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Do the Work of Repair

Links for today’s readings:

May 18  Read: Haggai 2 Listen: (3:49) Read: Luke 9 Listen: (8:05)

Scripture Focus: Haggai 2.2-9

2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak,  the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, 3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’ 

6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

Reflection: Do the Work of Repair

By John Tillman

The returning exiles began to rebuild the temple but stopped to work on other things. They rebuilt their own houses instead of God’s house. Haggai challenged them to reorient their priorities. He told them their sufferings were God’s punishments for diverting from their purpose.

However, God’s word through Haggai was not harsh. He encouraged these struggling post-exile survivors. Yes, they had misplaced their priorities. However, God seemed to understand their many obstacles. They faced enemies. They lacked resources. And they were intimidated by the scale of what they had lost. Haggai asked if any of them recalled the glory of the first temple and acknowledged that their efforts so far seemed hopelessly inadequate. Like nothing at all.

Have you ever lost something so dear to you that you could barely stand to replace it? Maybe an heirloom? Maybe a house? Maybe a sentimental car, book, or item of clothing from a loved one? Losing the thing itself is bad enough. Replacing or rebuilding can remind us of the trauma of the loss.

Rebuilding or replacing beloved things is harder when you still bear the scars of that loss. How could the people replace or rebuild something so treasured as the temple David designed and Solomon built?

When a large or intimidating problem lies ahead, don’t we often find ourselves diverting to another task? Instead of doing the difficult thing, we go to the grocery store, or fold that laundry we’ve been putting off, or dive into that closet we’ve been meaning to reorganize.

God is sensitive to us in our losses and diversions. He understands when we feel intimidated and vulnerable. But when it is time to rebuild he calls us to be strong. When it is time to repair, he stands with us, holding the spiritual tools and emotional resources we need. When we mourn lost glory, he promises greater glory to come if we rebuild with him.

Rebuilding can remind us of past trauma, but rebuilding also connects us to future hopes. Countries, organizations, churches, communities, and families can face the difficulty of needing to rebuild and repair lost things.

Despair and distraction are tempting. They say, “Nothing can be fixed. Nothing can be improved.” But God stands ready to shake heaven and earth to rebuild broken things and restore hope in place of trauma. He will help us do the work of repair.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Jesus taught us, saying: “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth to an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine into fresh skins!” — Mark 2.21–22

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Give Careful Thought

The grace of God gives us many freedoms in Christ. However, some “freedoms” can become a blight in our relationships.

Give Careful Thought—Readers’ Choice
Read more: Rebuke for Hotheads

Like James and John, we can lose sight of the greater mission and be caught up in conflict.

Rebuke for Hotheads
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To Celebrate or Lament?

Links for today’s readings:

May 15 Read:  Zephaniah 2 Listen: (2:44) Read: Luke 6 Listen: (6:46)
May 16 Read:  Zephaniah 3 Listen: (3:38) Read: Luke 7 Listen: (7:14)
May 17 Read:  Haggai 1 Listen: (2:39) Read: Luke 8 Listen: (8:09)

Scripture Focus: Zephaniah 2.13-15

13 He will stretch out his hand against the north 
and destroy Assyria, 
leaving Nineveh utterly desolate 
and dry as the desert. 
14 Flocks and herds will lie down there, 
creatures of every kind. 
The desert owl and the screech owl 
will roost on her columns. 
Their hooting will echo through the windows, 
rubble will fill the doorways, 
the beams of cedar will be exposed. 
15 This is the city of revelry 
that lived in safety. 
She said to herself, 
“I am the one! And there is none besides me.” 
What a ruin she has become, 
a lair for wild beasts! 
All who pass by her scoff 
and shake their fists.

Reflection: To Celebrate or Lament?

By John Tillman

Should we be happy about judgment?

It is good news when enemies are defeated; however, God’s people can misuse or misinterpret scripture’s descriptions of judgment on enemies.

Some happily copy and paste the names of our enemies over Israel’s enemies in scripture. Assyria becomes an enemy nation. Cush becomes a feared people group. Philistia becomes a hated political party. This is a dangerous way to read scripture. It is unwise to assign modern identities to ancient people groups in prophetic judgments. This smuggles in our prejudices, hatreds, and worldly allegiances and puts them in God’s mouth. This is how partisan politics becomes sanctified idolatry. This is how racialized oppression gets baptized as “rightly ordered loves.” This is how genocides get whitewashed as holy wars. God will not ignore such blasphemies for long.

We should celebrate God’s victories that save his people. The Egyptian exodus is the prototype. Many events echo its pattern. That’s not what is happening in many prophetic judgments, including today’s reading from Zephaniah 2.

In Zephaniah, God’s people are being judged, not rescued. Jerusalem will be destroyed (Zeph 1.4-6). The nations are being judged for pridefully mocking Judah or participating in violence against them.

Every nation (and person) is responsible for their own wickedness. No one can blame others for their sins. However, only one nation and people are called to bring light to all the others. Ancient Israel and today’s church share that calling. In a few, isolated moments Israel succeeded in this calling. Other nations partnered with them and built God’s temple, learned of God’s wisdom, and worshiped his glory.

