Max Lucado Daily: Resentment
Resentment is a prison. When you’ve put someone in your jail cell of hatred, you are stuck guarding the door. If you’re out to settle a score, you are never going to rest. How can you? For one thing, your enemy may never pay up.
As much as you think you deserve an apology, your debtor may not agree. The racist may never repent. The chauvinist may never change. As justified as you are in your quest for vengeance, you may never get a penny’s worth of justice. And if you do, will it be enough?
You see, resentment is a prison. Jesus doesn’t question the reality of your wounds. He just doubts whether resentment is going to heal you. What are you going to do? Spend your life guarding the prison jail cell? Or entrust your wounds to Jesus?
from The Great House of God
Psalm 63
A David Psalm, When He Was out in the Judean Wilderness
1 God—you’re my God!
I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.
2–4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
My arms wave like banners of praise to you.
5–8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
and you hold me steady as a post.
9–11 Those who are out to get me are marked for doom,
marked for death, bound for hell.
They’ll die violent deaths;
jackals will tear them limb from limb.
But the king is glad in God;
his true friends spread the joy,
While small-minded gossips
are gagged for good.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 19, 2026
by Marvin Williams
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Numbers 5:5-10
God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty, and must confess the sin. Full compensation plus twenty percent must be made to whoever was wronged. If the wronged person has no close relative who can receive the compensation, the compensation belongs to God and must be given to the priest, along with the ram by which atonement is made. All the sacred offerings that the People of Israel bring to a priest belong to the priest. Each person’s sacred offerings are his own, but what one gives to the priest stays with the priest.”
Today's Insights
Numbers 5 restates a law first given in Leviticus 6:1-7 that when someone harms a neighbor through deceit, theft, or fraud, they must confess and not only make full repayment but add a fifth of the value to it. They must also sacrifice a ram as a guilt offering. Numbers 5 adds a further stipulation that if restitution can’t be made directly to the person wronged, and if they have no close relative to pay restitution to, then repayment should be given to the priest—returning what they’d wrongly taken back to God (v. 8).
This highlights the truth that harming another also damages someone’s relationship with God (v. 6). Yet this provision of offering a sacrifice and making restitution to a priest also highlights God’s grace. Even when it’s impossible to correct the wrong done to another, because of Christ’s sacrifice, when we confess our sin, God still provides a way to a restored relationship with Him.
Watch more on restored relationships.
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Accountability Matters
[A person] who wrongs another . . . must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done. Numbers 5:6-7
A judge used a unique approach to address shoplifting—sentencing offenders to wash cars in a local store’s parking lot as part of their community service. He hoped it would deter future thefts and serve as a vivid reminder of the consequences of wrongdoing. He emphasized that actions have consequences and accountability matters.
The judge’s sentence reflects the instruction in Numbers 5:6-7: “[One] who wrongs another . . . must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution.” In these verses, we see the importance God places on acknowledging wrongdoing, confessing sin, and seeking restoration. And they underscore a profound truth: Every offense revealed disloyalty to the ideals of Israel’s society and showed that the offender was “unfaithful to the Lord” (v. 6).
Just as washing cars in public serves as a humbling consequence that encourages reflection and responsibility, God called Israel to recognize their sins honestly—confessing them and seeking forgiveness. True freedom came when they confronted their actions, made amends, and embraced His grace.
Today, let’s take a moment to reflect sincerely on our lives before God. As we seek reconciliation and restitution where necessary (see Matthew 5:23-24; Luke 19:8-10), His mercy and forgiveness will restore us to wholeness.
Reflect & Pray
How can you pursue reconciliation with someone you’ve wronged? Why is restitution so important?
Dear God, please show me where I’ve been wrong and help me pursue reconciliation and restitution.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Is It Unlikely?
Joab . . . had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom. — 1 Kings 2:28
Joab passed the big test: he remained loyal and true to David for nearly four decades, and he resisted the fascinating and ambitious Absalom. It might seem unlikely that a man of such proven integrity would ever turn his back on God. And yet, when David was on his deathbed, Joab conspired to help the scheming Adonijah seize the throne (1 Kings 1:1–7).
Always remain alert to the fact that where one has turned back, any may turn back. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Have you recently passed a big test of loyalty to God? Now is the time to pay attention to the details. “But,” you protest, “it’s not at all likely that I’ll turn back now—not after everything I’ve been through.” Don’t try to predict how temptation will come; peril lies in the least likely thing. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual transaction that the sphere of the small and seemingly insignificant begins to exert itself. It doesn’t become dominant, but if we don’t remember that it is there, if we don’t remember to warn ourselves about it, it will trip us up.
If you’ve remained true to God under great and intense trials, now is the time to watch out for the undertow. Don’t become morbidly introspective, looking toward the future with dread. Just remain alert, keeping your memory bright before God. Unguarded strength is double weakness. The Bible characters fell on their strong points, never on their weak ones. “Shielded by God’s power” (1 Peter 1:5): that is the only safety.
2 Samuel 6-8; Luke 15:1-10
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
God does not further our spiritual life in spite of our circumstances, but in and by our circumstances.
Not Knowing Whither, 900 L
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