Daily Worship

Bible readings and resources for your time with God

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Mary Alice McGinnis
- Jan 20

The famous writer C.S. Lewis was no stranger to suffering and pain. In fact, in the early years of his life, the loss of his mother and the emotional abandonment of his father caused him to reject God and become an atheist. He witnessed the ugliness of war, and the rejection of his peers. Later, when God called him out of these depths of unbelief, he endured more pain. In his forties, after many long years, he fell in love and married his beloved wife, only to endure the pain of losing her to death.

In his book “The Problem of Pain” he addresses how we as humans tend to conclude that if we are experiencing pain, that either God does not really love us, or He is not really all powerful.

We all experience the depths of pain in this life. It is a reality. Where have you experienced the depths of pain in your life? By the loss of finances or of a loved one? Maybe in the loss of health because of an illness? Maybe it was in the loss of acceptance—being betrayed, hurt, or rejected by others.

Yet, today’s Psalm points us to an even greater depth of pain.

“Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?”

We can try to excuse it, cover it up, or ignore it, but the weight of guilt is always there deep inside us. Refusing to go to the doctor to avoid a dreaded diagnosis will not change the reality of cancer growing in our bodies. When we become aware of our diagnosis - our sinfulness - it can drag us farther and farther into the depths. It can feel like a chain wrapped around our neck, plunging us into the depths of a bottomless ocean of grief, shame, regret and even despair.

In this book C.S. Lewis he writes: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”–C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: HarperCollins, 1940/1996), 91.

The Psalmist does not leave us in the depths of despair.

“But with You there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve You.”

We cannot find the pearl of God's forgiveness without first being plunged into the reality of the depths of our depravity. It is then that His forgiveness is the only thing we can cling to. Theologian Alexander Maclaren says: “The word rendered ‘forgiveness’…. literally means cutting off, and so suggests the merciful surgery by which the cancerous tumor is taken out of the soul.”

A watchman KNOWS if he waits long enough, he will see the sun rise again.

When we anchor ourselves in the loving kindness of God and His ability to rescue and forgive us, we can confidently wait upon Him, knowing He will come. We can hold on, knowing that we will see again the sunshine of God’s loving forgiveness rise upon us when we cry out to Him.

Then and only then will we be enabled to put our Hope in the Lord, “for with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption.”

When God raises us up from the depths, and He showers us with His redemptive love, then our joyful response is to invite others to experience this liberating joy that can only be found in the One who has rescued us and paid our ransom!

PRAYER

Bring your heart to the Lord in the words of the Lyrics of “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” by Stuart Townend.

David Thompson
- Jan 19

January 19 | Mark 3:20-34

DAILY READING

Mark 3:20-34

REFLECTION

Powers From Satan? Really???

By David Thompson

Jesus must have been the most misunderstood entity of the times. It's bad enough to have the Pharisees constantly questioning Him, but we see in today's passage that His family had decided that He had gone over the edge and had lost His mind. They totally missed the point of His ministry. Not only had they missed who He was, they missed what He came for. John 3:17 tells us "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world."

The teachers of the law even went so far as to say Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan. The passage in verse 22 says "He is possessed by Beelzebul: By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." How silly it is to think that Satan would do good! Jesus confronted the teachers of the law (the Pharisees). He didn't answer outright but answered them in parables. He said in verses 23-25, "How can Satan drive out Satan: If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom can not stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided he cannot stand; his end has come."

Then Jesus says something that has always worried me. "Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven." Wow, have you ever wondered if you have blasphemed against God (Holy Spirit)? I can remember thinking "God d---" and then catching myself and worrying about that verse. Have you ever thought about it? Don't worry it does not mean some slip of the tongue will send you to Hell. I like how the Life Application Bible speaks on that verse. It says the following, "Christians need not worry about this sin because this sin is attributing to the devil what is the work of the Holy Spirit. It reveals a heart-attitude of unbelief and unrepentance. Deliberate, ongoing rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy because it is rejecting God himself." As Christians, we are certainly not rejecting the Holy Spirit, and ultimately God, by an unintentionally or even an intentional sometimes slip of the tongue. So rest easy. The only ones in the passage that were doing that were the Pharisees. We are OK.

PRAYER

Jesus, thank you for your Word and the ability to read it for ourselves and interpret it by the power of the Holy Spirit and by our great pastors and teachers. We thank you for giving us good reference materials to help us when a passage is too complicated for our finite minds. Be with us in all that we do and say. Amen.

Judy Webb
- Jan 18

JANUARY 18 | MARK 3:13-19

DAILY READING

Mark 3:13-19

REFLECTION

Christ Calls Who He Will

by Judy Webb

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. (Mark 3:13 NIV)

Did you catch that? Jesus called to him those he wanted. As we get to know these special men, these 12 disciples whom Jesus wanted, I can’t help but note—Jesus wanted Judas. The one out of the twelve who would betray him, he wanted. If Jesus knew Judas’ heart and his motives, why would he want him to be a part of this elite group of men? Jesus even went on a mountainside alone to pray about this decision, and he still chose Judas.

There must be a lesson here. Jesus gathered these men so he could teach them and send them out to preach truth and heal. They would have a duty to defeat Satan and cast out his demons, right? So how can we explain this? Why did Jesus want Judas? Why does he want us? We are sinful and fall short of everything we believe a follower of Jesus should be. But weren’t all the disciples sinful? Didn’t every one of them fall short just like Judas? Peter denied and Thomas doubted.

Just as Jesus chose Judas and the other eleven, he also chose us, to carry out his plan. He called these individuals to separate them from the crowd and to stand by Him. We too are called to be set apart, to stand out from the crowd as we stand up and stand by Him and follow Him into the unknown.

Christ calls who he will. We may be sinners, but God wants to use us, to teach us to be light, catch the fire of Jesus’ way and burn a path to his feet.