Author: John Tillman

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 17 Listen: (3:24) Read: 2 Corinthians 10 Listen: (2:45)

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 17.16-20

16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. 18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Reflection: Kingly Qualifications

By John Tillman

Many places in scripture tell us God considered Israel’s request for a king an idolatrous act, a rejection of him, and a rebellion. (1 Samuel 8.6-9) Yet, knowing the request will one day come, God gave Moses a list of qualifications for kings.

The godly king Moses described is nothing like the ones Israel had and nothing like the ones we ask for today. In a poll released in July of 2024, Americans rated important traits in a president. They don’t compare well with God’s priorities.

God’s first requirement is to not build up expensive military resources. (Deut 17.16) The second requirement is sexual purity in marriage to just one partner. (Deut 17.17) The third requirement is to not enrich himself through his position. (Deut 17.17) Sounds tough already, right? But the last qualification is the kicker and most important.

God wanted kings to be biblical scholars. (Deut 17.18-20) The first task of the king was to write out his own copy of God’s law and to study and read it every day, so as to follow it without turning to the right or the left. As Tim Mackie of the Bible Project says, Israel’s king was supposed to be “a Bible nerd.”

These kingly qualifications aren’t binding on our political systems, however, we can evaluate political leaders or other kinds of leaders using these principles. It’s tempting to look at the list, despair, and complain that there’s no one qualified. We can blame the system and absolve ourselves from guilt over who we choose to support. However, there’s a twist…

In democracies similar to the United States, authority derives from the consent of the governed. You are the king. These principles are for you. The reason our leaders don’t match them is decades of us not matching them.

This is not just a technicality for citizens of democracies. It is a theological reality. With or without political power, we are the body of Christ, our king, on this earth. As regents and ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are the rulers commanded to do these things.

To reign with Christ, develop the qualities of a godly ruler. Love and study the Bible. Do not enrich yourselves through misuse of power. Be sexually pure in marriage or chaste in singleness. Do not trust in violence or its tools but trust in the name of the Lord our God. (Psalm 20.7)

Properly representing Jesus’ kingdom will have effects on earthly ones.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Come, let us sing to the Lord; … For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. — Psalm 95.1, 3

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Kings Like Ahab

Victories don’t grant leaders a never-expiring stamp of God’s approval or mean a leader is “God’s man or woman.”

Read more: To Wicked Kings, Foreign and Domestic

We must abandon Jonah’s sinful wish to weaponize God’s wrath. God will not be our tool of destruction.

Here are the links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 10 Listen: (3:12) Read: 2 Corinthians 4 Listen: (3:02)

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 11 Listen: (4:38) Read:  2 Corinthians 5 Listen: (3:14)
Read: Deuteronomy 12 Listen: (5:11) Read: 2 Corinthians 6 Listen: (2:31)

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 10.12-22

12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? 14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Reflection: Green Flag Fear

By John Tillman

The people are told to “fear God.” The result of this fear will be walking with God in obedience, service, and love.

Normally, fearing someone is a bad thing. It’s a red flag.

If you feared a bully in school, you’d go out of your way to avoid them. If you feared your boss, you’d try to leave the company or get transferred to another department. If you feared your spouse or parent, you’d seek help to be protected from them.

Fearing God, however, is a green flag. There’s two reasons for this.

One reason is that fearing God means knowing he is holy. Fearing God is closer in meaning to respect and reverence. When you fear a person, you recognize they are evil and may harm you. When you fear God, you recognize God is holy and will punish evil, so instead of wanting to avoid him, you want to be close to him. The safest place to be is near him. We only fear God and hide from him when we have done evil. But even then, when we return in repentance, we have no reason to fear.

A second reason is that fearing God makes us more like him. Fearing humans damages us. It makes us skittish and anxious. We are stressed and likely to snap at others. We are demanding and selfish. When we fear God, it heals us. Proper fear of God leads to actions that represent God’s nature. We are bolder because, once we fear God, who can make us afraid? We are more at peace, because being at peace with God, who can provoke us to fear? We are more generous because, fearing the one who owns the heavens, who can make us feel impoverished?

Moses said that fearing God leads to obedience, love, service, and a commitment and devotion that goes to the core of our being. (Deuteronomy 10.12) Let this kind of fear of the Lord guide us to show no partiality and tolerate no bribery. May we defend the weak, love the foreigner, clothe the poor, and feed the hungry. (Deuteronomy 10.17-18) This demonstrates fear of the Lord.

The Lord has chosen us to represent him, stiff-necked as we are. Proper fear of him will loosen our necks to obey, fill our hearts with love, and inspire our hands and feet to actions of service.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

The Lord has pleasure in those who fear him, in those hwo await his gracious favor. — Psalm 147,12

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer

 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Wrongly Placed Fear

Fear has made American Christians a paranoid and unpredictable group. 

Read more: Fear and Power, Power and Fear

Like Laban…Let us hear the warning of God who protects those pursued by the powerful, and have mercy on the fearful.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 9 Listen: (5:06)  Read: 2 Corinthians 3 Listen: (2:25)

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 9.4-6

4 After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Reflection: Grace Not Merit

By John Tillman

Moses clears something up for the people before the conquest of Canaan begins and we need to hear it too. “You aren’t better than them,” God says.

God chooses by grace, not merit. The Canaanites deserved to lose the promised land because of their wickedness, but Israel did not deserve to take it because of righteousness or integrity.

God told Abraham the sins in Canaan had not “reached their full measure.” (Genesis 15.16-21) The Canaanites experienced God’s grace and patience, but that patience ran out. By the time Moses and the people arrived, the measuring cup overflowed. Canaanite culture was promiscuous and abusive. Their kings were brutal and unjust. Their gods were false and degrading. God intended to wipe out the way they lived, the way they governed, and the way they worshiped.

Moses also warned, live up to this or lose it.

After generations, God’s people hadn’t wiped out wickedness, they soaked it up. They adopted Canaanite cultural practices, demanded a similar government, and placed idols to false gods in God’s temple. By the time Manasseh took the throne, God testified that Judah was worse than the nations he drove out.

God shows no partiality. God used the Assyrians and Babylonians to drive out Israel and Judah, just as he used Israel to drive out the Canaanites. What do we learn from this?

Living in the shade of God’s grace, we can develop a sense of divine entitlement. “We deserve this power, this comfort, this pleasure.” We don’t. This spiritual entitlement indicates a loss of the fear of the Lord and paves the way for us, like Israel, to conform to things we should confront.

Our culture’s lusts lead to promiscuity and abuse, its greed leads to brutality and injustice, and its idols lead to deception and degradation. Our salvation and identity as God’s children is secure in Jesus, but there will be judgment both in this world and after for what we fail to confront and what we fail to do. (Revelation 2.5, 15-16; 3.3, 16-19; 1 Corinthians 3.10-17; 2 Corinthians 5.9-11)

Let God begin his conquest in our hearts. Holy Spirit, help us wipe from our hearts lusts that lead to promiscuity and abuse, greed that leads to brutality and injustice, and idols that degrade and deceive.

We should be different. The way we live, govern, and worship should reflect the humility of knowing we are unworthy and the conviction of knowing all are invited into God’s grace.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living. — Psalm 116.8

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Repeating History

Like Israel, we have failures in our past, both individually and as the global Church…At times, we have been more like Anakites than God’s people.

Read more: Glimpsing the Promise

If we don’t trust that “God’s way” will work, we will abuse power, act rashly, and mistake angry words or actions for holy ones.