Beside Still Waters

Scripture Focus: 1 Kings 7.25-26
25 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

Job 7.12
12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
     that you put me under guard?

Matthew 8.27
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Reflection: Beside Still Waters
By Erin Newton

I’m quite terrified of the ocean. Maybe I watch too many documentaries or movies about the dangers of the open waters. Too many threats lurk beneath—rip currents, undertows, great white sharks, killer whales, and dare I say, Leviathan.

The sea plays a role in many stories of the Bible, usually as a formidable foe that threatens God’s people: the Red Sea, the raging sea that sends Jonah overboard, and stormy seas threatening the disciples on more than one occasion.

Solomon’s Temple contained features that reflected nature, perhaps the Garden of Eden where God walked among his creation unrestrained. Among the temple furnishings stood a large bronze basin. The enormous size of the bowl was a feat for the Israelite metallurgist. It stood in a fixed location in the Temple—a heavy bronze basin filled with water used for purification and cleansing—and it was called the “Sea.”

The name of the basin is a figurative term for such a large bowl of water, but it strikes at the fearsome image they knew all too well. This Sea, however, is contained, bound, motionless. There are no thrashing waves.

The water served to cleanse the priests (Lev. 8.6) or wash the organs of sacrificed animals (Lev. 8.21). The Sea was no longer a threat, but placed under the watchful eye of God with a renewed purpose. The basin was crowned with gourds and nestled upon the backs of bulls, symbols of life that flow from the cleansing waters.

In the depths of Job’s grief, he calls out to God, asking if he was also constrained like the sea. He recognized the usual threat of the waters but knew that God spoke to the sea and said, “This far you may come and no farther” (Job 38.11).

When a furious storm rolls upon the lake with waves sweeping over the boat, the sea surrenders to the voice of Jesus. Even the winds and the waves obey him.

So why, again, is the Sea in the Temple? Apart from its practical purpose of serving the priests, I think the Sea sits still within the Temple as a reminder—God has this whole world in his hands.

As you enter his presence through prayer, worship, meditation, or reading, look to your left and behold the still waters. The image heralds the supremacy of our God.

Holy, holy, holy is the God of all creation!

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. — Psalm 31.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
1 Kings 7 (Listen 7:47)
Psalms 25 (Listen 2:18)

Read more about Counting Waves
The disciples urged Jesus to awake, their voices strained with fear. “Teacher, do you not care if we drown?”

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Open Heart Examination

Scripture Focus: Psalm 17.3-5
3 Though you probe my heart,
     though you examine me at night and test me,
 you will find that I have planned no evil;
     my mouth has not transgressed.
 4 Though people tried to bribe me,
     I have kept myself from the ways of the violent
     through what your lips have commanded.
 5 My steps have held to your paths;
     my feet have not stumbled.

Reflection: Open Heart Examination
By Erin Newton

I’ve been rewatching a sitcom about a genius who pretends to be a lawyer in New York. The main character spends every day on the precipice of disaster as he struggles to keep his lie hidden. One episode opens with the song lyrics, “You’re a fraud and you know it…It’s always been a smoke and mirrors game.” Season after season, he bears the weight of his guilty conscience.

A different story plays out in Psalm 17. There is no fraud. The psalmist opens his heart, shining a light onto any hidden corner. No smoke and mirrors. He is steadfast, firmly confident that God will find no guilt in him. This psalm is a stark contrast to the sitcom.

Each psalm reveals a scene from life and makes proclamations about psalmist, enemies, and God that reflect a moment in time. The psalmist here is not universally guiltless. This is not a mirror of perfection left for us to imitate. In this moment, whatever causes this critical crisis of the psalmist’s life, he is innocent. He is confident because he has actively rejected opportunities for sin.

Hearts are not always willingly exposed.

The heart can be a labyrinth, twisting and turning with various desires. The heart can be a catacomb hiding the proverbial skeletons in our closet. 

And yet, the heart can be the home of wisdom. The heart that trusts in God can be an open book.  

God is able to navigate the complexity of the human heart. Other verses in the book of Psalms invite God to examine the heart (Ps. 17.3, 26.2, 139.23) and others proclaim God’s ability to do so (Ps. 7.9, 33.15, 44.21). Like a skilled surgeon, God can open our hearts and assess their health. There are no dark corners obscured from divine examination.

