Category: 843 Acres

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We, Your People

Scripture Focus: Psalm 72.12-14
12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight. 

Reflection: We, Your People
By John Tillman

The true king that the psalmist references is not Solomon or any political realm to follow. Jesus is the true king who liberates and brings justice.

The golden age Solomon ushered in rode on the back of immense taxes and slave labor. Solomon’s political alliances were sealed with unholy marriages and consecrated by temples built to idols. What looked like paradise was paid for by hellish means.

Jesus, by contrast, took the weight of hell on his back and set us free from its burden. Now, Jesus calls us to be part of the glorious kingdom he’s building. The true son makes us true heirs. Only through him can we establish justice, make peace, defend the weak, seek the welfare of the poor, and liberate prisoners. It is not “we, the people,” but “He, the savior.”

Let this prayer, based on Psalm 72, constitute a confession and request that Christ will make us true heirs and ambassadors of his righteousness.

Prayer of We, Your People
We, your people, Lord, acknowledge that justice deserving the name does not come from us. Our best work will be partial and incomplete…

Endow us with your justice, O God… (v 1)
Help us defend the afflicted, save the children of the needy, and crush oppression in all its forms. (v 4)

We claim your promise to us through Eve that her seed would crush evil. (Genesis 3:15)
We give our lives and bodies as Mary did. Use us to bring down wicked rulers, lift the humble, and fill the needs of the hungry. (Luke 1.52-53)

We confess we have been deaf. Give us ears to hear the needy.
We confess we have been cowardly. Give us strength to help the afflicted.
We confess we have been hard-hearted. Give us compassion for the weak and empathy with those under oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in your sight. (v 12-14)

May we work in the name of Christ our King. Anoint us with your Spirit to proclaim good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and to release prisoners from darkness. (Isaiah 61.1-2)

Where earthly governments join these tasks, may we walk with them. But never let us rely on earthly kings to carry out the tasks of the heavenly kingdom.

Praise be to his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen. (v 19)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
“Because the needy are oppressed, and the poor cry out in misery, I will rise up,” says the Lord, “ And give them the help they long for.” — Psalm 12.5

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

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 19 (Listen 6:11) 
Psalms 72 (Listen 2:21)

Read more about Calling the Kettle
David knew better than most that human leaders, especially himself, were incapable of bringing the kind of justice he wrote of.

Calling the Kettle

Read more about Supporting Our Work
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Supporting our Work
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In Great Company

Scripture Focus: Psalm 68.11
11 The Lord announces the word,
    and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng:

Reflection: In Great Company
By John Tillman

For a decade of ministry, I quoted this verse from the NKJV: “…Great was the company of those who proclaimed it.” (Psalm 68.11) Our traveling ministry group was called “The Company.” When we introduced ourselves, we leaned into the pun but emphasized that “great” did not refer to the quality of our group but to the great number of God’s people charged to proclaim the good news.

Some commentators describe Psalm 68 as a liturgical script for a procession. It may have been a song to accompany a reenactment of the Ark of the Covenant arriving at the Temple. As an artist and actor, this possibility is intriguing. It does seem that parts of the psalm reenact the past, and parts predict the future.

In context, the “word” proclaimed in this psalm is good news of a battle won. Powerful and wicked kings and armies are overthrown as if they are nothing. The psalmist compares them to smoke scattered with a breath or wax melting away before the flames even touch it.

It is news of a victor who is mighty to save. The vulnerable are protected. The lonely are gathered into families. The prisoners are liberated. The poor are bountifully supplied.

This word of good news is true in several ways. It is historically and literally true. God gave Israel many military victories. It is prophetically and metaphysically true. God promises to crush the serpent’s head and destroy evil throughout all time and creation.

Most of all, it is finally, physically and spiritually true in Jesus. He shed his blood for us, his enemies, and was crushed for our misdeeds. Yet, he is the victor who wins the battle. He has overthrown sin and death as if they were nothing. He is the liberator who breaks captives’ chains. He is the provider who bountifully gives to the poor.

We don’t do many celebratory liturgical reenactments in the modern church. One that we do often, however, is communion. When partaking of the cup and the bread, you are also proclaiming its message. Communion proclaims Jesus’ death, his victory, his gifts, and his glory. 

We are part of a great company charged with proclaiming the good news. Let our reenactment spill out of the sanctuary. May we reenact and proclaim the life of Jesus, not merely in art or liturgy but in action and love.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Bless our God, you peoples; make the voice of his praise to be heard;
Who holds our souls in life, and will not allow our feet to slip. — Psalm 66.7-8

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

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 16 (Listen 3:46)
Psalms 68 (Listen 4:26)

This Weekend’s Readings
2 Kings 17 (Listen 7:19) Psalms 69 (Listen 4:04)
2 Kings 18 (Listen 6:72) Psalms 70-71 (Listen 3:29)

Read more about The Facade of Worship
What platforms are we willing to sacrifice for that compete with the sole worship of God? Some things must be secondary in life; God must be primary.

