Max Lucado Daily:The Cry of a Sinner
What is the fruit of sin? Step into the briar patch of humanity and feel a few thistles. Shame. Fear. Disgrace. Discouragement. Anxiety! Haven't our hearts been caught in these brambles?
The heart of Jesus, however, had not. He had never been cut by the thorns of sin. Anxiety? He never worried. Guilt? He was never guilty. Fear? He never left the presence God, He never knew the fruits of sin until He became sin for us.
Can't you hear the emotion in His prayer? "My God, my God, why have you rejected me?" These are not the words of a saint. This is the cry of a sinner.
And these are words we should say, but these are words we don't have to say because Jesus said them for us.
From He Chose the Nails
Psalm 59
A David Psalm, When Saul Set a Watch on David’s House in Order to Kill Him
1–2 59 My God! Rescue me from my enemies,
defend me from these mutineers.
Rescue me from their dirty tricks,
save me from their hit men.
3–4 Desperadoes have ganged up on me,
they’re hiding in ambush for me.
I did nothing to deserve this, God,
crossed no one, wronged no one.
All the same, they’re after me,
determined to get me.
4–5 Wake up and see for yourself! You’re God,
God-of-Angel-Armies, Israel’s God!
Get on the job and take care of these pagans,
don’t be soft on these hard cases.
6–7 They return when the sun goes down,
They howl like coyotes, ringing the city.
Then suddenly they’re all at the gate,
Snarling invective, drawn daggers in their teeth.
They think they’ll never get caught.
8–10 But you, God, break out laughing;
you treat the godless nations like jokes.
Strong God, I’m watching you do it,
I can always count on you.
God in dependable love shows up on time,
shows me my enemies in ruin.
11–13 Don’t make quick work of them, God,
lest my people forget.
Bring them down in slow motion,
take them apart piece by piece.
Let all their mean-mouthed arrogance
catch up with them,
Catch them out and bring them down
—every muttered curse
—every barefaced lie.
Finish them off in fine style!
Finish them off for good!
Then all the world will see
that God rules well in Jacob,
everywhere that God’s in charge.
14–15 They return when the sun goes down,
They howl like coyotes, ringing the city.
They scavenge for bones,
And bite the hand that feeds them.
16–17 And me? I’m singing your prowess,
shouting at cockcrow your largesse,
For you’ve been a safe place for me,
a good place to hide.
Strong God, I’m watching you do it,
I can always count on you—
God, my dependable love.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, April 04, 2026
by Anne Cetas
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Matthew 6:1-4, 19-21
The World Is Not a Stage
1 6 “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.
2–4 “When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
A Life of God-Worship
19–21 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
Today's Insights
Helping those in need is one of the ways that we “store up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). We take what God has given us and share with those in need. The concepts of loving God and helping the needy come together in 1 John 3:14-18: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. . . . This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” Today, as God helps us, we can look for ways to serve others because of our love for Christ.
Learn more about heavenly treasures by reading The Fool's Greed and God's Generosity.
Serving God Out of Love
Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Matthew 6:20
My dad was a hard worker on our farm and in the factory, but he wasn't a handyman. Sometimes when our tractor or furnace or plumbing failed, a neighbor or friend would fix it. Dad offered to pay even though he knew he couldn’t afford as much as they deserved. But they wouldn’t accept anything; they just loved to help. “Thanks,” he’d say, “until you’re better paid.” I’m still not sure what he meant. Maybe he or someone else did something for them later.
Believers in Jesus who serve others because of their love for Him will one day be rewarded. Perhaps that’s a form of “until you’re better paid.” Jesus told His followers to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). Doing good to others may be one way to store up some of those “treasures.” He said we shouldn’t announce it “with trumpets”; if we do, that’s all the reward we’ll get (v. 2). We can be confident He sees us. The book of Hebrews reinforces this idea: “God . . . will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them” (6:10).
We don’t serve for rewards but rather because Jesus loves us, and in response we express our love and praise for Him. What a blessing it will be to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21, 23).
Reflect & Pray
What treasures have you stored up? What gifts has God given you to share with others?
Dear Jesus, I long to help others the way You want me to. Please help me point them to You, and lead me to live for Your pleasure.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, April 04, 2026
Spiritual Grit
A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered. — John 16:32
Jesus isn’t rebuking the disciples in this passage: he knows that their faith is real. But he also knows that their faith is disturbed. The disciples are scattered to their own interests, interests that have nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Their faith isn’t at work in the world in the way it should be.
God allowed the disciples to be scattered for a reason: so that they might develop spiritual grit. After we’ve been perfectly related to God in sanctification, we must learn to apply our faith to the actual stuff of life. Like the disciples, we will be scattered—not geographically, but emotionally. In this state, we will discover what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this experience? It’s not something we choose; it’s a discipline God puts us through. Until we’ve been through this experience, our faith is bolstered up by feelings and by blessings. After we’ve been through it, no matter where God places us, no matter our emotional state, we can praise him that all is well.
“You will leave me all alone” (John 16:32). Have we left Jesus alone because our circumstances are dark? God is never in a hurry. Darkness comes through his sovereign will. If we wait, we’ll see what he’s trying to show us: that we haven’t been interested in him, only in his blessings.
Are we prepared to let God separate us emotionally from his blessings, to scatter us into darkness and desolation? If we let him, spiritual grit will be our reward. Then no trouble great or small will be able to stop us from taking heart: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (v. 33).
Ruth 1-4; Luke 8:1-25
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally.
The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R
