Daily Worship

Bible readings and resources for your time with God

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Katie Borden
- Nov 1, 2023

I have to admit that, even though it’s November 1st, and the world has only now officially begun to switch over from “pumpkin spice” mode to “deck the halls”, I’ve already watched several Hallmark Christmas movies this fall. I know Hallmark’s formula like the back of my hand, and yet I still watch and enjoy these cozy flicks.

As cheesy as some of the Hallmark variety are, love stories are timeless because they speak to the core of our being in some way: We want to be seen, known, and loved. And we want to express love between one another.

We see this in today's reading from Exodus 33. We see Moses expressing a desire to be known by God, and to know God better. He desires a relationship with God, and an ever-deepening one at that. He desires this for himself and for the whole community of Israel, for their good and for God's renown. He desires this to the point he asks God, "show me your glory."

What a bold request to the God of heaven and earth!

And God, in his kindness, acquiesced to Moses’ request. Even though Moses could not bear seeing God face-to-face at that time, God revealed more of his presence to Moses than he had experienced before. Just as he does with us.

In fact, I can confidently say that it delights God’s heart when we grow deeper in our relationship with him and more fully experience and enjoy his presence. In my own personal confession time, I'm being confronted with my own false illusions of independence, control, and desire. As I ponder what I'm really seeking with these lesser things, I have been more and more convinced that a desire for deep unity with God is the better and truer prize than any other thing. I'm praying that God would rightly align my heart to his so that I can fully enjoy the best gift of all: the love of God with God.

And I look forward to that coming day when we all shall know God fully and be fully known by him, face-to-face in the new creation (if you want to read a compelling vision of this fullness of life with God, read Revelation 22 later today).

What a beautiful love story.

PRAYER

God, I want to know you more. Make me ever more aware of your presence in my life and pull my heart ever more toward you. For it is in you that I will be most deeply and truly satisfied. Amen.

Julie Ogg
- Oct 31, 2023

October 31 | Exodus 33:1-11

DAILY READING

Exodus 33:1-11

REFLECTION

The Presence Of The Lord

by Julie Ogg

“But I will not go with you”… (v3) The LORD speaks these words to Moses after the Israelites have sinned by worshiping the golden calf in his absence. We were created to live in the presence of God. After all, Adam and Eve walked in the garden of Eden and talked with the Lord.

We serve a God who embodies relationship, as the Trinity, in a way we can hardly comprehend. He created us to be in relationship with himself. Imagine the horror Moses felt when he heard God say, “But I will not go with you."

It is interesting to note that God had just assured Moses that he would fulfill his promises to Israel. He would prepare the way before them by sending an angel and driving out their enemies (v2). He would still give them the land flowing with milk and honey (v3). There’s just one small change. He would not go with them. Would Moses, the Israelites, or those of us today be content with this arrangement?

How often do we live our lives this way? We are content with the gift but don’t have time to spend in the presence and company of the giver. We want outcomes without relationship. You may have experienced this in a relationship with someone you only hear from when they need something or when their life is crumbling. Perhaps they’ve just made a big mistake, and they need rescued. How deep is that relationship?

Yet this is what the Israelites had just done in their impatience and sin and this is what you and I do when we launch into our day or meeting or conversation without acknowledging and seeking the presence of the Lord. Our attempts to love, serve, forgive, guide, and obey are worthless and empty without the presence of God.

In Psalm 51:10-12 David cries out to God,

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

The next verse, Psalm 51:13, begins with “Then." Your presence, then. That needs to be the defining order of each of our lives. Time in God’s presence…then. Our God is gracious and compassionate and in Exodus 33:14 he reassures Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." How I need the sustaining rest of God. This is what we, as Christ followers, bring to the world. We carry the very presence of God to lost and hurting people.

PRAYER

Take time to spend in your Father’s presence today. Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

Pastor Dave Mann
- Oct 30, 2023

October 30 | Exodus 32:22-35

DAILY READING

Exodus 32:22-35

REFLECTION

Struggle in Prayer

by Pr. Dave Mann

I get a lot of food for thought when I read/listen to posts on DesiringGod.org. My meditation finds its roots in one of these.

When Moses is gone for many weeks on Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel, under Aaron’s leadership, slip away easily into idol worship. Then, God declares to Moses the people’s sin, his intention to destroy them, and the plan to start over with Moses and his descendants.

Amazingly, Moses’s reflex is to pray to God for mercy and to lean into God’s own reputation. Both here in Exodus 32 and in Numbers 14:11ff., Moses pleads for God to forgive the people. Moses is concerned for God’s own reputation among the pagan nations if he were to destroy his people, even if they deserve it. Moses does not minimize the sin of the people. He does not plead for the Lord to act outside of his holiness. However, Moses offers himself in the place of the people, as a sacrifice. This mercy, in addition to God’s purity and righteousness, is in the character of God.

31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”

Praying a self-sacrificial prayer is a good reflex. It mirrors the character of God himself. Many of us have family members or co-workers or neighbors who are not following the Lord. They may have walked with God in the past, but now they are living in the way of iniquity. They may be reaping the just consequences of their own bad choices. God would be in the right to let them experience the pain and brokenness that would follow logically. God is holy and just in his judgments. He has warned us, and we have spurned his teachings. And yet, it is also God’s character, in addition to his holiness, to forgive, to redeem, to bring the dead back to life.

Moses prays for God to turn from his righteous anger and to relent from exercising his perfect judgment. So, when our hearts ache at the news of yet another broken life caused by ungodly choices, we can join the ranks of biblical characters, and yes, even Jesus himself, as we prayerfully lean into God’s character of forgiveness and redemption.