The Facade of Worship

Read more about Platforming Idols
Sometimes, not always, the burden in our lives is the false god we’ve decided to carry…

Platforming Idols
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Unhealthy Patterns of Insurrection

Scripture Focus: 2 Kings 15.8-12
8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned six months. 9 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his predecessors had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 
10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah. He attacked him in front of the people, assassinated him and succeeded him as king. 11 The other events of Zechariah’s reign are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel. 12 So the word of the Lord spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: “Your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” 

From John: We return to this devotional from 2021 that may be more needed today. It is concerning that since 2021, even more Americans from every religious, political, and racial demographic have said our country is in such bad shape that we need authoritarian leaders who will “break some rules,” or we may need to resort to violence, including civil war.

“Over three in ten white evangelical Protestants (31%), along with 25% of white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants, 24% of Black Protestants, 23% of non-Christians, 23% of religiously unaffiliated Americans, 21% of Hispanic Catholics, and 20% of white Catholics agree that true American patriots may have to resort to violence…” Source: 2023 American Values Survey

Reflection: Unhealthy Patterns of Insurrection
By John Tillman

As promised, Jehu’s dynasty was the longest in Israel’s history but Zechariah, the fifth in the line, only lasted six months. Stability was not the norm in Israel. Previously, the dynasty of Omri (Ahab’s father) was the longest, lasting three generations. (There were four kings in Omri’s line but the last two were both sons of Ahab.)

Zechariah’s death kicked off a period of political instability and growing threats both inside and outside Israel. Six different kings ruled Israel during this time. Four of them were assassinated by their successors. Only one passed the throne on to his son.

Israel repeatedly resorted to rebellion—perhaps rebellion against David’s sons set a pattern. Insurrection was normalized. Assassination, rather than inauguration, was common.

Recently, speaking at Hutchmoot Homebound on “Faith, Fiction, and Christian Nationalism,” Dr. Russell Moore quoted Wendell Berry’s essay “Discipline and Hope,” published in 1972. Berry said, “The most destructive of ideas is that extraordinary times justify extraordinary measures.”

Many rebels think themselves just and their targets wicked. Many in power think themselves righteous and any resistance or critique is equivalent to wickedness. Such moral relativism is not new to politics. What is new is how completely it has overtaken some Christians.

Many people today have come to believe that the times are extraordinary enough that any measures are justified, even civil war. When convinced that situations are dire enough, any measure, any abuse, any violence, any tactic seems justified. 

For Christians, it is always right to defend the weak. It is always right to rescue those crushed by the powerful. However, there is never a time when a just end justifies a sinful means to attain it. If the means are unjust, the ends are tainted.

God redeems evil acts after the fact, but he doesn’t preemptively give “hall passes” for evil as long as something good happens. Christians shouldn’t either. Good intentions don’t lead to hell, but good intentions pursued by wicked means do.

God’s purposes for our lives do not require a “Christian” government. In fact, arguably, greater kingdom work is more often done by global majority Christians living outside the cushy environment and soft-bodied sloth of the Western church.

May we pray and pursue peace. May we reject the justifications of violence by kings and those who would topple them. Our king was assassinated, yet still reigns. May he be the only king to whom we give allegiance.


Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus went on to say, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.” — Luke 13.18-19

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

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 15 (Listen 6:21)
Psalms 66-67 (Listen 3:32)

Read more about The Hero We Need Isn’t Jehu
Jehu was an incomplete savior who delivered an incomplete and unsatisfying justice.

The Hero We Need Isn’t Jehu

Read more about Tribalism and Insurrection
It is difficult to make peace with insurrectionists. They aren’t interested. In a world fluent in violence, when we speak of peace, it is “an unknown tongue.”

Tribalism and Insurrection
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The Plundering of God

Scripture Focus: 2 Kings 14.14
14 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace. He also took hostages and returned to Samaria.

Reflection: The Plundering of God
By Erin Newton

Israel and Judah were cousins, descendants of Jacob, and called and bound to the Abrahamic covenant. But down the line, they traded brotherhood for hostility—peace for enmity.

The divided kingdom is a story of the darkest hours for God’s people. Not only were nations attacking Israel and Judah from the outside, but the two nations were attacking each other on the inside.

The king of Judah, Amaziah, went to battle against Jehoash, king of Israel. Amaziah was captured by Jehoash, and his family was taken captive.

