John Tillman - The Park Forum

September 6, 2022August 28, 2022

When God Shakes Our Foundation—Readers’ Choice

Today’s post was originally published, on April 25, 2022, based on Amos 9.1a, 11-13
It was selected by reader, Michelle Perez:

“This devotional is timely and profound. I hear all too often people who remain part of failed churches led by questionable pastors place the blame entirely on enemy influence… God gave us his Holy Spirit for guidance and his word for wisdom. When a pastor’s words and actions are sinful, one needs to leverage those incredible tools to keep from becoming an idol worshiper, enabler, and ultimately, a victim.”

Scripture Focus: Amos 9.1a, 11-13
1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
“Strike the tops of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;

11 “In that day
“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
I will repair its broken walls
and restore its ruins—
and will rebuild it as it used to be,
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name,”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.
13 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills,

Reflection: When God Shakes Our Foundation—Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

Amos describes God standing by the altar and striking the pillars to bring the structure down on the people. This image is reminiscent of Samson’s destruction of the temple of Dagon. (Judges 16.23-30) Why would God treat his own Temple like Samson treated the temple of Dagon?

The people worshiped other idols alongside God, even placing images of these idols in God’s Temple. In doing so, they made him equal to those idols. To God, the elaborate temples, in Samaria and Jerusalem, had become little more than tents of wickedness.

The people reduced God to an idol so, in Amos’s vision, God reduces the Temple to rubble which falls and crushes the people. In fulfillment of this vision the Assyrians and Babylonians would crush both nations and both temples would be burned, torn down, and reduced to rubble.

God brings judgment beyond his people as well. Amos describes God going to the ends of the earth (and below it and above it and to the depths of the sea) to bring vengeance to the wicked. (Amos 9.2-4)

God is determined to renovate this world, starting with his church and his people. And renovation always starts with demolition. When leaders, churches, and organizations fall after revelations of misconduct and sin some have a tendency to blame “enemies of the church.” This is unbiblical. It is God, not Satan, who works to destroy corruption in the church. When sin is revealed and an organization crumbles, it was God who struck the blow, not an enemy.

It should not surprise us to see the foundations of our churches shaken when wickedness has been covered up. It should not dismay us to see God scatter and humiliate abusive shepherds and corrupt kings. God is doing this, not an enemy. God is striking our pillars. God’s church is renewed by the removal of corrupt leaders.

What idols have we set beside God in the temples of our hearts and in our houses of worship?

There is no hiding from God’s judgment. (Revelation 6.16) There is also no hiding from God’s mercy. Amos ends with a picture of restoration. God repairs “David’s tent” which refers to the destroyed Temple. He can and will repair us.

God seeks us as individuals and as his church, longing to heal us if we will let him. The razed can be rebuilt. The ruined can be restored. The uprooted can be replanted.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us, saying: “If I were to seek my own glory my glory would be worth nothing; in fact, my glory is conferred by the Father, by the one of whom you say, “He is our God” although you do not know him. But I know him, and if I were to say: I do not know him, I should be a liar…But I do know him, and I keep his word.” — John 8:54-56

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

Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 32 (Listen – 7:34)
1 Corinthians 8 (Listen – 1:54)

Readers’ Choice is Here!
There’s still room for your recommended posts from the last 12 months. Which one helped you heal?

Readers’ Choice 2025

Read more about Misleading the Least
Woe to leaders who mislead…Have we caused others to stumble? If so, how?…By being an example of greed or any other sin?