Successful moments were few. Failures were frequent. When Judah preyed on their poor, violated their covenant, and praised idol statues, these were betrayals of their national calling (Gen 18.18, 22.18; Ex 19.5-6; Deut 4.5-8; Is 49.6). They could have done otherwise.

What if Jonah wasn’t a solo act bringing short-term revival to Nineveh? What if Israel and Judah’s kings set righteous examples for the nations instead of mimicking their decadence and abuses and grasping for power? What if we did those things now?

The church’s true enemies are not flesh and blood or political and cultural. (Eph 6.12) Everyone with a heartbeat is a potential spiritual sibling. If they fall without accepting the gospel, mourning a sibling’s loss is better than cheering an enemy’s death.

When God’s people are saved, we celebrate. When they are judged, even if their enemies also fall, we lament and repent.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet. — Psalm 85.13

Read more: Blessings and Woes — Guided Prayer

Matthew mentions that we are like prophets of old when treated poorly, Luke adds that when treated well, we are like the false prophets.

Blessing and Woes — A Guided Prayer
Read more: City of Revelry

Zephaniah calls to Judah…“Gather together, gather yourselves together… seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered”

City of Revelry
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Thanksgiving Stirs God’s Heart

Links for today’s readings:

May 14  Read: Zephaniah 1 Listen: (3:09) Read: Luke 5 Listen: (5:04)

Scripture Focus: Luke 5.8

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

Reflection: Thanksgiving Stirs God’s Heart

By John Tillman

When Simon (not yet called Peter) saw what Christ had done for him and his partners, he skipped right over being thankful to being fearful. “Go away from me! I’m not worthy. I don’t understand! You don’t know how sinful I am!”

Simon didn’t yet understand the heart of Jesus. He didn’t understand that he came for the sinful, that he was seeking that which was lost, and that Simon himself would be changed and would become, Peter, the rock. 

But whatever happened in this moment, he was changed enough at heart to follow when Jesus asked. This passage from Luke resounds with thankfulness from those touched by Christ. 

Richard Foster writes in his book Prayer, that seeing the heart of God is the key that opens the door to thankfulness in our hearts.

“If we could only see the heart of the Father, we would be drawn into praise and thanksgiving more often. It is easy for us to think that God is so majestic and so highly exalted that our adoration makes no difference to him. To be sure, the self-sufficiency of God is a precious doctrine, but we should always remember that words of Saint Augustine: “God thirsts to be thirsted after.”

Our God is not made of stone. His heart is the most sensitive and tender of all. No act goes unnoticed, no matter how insignificant or small. A cup of cold water is enough to put tears in the eyes of God.”

Foster goes on to list many who, with simple acts of thanksgiving, touched the heart of Christ. When we act in thanksgiving, acknowledging the gifts of God’s Spirit to us, it connects us to Christ and marks us as his children carrying on his work in this world. Foster continues:

“And what about us? Dare we hold back? It brings joy to the heart of God when we grip that pierced hand and say simply and profoundly, “Thank you, bless you, praise you.!””

And if we cannot grasp his hand in thankfulness (Luke 5.12-13), we can grasp the hand of our enemies in love.
And if we cannot provide him a place to lay his head (Luke 10.38), we can work that others might have one.
And if we cannot anoint his head and feet (John 12:2-3), we can anoint those who suffer in this world.
And if we cannot weep on his feet (Luke 7.37-38; 44-47), we can weep with those who weep.

For what we do to the least of these, we do unto Him (Matthew 25.40).

And what we would do for One, by His power, we may do for all.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

My God, my rock in whom I put my trust, my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my refuge; you are worthy of praise. — Psalm 18.2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Paul’s Example of Thankfulness

Who has come alongside you during difficult times? Who has helped shape you into the follower of Christ that you are today?

Paul’s Example of Thankfulness
Read more: A Psalm for Thanksgiving

Everywhere nature sings to God…The days slow down, giving our souls the chance to join creation in a shout of joy.

A Psalm for Thanksgiving
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Worshipping Through Horror

Links for today’s readings:

May 13  Read: Habakkuk 3 Listen: (2:59) Read: Luke 4 Listen: (5:27)

Scripture Focus: Habakkuk 3:5-6, 16

5 Plague went before him;
    pestilence followed his steps.
6 He stood, and shook the earth;
    he looked, and made the nations tremble.
The ancient mountains crumbled
    and the age-old hills collapsed—
    but he marches on forever.

…

16 I heard and my heart pounded,
    my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
    and my legs trembled.

Reflection: Worshipping Through Horror 

By Erin Newton

For my doctoral studies, I’ve been researching terrifying imagery in the Old Testament. This means when I’m reading books with titles like Reading the Bible with Horror in public, people are looking at me funny.

The question I get often is, “Why horror?” Most of us feel more comfortable focusing on the pleasant places in the Bible: the psalm about being a sheep snoozing in a gentle green pasture or the story of Jesus feeding the multitude. Like it or not, however, the Bible has lots of scenes that terrify us. And it appears the prophets were a little shaken too.

