Day 02 – Oct. 2

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” – Matthew 25:35

There are neighbors among us who do not know where their next meal is coming from. They sit in our pews, walk our streets, and raise children in homes where the pantry runs bare before the month is through. It is easy to ask “how did they get here” before we ask “how can I help.” But Scripture reminds us that “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). God did not wait for us to explain ourselves before He fed us with grace. He simply fed us. When we see someone hungry, our first response cannot be an audit of their choices — it must be an open hand. Every time we choose compassion over criticism, we look a little more like Jesus.

Dear Father of Heaven and Earth, we come before you mindful that every good and perfect gift, including our daily bread, comes down from you. We lift up before your throne, every family tonight who is wondering how they will eat tomorrow — the parent skipping a meal so their child doesn’t have to, the elder rationing what little is left, the soul too proud or too weary to ask for help. Lord, meet them in their need the way you met the five thousand with only five loaves and two fish. And Father, soften hearts toward them. Where we have been quick to judge, teach us to be quick to give. Where we have asked “why are they hungry,” teach us instead to ask “how can I help them.” Let mercy triumph over judgment in us, just as it triumphs in you. Use our hands, our tables, and our resources as instruments of your goodness. We thank you that you are our Provider, and that you have called us to be the hands that carry your provision to a hungry world. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.