April 22nd, 25: Learning Mercy Over Sacrifice: Insights from David's Journey and Jesus' Healing

Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In today’s episode, host Hunter invites us on day 113 of our yearlong journey through the Bible. Together, we’ll explore the dramatic story of David, Nabal, and Abigail in 1 Samuel 25-26, reflect on David’s heartfelt prayer in Psalm 63, and witness powerful moments of healing, compassion, and forgiveness in Matthew chapter 9. As we read, Hunter encourages us to open our hearts to God’s mercy, reminding us that Jesus responds to both our physical and spiritual needs—not with demands for sacrifice, but with an invitation to show mercy and receive his love. Stay tuned as we pray together, find strength for the day ahead, and remember that love showed up for you—because you are loved, no doubt about it.

TODAY'S DEVOTION:

There are needs everywhere. Jesus acknowledges these physical needs without excluding our spiritual needs, the needs of our soul and heart. He sees our need for forgiveness, healing from shame, and regrets. There, he has compassion. There, he reaches out. There, he heals, and there, he forgives. He says to the paralytic, "Be encouraged, my child. Your sins are forgiven." The same is true in our lives. He sees our physical needs, and he sees and responds to our spiritual need—our need for forgiveness, our need for wholeness and healing. He has come to show mercy.

In Matthew 9:13, he says, "Now go and learn the meaning of this scripture: I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. For I have come not to call those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners." He wants us to think about it, to consider the meaning of this scripture. Because so often, our thoughts automatically turn toward what we must do to earn favor with God. We ask ourselves, What must I sacrifice? How might I perform in order to be made right with him? But when our thinking goes there, we miss the point. Jesus tells us to think again— to go and learn the meaning of the scripture: "I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices."

Your demonstration of mercy, your heart for others, is evidence that you understand the heart of God— that he has come to sacrifice himself on our behalf, to heal us. He’s not looking for our religious sacrifices; he did what we could not. He brought healing, forgiveness, and hope. He came for the unrighteous, not for those who think they are righteous by the things that they do. God wants me to raise my eyes and see what he sees: the blind, the sick, the bleeding— all people needing his compassion and his life.

When we see the way God sees, when we look with his eyes in his spirit, the same response wells up within our own hearts. We have compassion, and we go out and work in the fields alongside him. We participate with him. We are empowered by him. That is what God is up to here. He wants us to see what he sees, and he invites us to join him in the fields, working alongside him with his power, his strength, his joy.

And that's a prayer that I have for my own soul. That's a prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so.