Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Haggai 1–2; Psalm 129; Luke 10 Click HERE to give! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on the Daily Radio Bible, a daily Bible‑in‑a‑year podcast with 20‑minute Scripture readings, Christ‑centered devotion, and guided prayer.This daily Bible reading and devotional invites you to live as a citizen of Jesus’ kingdom, reconciled, renewed, and deeply loved.
TODAY’S EPISODE Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible. Today is September 27th, and our readings are Haggai 1–2, Psalm 129, and Luke 10.
Haggai speaks to a people who have returned from exile but have lost their way. They are busy building their own lives while the temple remains in ruins.
So Haggai calls them back to their center.
Consider how things are going for you.
Pay attention.
Remember what matters.
And God tells them something they desperately need to hear:
“I am with you.”
Psalm 129 is the prayer of people who have suffered and yet remain standing.
Then in Luke 10, Jesus sends out seventy-two disciples with a message of peace and healing. He rejoices that God's kingdom is being revealed, not simply to the powerful and learned, but to those who receive it like children.
And then a religious expert asks Jesus a question:
“Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
That conversation leads Jesus into one of his most familiar stories, the story we call the Good Samaritan.
But perhaps we've been standing in the wrong place in the story.
Before asking whether we're being good enough neighbors, maybe we need to recognize the Neighbor who has already come looking for us.
Jesus meets us in the ditch.
He sees us.
He comes near.
He binds our wounds.
He carries us.
He brings us home.
He is the neighbor we've all been waiting for.
TODAY’S DEVOTION The Neighbor We’ve All Been Waiting For Who is the hero of the story?
That's an important question.
Because when we read the story of the Good Samaritan, I think most of us immediately put ourselves in the role of the Samaritan.
Be a good neighbor.
Help people who are hurting.
Show mercy.
Cross the road toward the person in need.
And, of course, Jesus does invite us to become people of mercy.
He ends the story by saying, “Now go and do the same.”
But before we rush too quickly to make ourselves the hero of the story, maybe we need to see something else.
Maybe we're the one in the ditch.
Maybe that's where the gospel begins.
Jesus says a man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers attacked him.
They stripped him.
Beat him.
And left him half dead beside the road.
A priest comes by.
He passes him.
A Levite comes by.
He passes him too.
Religion sees him lying there, but religion doesn't save him.
And then someone unexpected comes along.
A Samaritan.
Jesus says that when he sees the wounded man, he has compassion.
He moves toward him.
He kneels down.
He tends his wounds with oil and wine.
He lifts him onto his own animal.
He takes him somewhere safe.
He pays the cost.
And he promises to return.
Who does that sound like?
Jesus.
Jesus is the neighbor we've all been waiting for.
He's the one who finds us lying in the ditch.
He's the one who sees us.
He's the one who has compassion.
He's the one who comes near.
He's the one who binds up our wounds.
He's the one who carries us when we cannot carry ourselves.
He's the one who pays the cost.
He's the one who brings us home.
And that changes the way we hear this story.
Because the gospel isn't first about our ability to become the hero.
It's about discovering that we have been rescued.
It's about receiving mercy before we try to give it.
It's about being loved before we try to love.
It's about allowing Jesus to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
And maybe that's why the story of Mary and Martha follows immediately afterward.
Martha is busy.
She's working.
She's serving.
She's doing all the things that need to be done.
But Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet.
Listening.
Receiving.
And Jesus says Mary has chosen what is better.
That doesn't mean serving doesn't matter.
Of course it matters.
But we can become so busy trying to do something for Jesus that we forget what Jesus has come to do for us.
We need to sit at his feet.
We need to receive.
We need to let ourselves be loved.
We need to let him bind our wounds.
We need to remember that he is the Savior.
Not us.
Haggai speaks to people who have been busy building their own lives.
And God calls them back to the center.
“Consider your ways.”
Maybe that's a good word for us today.
Consider your ways.
What are you building?
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