Category: 843 Acres

Posted on

No Asterisks

Scripture Focus: Judges 4.4-6
4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. 6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.

*I love the NIV in general, however, one of its disagreements with other translations is to render the same Hebrew word translated as “judge” everywhere else, as “lead” in Deborah’s case from Judges 4.4.

Readers’ Choice Month is Coming:
This August, The Park Forum will look back on our readers’ selections of devotionals from the past 12 months that were the most meaningful and helpful to you. This month is all about hearing from you and thanking you for your readership.

Today’s devotional was a Readers’ Choice selection from last year. Last year, reader, Deborah said “This commentary is both beautifully written and filled with TRUTH! You blessed me this morning! Deborah, who appreciates her name even more now.” And, reader, Jason said, “We all need to hear this again. Good word.”

Please fill out this form or email us about devotionals from this past year that were special to you. You don’t need to have a long comment (although you can) but we’d love to hear from you.

Reflection: No Asterisks
By John Tillman

Deborah’s judgeship doesn’t deserve an asterisk. 

Some claim Deborah’s judgeship is a punishment for Israel, not a blessing. They claim God only used Deborah because Barak (and every other male Israelite) was too “weak” to stand up. This interpretation insults Deborah, Barak, and all Israel, based on assumptions that are extrabiblical and unsupported by the text.

Deborah summons Barak and he comes. She commands him into battle and he goes. She goes with him to battle and they conquer. Then, they jointly lead the nation in a prophetic song of worship. “Princes” of Israel volunteer to serve under her leadership and are praised. She initiates a generation of peace and prosperity.

The biblical writers make no apologies or explanations for Deborah. There is no scriptural asterisk indicating Deborah’s judgeship is the last resort of a desperate God who couldn’t find a man to do the job.

God did not “settle” for Deborah. He chose her. 

Deborah’s story is also not one of feminist triumphalism or superiority. We might like to imagine Deborah riding into battle as Éowyn did in the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings, slaying the Witch King, shouting “I am no man!” However, God did not defeat Sisera on a technicality and Deborah’s prophecy is not fulfilled by her killing the villain. That honor goes to another woman, of lower status, Jael. Jael’s hand drove the spike but it was Deborah’s raised fist that began the battle. 

God planned to use women to crush evil from the beginning. God promised Eve her seed would crush the head of the serpent. So it is not a fluke that women would be involved in crushing the heads of evil men. These women are simply reflecting the birth pangs of the reality of God’s promise.

Deborah’s leadership is not a fluke or a technicality. God no more “settled” for her than he “settled” for the sinfulness of Samson, or the rashness of Jepthah, or the doubts and low standing of Gideon. 

So what does this mean?

We may doubt our place in God’s work. We also may have our place in God’s work doubted by others. However, our gender, our race, our background, or our nationality do not disqualify us from fulfilling God’s purposes. God didn’t settle for you. He called and chose you.

For the humble whom God raises up to lead, all asterisks are removed.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
You are my hope, O Lord God, my confidence since I was young. — Psalm 71.5

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

Today’s Readings
Judges 4  (Listen 3:57)
1 Timothy 5 (Listen 3:22)


This Weekend’s Readings
Judges 5  (Listen 4:36) 1 Timothy 6 (Listen 3:16)
Judges 6  (Listen 6:15) Titus 1 (Listen 2:24)

Posted on

Hypocrites, Conspirators, and Old Wives Tales

Scripture Focus: 1 Timothy 4.2-11
2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 

6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. 

11 Command and teach these things.

Reflection: Hypocrites, Conspirators, and Old Wives Tales
By John Tillman

Paul and Timothy addressed rumors that Jesus had returned and the final resurrection had already occurred. These Gnostic, dualistic, conspiracists forbade the continuation of normal life and demanded the end of marriages, work, and other norms. 

We might think anyone would be silly to believe such nonsense until we look around at our own era. Wild rumors, old wives tales, conspiracy theories, and extremism are as rampant now as then.

Some conspiracy theories are political, talking about secret corruption and why you can only trust particular sources. Some are economic, talking about who is profiting, who is losing, and who is really to blame! Some involve justice, talking about statistically rare crime as rampant or statistically frequent crimes as unimportant. Some are religious, talking about who’s secretly a heretic, a Fascist, a Marxist, or a liberal. (Yes, theological conversations are constantly invaded by politicization.) 

Conspiracies conveniently prevent questioning their assertions. “If you question it, you must be part of it! You are one of them!” Empathy is banned. Nuance is forbidden. Outrage is applauded. Extreme action is justified. The commonality to every conspiracy theory is this: Fear all others. Trust only us.

When people we know or admire slide into cultish conspiratorial thought, it’s painful. In a very real way, we lose them. They are consumed, eaten up, by their cultish obsession.

Paul challenges Timothy to continue to point out the truth, even in the face of shameless, unconscionable lies. This is for the sake of the church and for the sake of the brothers and sisters in his community.