The psalmist is confident in his innocence in this matter. People have tried to bribe him and he refused. People have tempted him toward violence and he has rejected their offer. He follows the road less traveled, God’s paths of righteousness.

It is a tender and humble request to ask God to examine your heart. We know what lies within the crevices of our souls, things we wish to keep hidden. But like the fraud in that sitcom, disaster crouches at the door and reality becomes smoke and mirrors.

God is able and has already examined your heart. He has loved you regardless. 


Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they will be filled. — Mathew 5.6

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
2 Samuel 24 (Listen 4:48)
Psalms 17 (Listen 1:58)

Read more about Judging Our Hearts
If the tree is sickened at its heart, the fruit will be sickened as well.

Read more about Choices and Hard Hearts
Hardened hearts happen in stages. Our choices matter. Our hearts are hardened or softened day after day.

Our Delightful Inheritance

Scripture Focus: Psalm 16.5-6
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
     you make my lot secure.
 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
     surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Reflection: Our Delightful Inheritance
By Erin Newton

The rising cost of housing is not news to us anymore. Headlines recently have read, “Gen Z Can’t Afford the Rent,” and “Realtor Explains Why Millennials Struggle to Buy Homes.” Where former generations bought homes and land with relative ease, younger generations are seeing it as an impossibility.

Land has served as a means for gaining security and wealth throughout millennia. In the Old Testament, key figures are marked by their possessions and their land. Abraham is promised land as an inheritance for his descendants. The vast number of livestock owned by Job hints at a large land ownership necessary to care for the herds. Land meant security and prosperity. Land was desirable.

Stories about the twelve tribes settling into the Promised Land contain details about the divisions and make little impact on us today. But the absence of land given to the Levites is noticeable. How did the Levites feel about their lack of inheritance?

Psalm 16 is a confession of faith by someone who is devoted to the Lord. The psalmist relies on priestly language speaking of the “holy people” of the land and the dangers of idolatry. The psalmist rejects the idea of pouring out “libations of blood” to a false god. It could be that the perspective is that of a priest, a Levite.

[It’s important to understand that inscriptions reading, “of David,” can mean more than authorship. Some of these psalms are attributed to David, written in the style of David, or about David.]

If the psalmist is truly a Levite, he is landless. This expression of joy uses the language of physical blessings but the content of each blessing is God.

God is his portion. His lot is secure. His boundary lines fall in pleasant places. He has a delightful inheritance. Rolf Jacobsen rightly identifies the source of hope, “The relationship that the psalmist has with God is the psalmist’s all—the portion, cup, lot, boundary, and inheritance.”

With headlines that remind us of all that we lack, do we see God as our all? With a savings account that doesn’t seem to go anywhere but down, do we see the pleasant lines of our inheritance?

A health and wealth gospel will try to convince us that we need something more than God to be content. Do not pour out offerings to the gods of this world. Eternal pleasures are at his right hand alone.  

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
The Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully. — Psalm 145.19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
2 Samuel 23 (Listen 5:38)
Psalms 15-16 (Listen 2:03)

Read more about Inheritance of Rachel’s Daughters
Inheritances are promised and given, not earned or attained. They can’t be purchased or procured.

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Temple Admission

Scripture Focus: Psalm 5.7
7 But I, by your great love,
    can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
    toward your holy temple.

Reflection: Temple Admission
By Erin Newton

Throughout Psalms, the poet focuses on the differences between the wicked and the righteous. The wicked are arrogant, bloodthirsty, and deceitful. The righteous are humble, peaceable, and honest. The wicked are barred from the presence of the Lord. The righteous enter the temple with ease.

What is the cost of admission into the temple? Sin bars the wicked from entering. The righteous—well, the righteous are not perfect either. How is one rejected and the other accepted?

Our English translation of Psalm 5.7 adequately reflects the important word order of the Hebrew text. The verse begins with the important conjunction that signals a shift in focus— “but.” The characteristics of the wicked will now stand in contrast. But not to the psalmist!

The Hebrew reads, “But I, by your great love, I come into your house…” (The NIV translates the Hebrew nearly verbatim here.)