Misleading the Least — Readers’ Choice

September 2, 2022May 2, 2024

From Esau to Jacob—Readers’ Choice

“Esau” doesn’t mean the individual. God is using these names as collective nouns to speak to the descendants of these brothers, not the brothers themselves. We don’t do this much in our culture. The closest thing we might understand is using the name of a country’s leader to refer to actions of that nation. For example, “Volodymyr Zelensky” meaning Ukraine, or “Xi Jinping” meaning China.
God’s “hatred” isn’t arbitrary. It refers to justice for Edom’s actions—what they collectively did and continued to do. Esau, the individual, while reconciled to his brother, enjoyed God’s blessing. His descendants continually opposed Israel throughout their history and came to represent, poetically, all people opposed to God and God’s people.
God’s “hatred” is not absolute. Edomites are not arbitrarily cursed or hated throughout history or in totality. In many places, God implies hope for Edom. He shows he cares for them, gives them their own land, and commands that no Israelite should despise an Edomite. (Deuteronomy 2.1-8, 12; 23.7)
This statement’s purpose is to show love, not hatred. God speaks poetically to reassure his people. He points to justice done on their behalf, which proves his love. To Micah’s readers, this justice was the downfall of “The Wicked Land” (Malachi 1.4) that harmed them.

We can be assured of God’s love and justice. We are not innocent. Yet, we are not hated. We are loved. This is demonstrated in Christ as God turns “Esaus” into “Jacobs.”

God loved us when we were like Esau—sinners, rebels, and persecutors. (Romans 5.8) All of us have been children of Esau, but by God’s grace, we can become children of Jacob and brothers and sisters of Christ (Matthew 12.50). Through Jesus, we cry “Abba, father,” (Romans 8.15; Galatians 4.6; Mark 14.36) for “Jacob, have I loved.” (Malachi 1.2)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick…And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners. — Matthew 9.12-13

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

Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 27 (Listen -3:52)
1 Corinthians 4 (Listen – 3:15)

This Weekend’s Readings
Jeremiah 28 (Listen -3:05), 1 Corinthians 5 (Listen – 1:58)
Jeremiah 29 (Listen -5:44), 1 Corinthians 6 (Listen – 3:03)
Jeremiah 30-31 (Listen 11:21), 1 Corinthians 7 (Listen – 6:09)

Read more about Running to Forgive
In this moment, in a limited way, Esau demonstrates the welcome of the gospel. The wronged party shows undeserved mercy.

Running to Forgive

Readers’ Choice is Here!
There’s still room for your recommended posts from the last 12 months. Which ones did you share with a friend?

Readers’ Choice 2025

September 1, 2022August 21, 2022

Prayer When None are Faithful—Readers’ Choice

Readers’ Choice Month:
This September, The Park Forum is looking back on readers’ selections of our most meaningful and helpful devotionals from the past 12 months. Thank you for your readership. This month is all about hearing from you. Submit a Readers’ Choice post today.

Today’s post was originally published, on January 7th, 2022, based on Psalm 12.
It was selected by reader, cjs:
“This devotional is how I feel almost daily. Where has truth gone in our world? I especially liked the prayer, which I have saved to use in the future. I shared this post with friends that are struggling with the same issue. All of them said they saved the prayer for their personal use in the future as they too, struggle to find truth in our broken world. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Fill us with the living water that heals us from the inside out. Fill us, so we may serve You in truth and faith.”

Scripture Focus: Psalm 12
1 Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore;
those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
2 Everyone lies to their neighbor;
they flatter with their lips
but harbor deception in their hearts.
3 May the Lord silence all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue—
4 those who say,
“By our tongues we will prevail;
our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the Lord.
“I will protect them from those who malign them.”
6 And the words of the Lord are flawless,
like silver purified in a crucible,
like gold refined seven times.
7 You, Lord, will keep the needy safe
and will protect us forever from the wicked,
8 who freely strut about
when what is vile is honored by the human race.

Reflection: Prayer When None are Faithful—Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

In Psalm 12 we see a cry and a response. The psalmist cries out about lies, deception, and boastful leaders. God responds, saying, “I will now arise…” God’s response also gives us a clue about who the lies targeted and who suffered under the deceptive and false leaders: the poor.

God says the “poor are plundered” and the “needy groan.” He says they have been “maligned” but that he will keep them safe and protect them from the wicked.