We should warn people against and help people escape cultish conspiracies. Even when “flesh and blood” oppose us, our struggle is not with them. (Ephesians 6.12) There are spiritual forces that we can only oppose with the gospel and prayer. 

Godless myths float about looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5.8) Deceiving spirits crouch by our doorways and devices hungering to master us. (Genesis 4.7) Hypocritical liars spin every “fact” to benefit them. (1 Timothy 4.2) They forbid us from good things painted as bad and bid us adopt wicked things painted as good.

“Train yourself to be godly,” Paul says. Without this training, not only can we not help others, we are susceptible. The escape from conspiratorial cults begins with this: Fear no human. Trust in Jesus. Continue pointing to truth, no matter how many point in the other direction.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
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
Judges 3  (Listen 4:30)
1 Timothy 4 (Listen 2:05)

Read more about Facing Wolves
In hunting for “wolves” we can injure a lot of sheep. People who hunt wolves often become wolf-like themselves.

Facing Wolves

Submit a Readers’ Choice post!
#ReadersChoice is a time for you to share your favorite Park Forum posts from the year.
What post helped you grieve?

Readers’ Choice 2025
Posted on

Generational Blame Game

Scripture Focus: Judges 2.10-11, 18
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 

18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 

Reflection: Generational Blame Game
By Erin Newton

In Judges, timelines are divided by generations and individual judges. Each generation is characterized by their failures and fleeting restoration under a judge’s leadership.

Judges describes this generation as forgetting God and serving the Baals. The description is vague. Forgetfulness has a generic sense that includes a myriad of sinful practices. They could have been entrenched in greed, injustice, sexual abuse, pride, oppression, idolatry, deceitfulness, or malice. The plural use of “Baals” is the author’s catchall phrase to demean any foreign deity. This generation is simply unfaithful.

The repetitive assertion that the next generation begins with failure reads like popular headlines today: “Atheism Doubles Among Generation Z” or “Almost Half of Practicing Christian Millennials Say Evangelism Is Wrong.” Faith is measured by church attendance, participation in religious practices, or involvement in parachurch organizations. When one generation breaks from the norm, it is labeled as a failure.

Today, some pastors dreamily speak of the “greatest generation” and pine for things to be like “they were in the 1950s.” Is this retrospective vision true to reality? Is each generation truly worse than the generation before? Such statements disregard the prevalence of injustices.

Although the failing generations and redemptive judges represent a cyclical storyline in Judges, God remains unchanging. It is not the sins of the people that should attract the spotlight here. The immutability of God shines through the shadows of evil.

God is forever faithful while people are reliably faithless. We will never arrive at a place of pure obedience to God without the snares and traps of our sinful conduct. The tendency to either look back with fondness at prior generations fails to realize the injustices that existed openly among Christians. The tendency to look forward in disgust at the new generation as “more wayward” disregards the unchanging nature of God to save, sanctify, and revitalize the people.

Despite all the failures of the ancient generations, God saved them.

The cycles of Judges, however, reveal that revivals are not permanent. Children cannot rely on the faith of their parents to establish their own faith for tomorrow. We must realize the power of this world will continue to negatively affect each generation.

But God remains as unchanged and faithful as he was five thousand years ago. Despite all our failures, God will save.

Cling to the hope of revival. Trust in God-appointed leaders. Pray and persevere for the restoration of the people.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Finally, brothers, let your minds be filled with everything that is true, everything that is honorable, everything that is upright and pure, everything that we love and admire—with whatever is good and praiseworthy. Keep doing everything you learned from me and were told by me and have heard or seen me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. — Philippians 4.8-9

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

Today’s Readings
Judges 2  (Listen 3:19)
1 Timothy 3 (Listen 2:10)

Share a Readers’ Choice post!
#ReadersChoice is a time for you to share your favorite Park Forum posts from the year.
What post helped you understand prayer?

Readers’ Choice 2025

Read more about A Generational Lament
“Every generation blames the one before…” Old and young scoff at each other’s sufferings, separating into camps of division and bias.

A Generational Lament
Posted on

Learning to Live in the Land

Scripture Focus: Judges 1.1-2
1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Which tribe should go first to attack the Canaanites?” 2 The LORD answered, “Judah, for I have given them victory over the land.” 

From John: We have five bonus Student Writers this year who are writing for us this July. These students attended meetings and trainings with our other students and received similar coaching on their writing submissions. We are so thankful to everyone who helped make this year’s Student Writers Month the biggest we’ve ever done, including the students themselves, our special guests and speakers, and of course our donors who make everything we do possible.

Reflection: Learning to Live in the Land
By Alyssa Stockdill

The book of Judges begins on the heels of Joshua’s “happily ever after.” What has, until this point, been a story of getting to and conquering the land, now becomes a story of trying to live in the land. 

God continues to remind Israel that as he has already he will continue to bring victory, but for them to truly settle down, the current inhabitants must be driven out. 

