Welcome to today’s Daily Redemption — where we explore why those who struggle the most often become the most faithful and worshipful, and discover that brokenness isn’t a barrier to God but the very ground where true worship takes root.
Featured Scripture and Commentary
“2 Corinthians 12:9–10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
“Hope for the best” people are always prone and poised say when we have nothing else to say. It seems like an obvious thing but what if the best is the worst as regards our relationship to God? What if we need some serious tweakage on what might be contained in what we consider the “best”?
Think of the “lifestyles of the rich and famous” as the old tv show which celebrated the ostentatious, garish, pretentious and vainglorious *yes, it’s a word* lives of opulence showed us as if revealing some beautifully cooked steak at which we should covet and drool and curse our meager unspectacular lives by comparison.
question 1 – did you ever see any of the people who were featured on the show PRAY or give thanks to God for all their abundance or did you see DJT (on the show 12 times showing things like his gold toilets), MJ and Oprah (although they did their best to try to show her in the light of Mother Theresa) standing in the spotlight smugly? Interesting thing is that one of the show’s hosts, Alan Thicke, was a man of faith and tried to steer the show into a more philanthropic direction. The show’s entire premise otherwise was anti-gratitude. It framed wealth as self-made achievement — not stewardship. Even when guests might have wanted to acknowledge God, the format rewarded showing off, not giving credit upward.
And now, in the wake of recent revelations, Hollywood moguls and pretty much everybody and anybody in the limelight and the Hollywood Walk Of Fame (Shame?) world being connected with lives of depravity, debauchery and even worse – crimes against humanity and especially targeting young women and even children, we are discovering that the lifestyles of the rich and famous are, not always, but often, nothing to covet but actually shake us to the core of our humanity even to just observe from afar.
Now juxtapose that the spiritual hymns that fed Grace to generations were born of the slaves shredding their hands all the day long picking cotton (the plant has thorns – it was painful, still is) while they sang their hearts out as the only thing they could do. Reaching upwards loudly and melodically was their only salvation in this world and kept them going until they couldn’t go no more physically. When you walk along the boardwalk and see the homeless what you often see is they have cardboard, umbrellas, any scraps they might possess which reflect a calling out to and worship of Jesus. This should not surprise us. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 5:3 The beatitudes essentially teach us to shun self-reliance, self-made, self-righteous and reach, instead, with our hands for the grace that cannot be earned nor won but only given.
The eye of the needle was actually the female part of the lock on a gate to large buildings or even cities in the ancient world which is bigger than one that you hold between thumb and pointer finger to sew with but still a camel has never fit through one, not even unto this day. The world knows what Jesus said about this and the chances of a rich person making it into heaven. In the bosom of Abraham the rich man was told that he had his good things on Earth but Lazarus was getting his in heaven. Jesus also told the rich man who asked Him about his salvation that he should let go of all his stuff and follow Jesus.
Here is the point of all this. We, as a species, are most closely connected to the Decorator Crab. This is an aquarium crab that walks along the substrate finding stuff, picking it up and sticking to itself. Our bumper stickers proclaim “he who has the most toys when he dies, wins!” So tell me I am wrong about this little crabby being our first cousin, at least in terms of the lifestyle.
Let’s lock it in further… we can’t clasp our hands together and pray when they are full of stuff. The soul that yearns for mercy that walks in humility that prays for the end of suffering and yearns for the presence of God will know the rewards of heaven.
Corroborating Scripture
Psalm 34:18, Isaiah 57:15, 2 Corinthians 12:9–10, James 1:2–4, Romans 5:3–5, Psalm 51:17, Matthew 5:3–4, Hebrews 11:1
Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
James 1:2–4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Romans 5:3–5 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Psalm 51:17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Matthew 5:3–4 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Homily
Struggle doesn’t produce faithlessness. It produces authentic faith.
When life is easy, worship can become performance — polished, predictable, safe. But when the ground cracks beneath you, worship becomes raw necessity. You don’t sing because you feel like it. You sing because if you stop, you’ll drown.
The most faithful aren’t those who’ve never fallen — they’re those who keep reaching for God while they’re falling. Their worship isn’t based on circumstances improving. It’s based on the unshakable truth that God is good even when nothing else is.
Broken people know they can’t fix themselves. So they stop trying to impress God and start clinging to Him. Their prayers aren’t eloquent. Their songs aren’t perfect. But they’re real. And God leans close to the real.
This is why the wilderness produces deeper worship than the palace.
Why grief births more honest praise than celebration.
Why the mourner’s song echoes longer in heaven than the victor’s shout.
God doesn’t waste your struggle. He sanctifies it. He meets you in it. And from that holy ground — you learn to worship not because you’re whole, but because He is.
Prayer
Lord, I’ve mistaken ease for blessing and struggle for punishment. Forgive me. Thank You that my brokenness isn’t disqualifying — it’s the very place You meet me. When I’m weak, Your strength rests on me. When I’m crushed, Your nearness revives me. Keep me faithful not in spite of my struggles, but through them. Let my worship rise not from my victory, but from my need. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
