Daily Devotional Wednesday Wisdom | July 22, 2026

It’s time for your Thursday daily devotional. The trials many Old Testament saints endured are mind-boggling and sobering. Experiencing hardship as a believer connects you with those who walked the earth centuries before you. They didn’t know Christ as you do, but they served God and faced persecution. In today’s daily devotional, you come from a legacy of people who had faith in God.

Rise and Thank God

Hebrews 11:35-37 reveals some of the brutality believers faced on their journey of faith. Verse 35 says, “Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.” The Bible doesn’t record all of history; some of God’s people’s afflictions were documented elsewhere. Moses’s mother experienced a type of death of her son when she put him in a basket and had him placed in the Nile without knowing what would happen, but having faith in God’s protection.

A woman who’d made room in her home for Elisha experienced the death of her son. Instead of grieving, she saddled her mule and went to the prophet because the child had been promised. Elisha came and laid on the child, returning him to his mother alive. In your daily devotional, each morning, rise and thank God for giving you the freedom to express your faith. 

Hold on to Your Faith

Jeremiah proclaimed God’s word and was tortured relentlessly as a result. He received death threats, abuse, beatings, and was let down into a muddy cistern where he’d starve or sink to his death without divine intervention. In 2 Chronicles 24:20-22, Zechariah stood before the people and told them what the Lord said about their transgressions and apostasy. Instead of repenting, “they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.”

Jeremiah 26:20-23 tells of a lesser-known prophet, Urijah, who’d also prophesied against Jerusalem. He was sought after, killed by the sword, and then his body was tossed into the common people’s graves. In this daily devotional, hold on to your faith as did others who were wronged, obeying the Master.

Realize What it Took

The persecution of Christians became public events and was considered entertainment in Rome. Believers who wouldn’t renounce their faith were led into the Colosseum, where lions and other wild beasts would attack and kill them. However, Rome’s attempts to stop the spread of Christianity by advancing their own religious beliefs weren’t successful. Although many were martyred, Christianity grew stronger because of their unshakable faith.

Verse 36 mentions mockings and scourgings, which many prophets endured as well as imprisonments. History records that Isaiah was sawn asunder by Manassah when he opposed the king’s idolatry. In ancient times, the sword was a form of capital punishment used against prophets who spoke God’s word. They lived in a hostile environment that was sinful and idolatrous. In your daily devotional, take a moment to contemplate what it was like to walk in their shoes and realize what it took to remain faithful.

Keep Walking by Faith

In Wednesday’s daily devotional, unnamed men and women wandered in goatskins and sheepskins, experiencing affliction, torment, and destitution because they refused to conform to society by going against God’s law. They chose to hold on to their faith rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Having only temporary fulfillment, sin leads to eternal damnation. In today’s daily devotional, like those who walked before you, keep walking by faith.