Judah and Simeon are successful. They live and fight based on the reality of God’s promise. Others are not. God’s intent was to keep Israel set apart from the people and influence of Canaan, but when faced with opposition, they settle for a tenuous arrangement. They allow the Canaanites to remain, either as forced laborers or uneasy neighbors. God’s vision for the flourishing of his people required faithful execution of his commands and faith in his promises. This compromise sets the stage for colossal failure ahead. Israel’s turn from, and return to, Yahweh is a cycle that will repeat throughout the rest of Judges and far beyond.

As followers of Jesus, we have already found our victory in him. However, we are also on a lifelong journey of transformation into his image (2 Corinthians 3.18). We may have arrived in the land, but now we must learn to live in it.  

Do you feel that you are in a battle for the life God promised to you? Sometimes we battle against our own flesh (Galatians 5.17), struggling to live in freedom from our sin and brokenness. Sometimes we battle against the powers and the principalities of this world (Ephesians 6.12). This is the heartache of living in the “already-but-not-yet.”

Will we compromise and allow the challenges we face to sow seeds for future failure? Or will we fight these battles with confidence that God has already done so on our behalf? Will we take heart because we know the one who has already overcome the world? 

The good news is that we serve a God who is faithful even when we are faithless. Failures big and small may play heavily into our story, but they are never the final word. The course charted in these early pages heads straight for destruction and exile, but this is the story of a God who is willing to go to the greatest lengths to bring his people home.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse
The earth is the Lord’s and all the fullness thereof, the world and we who dwell within. Thanks be to God.

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

Today’s Readings
Judges 1 (Listen 5:08)
1 Timothy 2 (Listen  1:38)

Read more about Transformed by Koinonia
Within us are exalted idols and habits that must be torn down…fruits of the spirit that we have trampled under selfish feet.

Transformed by Koinonia

Share a Readers’ Choice post!
What post helped you forgive?

https://forms.gle/dfa88nayaEEqiy9X7

Posted on

Our Merciless Culture

Scripture Focus: 1 Timothy 1.13-14
13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Reflection: Our Merciless Culture
By John Tillman

The mercy and forgiveness offered to Paul is staggering, scandalous, and in our own time, practically impossible.

One of the least Christian things about American culture today is how we feel about forgiveness and mercy. We frown at forgiveness in general, but to forgive someone who harmed you or to forgive someone outside one’s tribe or group, is anathema. If you want to be an outcast, forgive someone outside your political party, your race, or your gender.

Every culture is a bit cynical about mercy and repentance. Reasonable skepticism is justifiable. Even the apostles didn’t accept Paul until Barnabas spoke up for him. The type of mercy extended to Paul and many others in scripture would never be tolerated or allowed today. 

Our culture has become anti-mercy, going past skepticism and walking into the wilderness of hatred and retributive violence. In recent years, when people have offered public forgiveness to individuals that everyone agreed did not deserve it, our world wouldn’t tolerate it. We are opposed to forgiveness. We go beyond refusing to forgive—we label forgiveness and mercy, not just foolish, but evil.

A culture that is invested in and glorifies hatred, retribution, payback, and vengeance cannot allow an act of mercy to stand as a simple act of mercy. It must be critiqued and spun. Media and pundits immediately will attempt to twist it, politicize it, and discount it.

Our world is desperate to explain away Christian forgiveness as something else. It must be enabling evil. It must be the result of racism. It must be a naive and foolish gesture. It must be anything other than Christian, gospel forgiveness. Never that.

Otherwise, we might be forced to set down our weapons of vengeance. Otherwise, we might be forced to question our treasured value of total war against our ideological enemies. Otherwise, we might have to abandon our “ends justify the means” political machinations. Otherwise, we might be forced to admit we need mercy ourselves.

Our world would like to pretend that it hates mercy because it cares for victims. But it requires it’s victims to stay victims, suffering eternally. Healing or restoration doesn’t fuel hatred, only pain does. Our culture’s interest in victims is mostly as fuel for hatred. Our world hates mercy because it loves hate.

As Christians, we must defeat hate by truly caring for victims and by forgiving in shocking and scandalous ways.

*Forgiveness and mercy do not mean abandoning the pursuit of justice through the law. It also does not mean asking victims to be quiet or to stop sharing their pain and their stories. For a short brush-up on the tension between forgiveness and justice, see this Veritas Forum video with Rachael Denhollander.


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

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

Today’s Readings
Joshua 24 (Listen 5:49)
1 Timothy 1 (Listen  2:59)

Read more about When God Has Mercy…Will We?
Jonah held his bitterness so deeply that the depths of the sea couldn’t wash it away and the sun couldn’t burn it away. How deeply will we hold on to ours?

When God Has Mercy…Will We?

Share a Readers’ Choice post!

#ReadersChoice is the time for you to share your favorite Park Forum posts from the year.
What post helped you better understand scripture?
https://forms.gle/dfa88nayaEEqiy9X7