This story is not drastically different from many of the conflicts between Israel and Judah in Kings. After capturing the king, they followed the common practice of looting the temple. Gold and silver were removed from the house of the Lord.

Looting the temple of God? The opposing army was their family! Did they not worship the same God? Were those vessels not designated for the God they also vowed to serve?

The movement of temple treasures reveals how common it was for items to be taken. An Egyptian king took treasures, and twice that was given to the king of Syria and the king of Assyria. In the midst of this plundering, the temple was twice repaired.

There was a tree in the center of my town. For decades it served as the community Christmas tree. Each December, the city came together to sing carols, drink wassail, and watch the lights burst forth on the tree during the crescendo of the final carol.

Recently, people began to take leaves off the lower branches. When those were gone, small limbs were snapped away. Slowly the tree was stripped bare. A storm came through one winter, coating everything with ice. The tree didn’t survive.

When I think about the plundering of the temple, I think of this tree.

I remember how it was my own neighbors and friends who slowly stripped bare the tree. I think of Israel stripping the temple of their God.

I think of Christians today, so caught up in fighting one another that the house of God is robbed, desecrated, and laid bare by the hands of those who say they love the God that dwells there. 

Before we tear at each other, trading peace for enmity, may we pause and remember that we are bound by the same covenant and are branches on the same vine.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Concerning the commandments, Jesus taught us, saying: “This is the first: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the One, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” — Mark 123.29-31


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

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 14 (Listen 5:06)
Psalms 64-65 (Listen 2:39)

Read more about Conflict’s Aftermath
When did we forget he is the Prince of Peace? Let us ask God to replace the festering anger in our hearts with love.

Conflict’s Aftermath

Read more about Reflecting the Unity of Christ
Prayers for unity and peace from brothers and sisters worshiping in places where violence is as common as bad traffic, are especially to be emulated …

Reflecting the Unity of Christ :: Worldwide Prayer
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The Blooming Desert

Scripture Focus: Psalm 63
1 You, God, are my God, 
earnestly I seek you; 
I thirst for you, 
my whole being longs for you, 
in a dry and parched land 
where there is no water. 
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary 
and beheld your power and your glory. 
3 Because your love is better than life, 
my lips will glorify you. 
4 I will praise you as long as I live, 
and in your name I will lift up my hands. 
5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; 
with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 
6 On my bed I remember you; 
I think of you through the watches of the night. 
7 Because you are my help, 
I sing in the shadow of your wings. 
8 I cling to you; 
your right hand upholds me. 
9 Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; 
they will go down to the depths of the earth. 
10 They will be given over to the sword 
and become food for jackals. 
11 But the king will rejoice in God; 
all who swear by God will glory in him, 
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Reflection: The Blooming Desert
By John Tillman

Cartoons I watched on lazy Saturdays had a familiar visual gag to depict hunger. Two companions would be stranded without food on a deserted island. Maddened by hunger, one would watch the other slowly turn into a delicious-looking ham or a turkey leg. Meanwhile, the other would watch their companion turn into a bucket of fried chicken. Soon they would chase each other around the island, but they were chasing an illusion.

David’s desert Psalm mentions things one might fantasize about in the desert or on a deserted island. He speaks of the richest of foods and of his thirst being quenched. David’s spiritual analogy may have been inspired by physical reality.

Spiritually, we live in a desert where there is no water. We walk in a land where no food grows.

Everything our culture says to drink causes thirst rather than quenches it. Everything our culture says to consume poisons health rather than promotes it. Our world is a spiritual food desert where the only food available is not true food at all. The impulses and instincts they call life-giving make us starved and shriveled devils.

“The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There is not one of them which will not make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it is not. If you leave out justice you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials “for the sake of humanity,” and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.” — CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

Satisfying instinct leaves us unsatisfied. Filling physical desire leaves us unfulfilled. Like the cartoon companions, we chase seemingly satisfying illusions. Not only are they not real, but if we ever catch them, we’d reap only sorrow and guilt.

David found life that really matters is not fed by natural things. God is better than food, better than drink, better than sleep. He is the bread and water of life. He is our peace and our rest.

Jesus is a fountain springing up in the desert that enlivens the driest, most hopeless ground. When we drink deeply of living water, we can make the desert bloom.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse
The Lord is my shepherd, and nothing is wanting to me. In green pastures, He has settled me.


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

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 13 (Listen 4:33)
Psalms 62-63 (Listen 2:42)

Read more about Quotations from the Desert
Christ and the Israelites weren’t hungry in the desert for no reason. Nor are we.

Quotations from the Desert

Read more about Ready to Exit the Desert
May we leave sin and doubt in the desert, crossing the Jordan toward God’s calling to be his city on a hill.

Ready to Exit the Desert
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