Incomplete Joy

Scripture: Isaiah 44.19-20
No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him;
he cannot save himself, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

Reflection: Incomplete Joy
The Park Forum

Because modernism has largely done away with physical representations of deities, it is far more difficult to identify the idols which pursue our hearts each day. As I’ve written, a culture’s idols are revealed by what it pours the most energy and resources into. Ancient cultures built structures that survived millennia; U.S. investment portfolios designed around the 7 deadly sins outperform the S&P 500 every quarter.

Yet our idols are not always sins like lust and anger. Timothy Keller, in his book Counterfeit Gods, explains, “When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness and self-worth, it is essentially an ‘idol,’ something you are actually worshiping.”

The greatest sign of idolatry is its churn. Pursuit after pursuit proves insufficient. Jobs come and go; markets crash; lovers disappoint; things once counted on fall through. It’s not the pressure of modern culture, it’s the result of our heart’s natural path to seek fulfillment in things outside God. In his observations of 19th century America, Alexis De Tocqueville recorded:

Sixty years is too brief a compass for man’s imagination. The incomplete joys of this world can never satisfy his heart.

The fulfilling life we long for isn’t found in our pursuits, but as a result of our ability to prune such things from sapping our time and energy. Only then can we fully pour ourselves into, and receive everything we need from, the one true source of life. Dr. Keller concludes:

Idolatry is not just a failure to obey God, it is a setting of the whole heart on something besides God. This cannot be remedied only by repenting that you have an idol, or using willpower to try to live differently. Turning from idols is not less than these two things, but it is far more.

“Setting the mind and heart on things above” where “your life is hid with Christ in God” means appreciation, rejoicing, and resting in what Jesus has done for you. It entails joyful worship, a sense of God’s reality in prayer.

Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol. That is what will replace your counterfeit gods. If you uproot the idol and fail to “plant” the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back.

Prayer: The Request for Presence
May God be merciful to us and bless us, show us the light of his countenance and come to us. — Psalm 67.1

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Isaiah 44 (Listen – 5:12)
Revelation 14 (Listen – 3:51)

Additional Reading
Read More about The Idol of Immorality, Impurity, and Greed
Carved stone rain gods can’t bring rain, and our photoshopped gods of sexual expression leave us just as dry—alone in a loveless drought.

Read More about The Internet as Babel
When you are worshiping them, idols don’t seem religious. They seem immensely practical. Technology hasn’t tricked us any more than wooden and gold idols tricked the ancients. We deceive ourselves.

For Your Goodness :: Worldwide Prayer

Scripture: Isaiah 43.9, 12
All the nations gather together
and the peoples assemble.
Which of their gods foretold this
and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
…I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.

Reflection: For Your Goodness :: Worldwide Prayer
A prayer of devotion from Hong Kong

We thank you for your goodness,
Lovingkindness and everlasting love;
May your glory be showered upon us.
Let us worship you in spirit and in truth,
For there is no other God like you in heaven or
Earth, keeping covenant and showing
Lovingkindness to your servants
Who walk before you with all their heart.

O Lord, our God,
Help us to humble ourselves and pray,
To seek your face and turn from our wicked ways;
Hear our prayer,
Forgive our sins and heal our land.

O Lord, our God,
Yours is the Kingdom,
And the power,
And the glory,
Forever and ever.

*Prayer from Hallowed be Your Name: A collection of prayers from around the world, Dr. Tony Cupit, Editor.

Prayer: Request for Presence
O Lord, watch over us and save us from this generation forever. — Psalm 12.7

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Isaiah 43 (Listen – 4:06)
Revelation 13 (Listen – 3:20)

Additional Reading
Read More from Not Abandoned :: Worldwide Prayer, from the USA
Then came the times of my rebellion, the days
of my senseless rage, when I abandoned
The ways of God, and followed in the vanity
Of trusting in the strength of men.

Read More about God, the Wall Breaker :: Worldwide Prayer, from Japan
God, help us to break down dividing walls of ignorance, indifference, prejudice, and discrimination.