When we look around at our society, we can easily relate to the psalmist’s cries from Psalm 12. The costs of lies are all around us. Violence. Confusion. Desperation. Loss of life. They fill our news programs, newsfeeds, and memories. Over this weekend, reflect on Psalm 12 and pray this prayer based on its themes.

Prayer When None Are Faithful
Help, Lord, for no one is faithful!
Kings promise help but only help themselves.
Leaders demand loyalty while planning betrayals
Braggarts call themselves “saviors” to boost their influence.

Boasting and flattering people rise up
They weaponize their words and destroy
They threaten and pretend to be joking
They cause death and deny responsibility

We are dismayed, Lord…
We are sheep among wicked shepherds…

Will only braggarts lead?
Will only the boastful hold sway?
Will deception take root and blossom?
Will disdain and derision take bows to applause?
Will people believe anything so long as it insults their enemy?
Will people deny any authority other than their own desires and their own words?
Is there any loyalty left to the truth?
Is there anyone faithful?

Rise up, Lord, and protect the poor from the powerful
Sweep down, Lord, and shield those being crushed, defending truth
Speak up, Lord, and drown out boastful lies designed to deceive the elect
Step down, Lord, and make those that strut pridefully stumble into their own traps.

Come, Lord Jesus, the Way. Lead us away from wicked shepherds.
Come, Lord Jesus, the Truth. Cut down idolatrous liars with the sword of your mouth.
Come, Lord Jesus, the Life. Fill us with living water that heals us from the inside out.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name. — Psalm 86.11

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

Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 26 (Listen -4:04)
1 Corinthians 3 (Listen – 3:05)

Read more about The Floodlight of Epiphany
Today, we will pray that the light of Christ would dawn, exposing darkness.

The Floodlight of Epiphany

Readers’ Choice is Here!
There’s still room for your favorite post from the last 12 months. Tell us about it and we will repost it in September.

Readers’ Choice 2025

August 19, 2022August 18, 2022

The Purpose of Godly Shame

Scripture Focus: Jeremiah 13.22-27
22 And if you ask yourself,
“Why has this happened to me?”—
it is because of your many sins
that your skirts have been torn off
and your body mistreated.
23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 “I will scatter you like chaff
driven by the desert wind.
25 This is your lot,
the portion I have decreed for you,”
declares the Lord,
“because you have forgotten me
and trusted in false gods.
26 I will pull up your skirts over your face
that your shame may be seen—
27 your adulteries and lustful neighings,
your shameless prostitution!
I have seen your detestable acts
on the hills and in the fields.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
How long will you be unclean?”

Reflection: The Purpose of Godly Shame
By John Tillman

Wails pierce the air. “Why is this happening to me?” asks the child with the broken toy.

“Because you broke it,” answers the parent.

The empty-handed child screams. Does the parent love her child? Of course.

God is Jerusalem’s parent. He patiently gave her everything she needed and called her to a high purpose. Instead, they became accustomed to evils and abuses common in other nations and abandoned the ways of the Lord. They had not just broken something inconsequential, like the toy in the example above. They had broken actual human lives and destroyed and corrupted the holiness of God’s Temple and their covenant with him.

God anticipated that when consequences of their actions arrived, the people of Jerusalem would cry like the careless child, “Why has this happened to me?”

Like the Jewish nation God established, we are intended to “image God” to the world. We show the world God’s face and are called “the body of Christ.” Too often our “body of Christ” is weak, ineffective, and corrupted. Too often the face of God we show is wrathful and unforgiving. God will set out, just as he did with Jerusalem, to expose hypocrisy and abuse. When this happens we might cry in shame, “Why is this happening to us?”

Godly shame recognizes the gulf between our identity and our actions. However, God does not intend to leave us shamed. God is not an abusive parent. When we cry, even from self-inflicted wounds, he cares. The answer to “Why is this happening to us?,” is only partially, “because of your many sins.” (Jeremiah 13.22) The deeper answer is, “So I can restore you and fill you with good things.”

