eternal relationship with God.
“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Free salvation awaits you. Take the first step now, and watch your pathway unfold!
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