It is not “by the great works of the righteous” or “by the pious offerings of the righteous” or “by the comparatively less horrible deeds by this guy.” It is by God’s love. The wicked are not contrasted to the righteous in this case. The wicked stand against the plumbline of God’s character, specifically, his love.

The price of admission to God’s presence is his love. The sin that bars the wicked from entering is also present within the righteous. Neither enter by their merit.

Despite our anchored belief that salvation is by faith alone, we sometimes believe that we deserve to be accepted because we are not as bad as someone else. Opening the door to God’s presence means a series of locks with keys of righteous deeds that only need to be performed. Voila! We purchased our own tickets to heaven. (Or so we delude ourselves.)

We change the word order of the verse in our hearts. “But I can come into your house…” with a haphazard inclusion, “by your great love,” just to cover our religious bases.

When we read the psalms, we identify with the righteous sufferer. We are never the wicked; we are always the accepted. In many cases, this may be true. The psalms were preserved for the benefit of a community that struggled in faith and rejoiced in God’s victories.

But in our reading, among all the “me” and “my” statements, the valiant character is always God. It is our trust in his love that grants us entrance. 


Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; we bless you from the house of the Lord. — Psalm 118.26


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
2 Samuel 17 (Listen 5:00)
Psalms 5-6 (Listen 2:45)

Read more about A Worn Out Welcome
When we go into the house of the Lord, is God glad we have come?

Read more about Maintaining Sacred Space
Through spiritual disciplines and practices, we maintain and carry with us sacred space.

Counting Waves

Scripture Focus: Psalm 3.5
5 I lie down and sleep;
     I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

Psalm 4.8
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
     for you alone, Lord,
     make me dwell in safety.

From John: I’m pleased to tell you that for the next few weeks, you’ll be hearing twice a week from Erin while I’m working on another project. I look forward to hearing her voice more often during this time.

Reflection: Counting Waves
By Erin Newton

As a child prone to nightmares, I learned that a sleepful night was a dreamless night. As an adult, those sleepful nights were interrupted by crying babies or nagging thoughts about the day.

Restful sleep is a luxury. In our fast-paced world, our tragedy-filled world, our stress-inducing world—sleep is often minimal, fitful, or both. When was the last time I laid down in peace and slept?

Psalm 3 is a call for deliverance. Pleading for God to arise and deliver, the psalmist recounts the number of enemies and their mocking voices. Psalm 4 asks God for deliverance from distress. Calling for relief and mercy, the psalmist seeks the ear and attention of God. The world around them is not at peace.

I lie down and sleep.

In peace, I will lie down and sleep.

It is not the circumstances of life that lead the psalmist to close his eyes without fear or anxiety. God is a shield for his people. God is an open receiver for his people. God is the sustainer of his people. These two psalms can boast of a good night’s rest because God stands ready amidst their turbulent lives.

Turbulence usually keeps us awake. We toss and turn, thinking about how we will pay our next mortgage, how we will tell our kids about cancer, how lonely we are, how much we have messed up—and more. We fret well; we don’t sleep well.

One day, many centuries ago, Jesus got in a boat with his friends. The group set sail upon the winds of the Galilean Sea. The journey was underway, the day had been long, and Jesus laid down in peace to sleep. Suddenly, the winds shifted, and the waves tossed. A storm came over the sea; the boat was swamped with waves. But Jesus remained asleep within the boat.

The disciples urged Jesus to awake, their voices strained with fear. “Teacher, do you not care if we drown?” Their world was not at peace. Their hearts were not at peace.

But Jesus did care. He stood ready amidst the turbulent waves. And the waves were still. Jesus knew that God protects, God hears, and God sustains.

As we lay down, may our minds drift to thoughts of our Lord speaking over the waves—speaking over the lie that he doesn’t care if we drown: Hush, hush, be still.  

He cares.  


Divine Hours Prayer: Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Protect my life and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I have trusted in you.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for my hope has been in you. — Psalm 25.19-20


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.



Today’s Readings
2 Samuel 16 (Listen 4:03)
Psalms 1-2 (Listen 1:56)

Read more about State of Our Souls
Reflecting on the work of Christ in our lives is something we must repeat…an anchor in these storm-tossed waves of life.

Read more about Bearing Cursing
Rather than lashing out, may we seek consolation in God and humbly endure insults in the name of Jesus.