God promises to wipe out Jerusalem like a dish, leaving it upside down and empty. (2 Kings 21.13) The purpose of emptying something of filth is to fill it with something of worth. The purpose of cleansing something is to reuse it.

No matter how corrupt our hearts become, on the other side of confession is restoration and freedom from shame. If we allow him to empty us of pride, he will fill us with honor. If we allow him to empty us of sin, he will fill us with righteousness. If we allow him to empty us of cultural poisons, he will fill us with living water. We can then pour these offerings out to bless all those around us.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!
Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile! — Psalm 32.1-2

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

Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 13 (Listen -4:11)
Galatians 4 (Listen – 4:13)

This Weekend’s Readings
Jeremiah 14 (Listen -3:51), Galatians 5 (Listen – 4:39)
Jeremiah 15 (Listen -3:22), Galatians 6 (Listen – 2:18)

Read more about From Shameless to Blameless
Are we shamelessly sinful, defending our sins? Or are we humbly repentant, called blameless ONLY in Christ?

From Shameless to Blameless

Readers’ Choice is Coming!
What posts from the past 12 months strengthened your faith? Share them with us and we’ll reshare them.

Readers’ Choice 2025

August 18, 2022August 16, 2022

Our Vengeance is Repentance

Scripture Focus: Jeremiah 12.1-2; 15-17
1 You are always righteous, Lord,
when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.

15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.

Reflection: Our Vengeance is Repentance
By John Tillman

The Bible holds many complaints to God. Job, psalmists, Habakkuk, Elijah, Jeremiah, and others come to God with complaints, laments, and questions. One of the most common is: “Why do the wicked prosper?”

God’s response to Jeremiah seems confusing: “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” (Jeremiah 12.5) This metaphor told Jeremiah the problem was worse than Jeremiah knew. “It’s not just a few evil people who’ve gotten rich, Jeremiah. Wait until you hear what the shepherds of my people are doing. Wait until you see the full picture.” (Jeremiah 12.10-11)

The Bible is described as a mirror to see what we look like. (James 1.23-24) Another mirror is the state of our world. Paul’s confession in Romans 7 is ours as well: “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7.19-24)

Organizations are not immune to Paul’s observation. Don’t we want governments, businesses, and churches to do good? Yet, we are forced to admit continually that “evil is right there with us” (Romans 7.21) Should children starve? Even in the United States, we see it happen. Should people be sexually abused? In secular and religious institutions we see it happen. The evil that we see in the world? It is our face in the mirror—individually and collectively.

The solution to evil isn’t as simple as replacing “bad guys” with “good guys.” Just a few pages ago (Jeremiah 5.1) we learned there aren’t any “good guys.”

Like Jeremiah, sometimes all we feel that we can do is weep. (Jeremiah 4.19; 8.18, 21-22) If it was up to us, that’s all we could do. But God has more in store. Though we and our nation may suffer as violence and extremism gain more ground, we have hope.

This hope transcends vengeance on our enemies. God promises Jeremiah that even Israel’s enemies, used by God to punish them, will be restored by God if they turn to him. (Jeremiah 12.15-17) ANY people who listen, who learn his ways, will be incorporated into God’s family as brothers and sisters.

There will certainly be those who refuse God’s mercy and are destroyed in God’s just wrath. However, our ultimate hope and vengeance is the repentance and restoration of our enemies, not their destruction. Let us love our enemies today, embracing this truth.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Blessed be the Lord day by day, the God of our salvation, who bears our burdens.
He is our God, the God of our salvation; God is the Lord, by whom we escape death. — Psalm 68.19-20

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

Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 12 (Listen -3:06)
Galatians 3 (Listen – 4:39)

Read more about The Law that leads to Grace
Christ’s death opened the path of grace through faith to all people. In Christ, God came near…

The Law that leads to Grace :: Guided Prayer

Readers’ Choice is Coming!
We want to know posts you loved from the past 12 months. Share them with us and we’ll share them with others.

Readers’ Choice 2025