Habakkuk has been given a vision from God of the impending doom on the wicked nations. Despite the terrifying revelation, he responds with a hymnic prayer. How many hymns have you sung that speak of God heading out to smite the enemy while being flanked by Plague and Pestilence? This type of imagery is good for our modern cinemas, not really for the church choir.

Habakkuk takes the terrifying image of God’s power and wrath and doesn’t flee from it. He encapsulates it in song. He carves it into history through prayer. But at the same time, he’s scared. This isn’t some machismo war-song. His heart is pounding. His lips are quivering. His knees are shaking. He can feel his own fear. Why? Because the image of God’s power has overtaken him.

Brandon Grafius, in Reading the Bible with Horror, highlights the effect of horror movies and literature in our Christian lives. We are sometimes drawn to such artistic expressions because the images typically encapsulate our fears. We fear dying, so there’s a blood-sucking monster. We fear ravaging illness (or global pandemics or virus-laden cruises), so horror would make Plague a monster.

Horror (well-crafted horror) and the Bible (especially the Old Testament) have something in common: “They both experience the realities of life too deeply to tell us that everything is okay when it’s not,” says Grafius. Habakkuk gets that. He’s scared. It’s terrifying. But his prayer admits to the reality of the darker parts of life. He knows God is working, but that doesn’t make everything sunshine and daisies.

Reading the Bible with horror means not avoiding these texts or rushing to make them more pleasant. Sometimes we need to pray about the terrifying realities of our world, knowing God is in our midst.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

I will bear witness that the Lord is righteous; I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High. — Psalm 7.18

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: No, Not Like That

We must trust God when he chooses to address evil, whether it is in our hearts, in our institutions, or in our countries.

No, Not Like That
Read more: He Became a Servant

Habakkuk’s psalm longs for the Lord to make himself known…What Habakkuk waited for, we have seen in Jesus.

He Became a Servant
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Woe to Abusers and Victimizers

Links for today’s readings:

May 12 Read:  Habakkuk 2 Listen: (3:20) Read: Luke 3 Listen: (5:24)

Scripture Focus: Habakkuk 2.15-17

15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, 
pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, 
so that he can gaze on their naked bodies! 
16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. 
Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed! 
The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, 
and disgrace will cover your glory. 
17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, 
and your destruction of animals will terrify you. 
For you have shed human blood; 
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

From John: When we first published this devotional in 2022, we had no idea that today there would be even more evidence of powerful people taking sexual advantage of others, including children. We wouldn’t have imagined that so little action would be taken by the authorities. We couldn’t imagine that some leaders would be encouraging us to “get over it.” May we redouble our prayers, as described in the conclusion of this devotional, that truth would be exposed, justice would fall on wrongdoers, and victims would be comforted.

Reflection: Woe to Abusers and Victimizers

By John Tillman

Habakkuk describes the host of a party who betrays his neighbors by getting them drunk and then taking sexual advantage of them. This story has a chillingly familiar ring. 

The details could be copied from today’s headlines. It is similar to reports of heinous actions exposed during the #MeToo era. The betrayal goes beyond the sexual element. These people were neighbors who trusted their host and accepted drinks poured by his hand. Only afterward did they realize the person they thought was friendly was victimizing them. What seemed like generosity was selfishness and what seemed like hospitality was making them hostages to the host’s lust.

No era has ever been without sexual abuse and sin. However, this description by Habakkuk is metaphorical. The scene he paints is about a larger, worldwide pattern of abuse. The host in this metaphor is Babylon. Nations who allied themselves politically with Babylon bought into the hype of Babylon’s greatness and superiority. They thought they were guests at this party enjoying the wealth and spoils of Babylon’s reign, but actually, they were just victims lured into a trap. They were eventually despoiled and humiliated.

When we sip from the cup of empires, we will be dominated and controlled by them. It’s easy for us to be suckered and find ourselves victims of those who at first seem to be on our side. Whenever and wherever we live there are and will be those who will seek to take advantage of us.

Babylon, like Nineveh, was a city built on bloodshed and humiliation. Habakkuk proclaimed that exactly what was done by Babylon to others would be done to them in return. God will bring justice to victimizers and abusers. All the wickedness they think they have gotten away with will be exposed. They will be the ones naked and exposed and shamed. Let us pray for that day.

Let us pray that all victims, nations, groups, and individuals will see justice fall on their abusers and victimizers. Let us pray that abusers’ defenses and excuses and denials will be stripped from them. Let us pray that all victims would find shelter, acceptance, care, and healing in the arms of the church. 

And finally, let us pray that we will be wise and discerning, not easily falling into the traps set by those who would take sexual, spiritual, or political advantage of us.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Show us the light of your countenance, O God, and come to us. — Psalm 67.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Beyond Consent

Our culture has groomed many of us to accept the idea that the “freedom” of unlimited sexual experiences is harmless

Beyond Consent
Read more: A Rebellion of Repentance

John’s teaching had barbs of uncomfortable truth but also had hope…the world was full of snakes but the snake-crusher was coming.

A Rebellion of Repentance
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