The Weight of Nations :: A Guided Prayer

Scripture: Revelation 10.10-11
I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

Guided prayers and meditations are a common part of Christian spiritual practice. Return to this prayer through the day or over the weekend, as it will be a different experience based on your mood and surroundings. — John

Reflection: The Weight of Nations :: A Guided Prayer
By John Tillman

Isaiah 40 is one of the most loved and read sections of Isaiah. It starts out sweet in our mouths. As we recite some passages we hear the music of Handel thrumming beneath them.

Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.

Thank God for this passage which speaks from our future.

But as we read, like the scroll John eats in Revelation 10, there are passages that sound sour notes as well.

A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

Our faithfulness is often beautiful, but does not last. Reflect on a time your faithfulness waned and confess it to God.

Flowers fade and wither, yet they also bloom again. Ask the Holy Spirit to renew your faithfulness.

One way we can be unfaithful is replacing God in our hearts with other concerns.

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales…

Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.

Strong feelings of love and affection for our nation are not evil, but how do they compare to our feelings for God’s kingdom? Do we equate loving country with loving God? Do we confuse the one with the other?

Imagine standing with Christ at the scales mentioned in the passage. Separate your feelings of patriotism and country from your feelings toward God’s kingdom. Place them on opposing sides of the scale. What happens?

Ask the Holy Spirit for the answer.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you realize the true scale of God’s kingdom.

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers…

He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing…

“To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

Praise God for His incomparable kingdom and the peace and comfort we can access as its citizens and representatives on earth. Through word and deed, go out and proclaim this good news and comfort.

You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”

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

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Isaiah 40 (Listen – 5:09)
Revelation 10 (Listen – 1:59)

This Weekend’s Readings
Isaiah 41 (Listen – 5:00) Revelation 11 (Listen – 3:24)
Isaiah 42 (Listen – 4:11) Revelation 12 (Listen – 2:58)

Additional Reading
Read more from A Prayer for My People from China :: Worldwide Prayer
Loving God,
For my people, I cry out to you…

Read more about Praying for Political Leaders :: Readers’ Choice
When people are caught in a system dominated by hate there is an opportunity for Christians to participate in redemption.

Pride and Short-sightedness :: Throwback Thursday

Scripture: Isaiah 39.8
“The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

Reflection: Pride and Short-sightedness :: Throwback Thursday
By John Tillman

The remarkable life of Hezekiah ends in pride and short-sightedness. Pride in showing off his kingdom’s wealth to the Babylonians—planting the seeds of Israel’s future looting and exile. Shortsightedness in his interpretation that at least his life would not be affected by his mistakes.

Richard Baxter (1615–1691) discusses how the temptation of pride is aimed at the strong:

The tempter overcomes very many, by making them presumptuously confident of their own strength: saying, “You are not so weak as not to be able to bear a greater temptation than this. Can you not gaze on beauty, or go among vain and tempting company, and yet choose whether you will sin? It is a child indeed that has no more government of themselves. Cannot your table, your cup, your house, your lands, be pleasing and delectable, without you over-loving them, and turning them to sin?”

O know your own weakness, the treacherous enemy which you still carry with you, who is ready to open the back-door to the devil! Remember that flesh is on the tempter’s side, and how much it can do with you before you are aware. Remember what an unsettled wretch you are, and how many a good purpose formerly has come to nothing, and how often you have sinned by a small temptation.

Remember that without the Spirit of Christ, you can do nothing, nor stand against any assault of Satan; and that Christ gives his Spirit and help in his own way, and not to those that tempt him to forsake them, by thrusting themselves into temptations.

Shall ever a mortal man presume upon his own strength, after the falls of an Adam, a Noah, a Lot, a David, a Solomon, a Hezekiah, a Josiah, a Peter and after such ruins of multitudes of professors, as our eyes have seen?

“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” 1 Corinthians 10.11-12.*

The recent falls of many Christian leaders have been dominating news cycles. Some of the fallen had enemies who might be tempted to glee and friends tempted to excuse them. Instead of either of these, may we turn to inward examination.

As Beth Moore posted this week, “These things ought to scare us to death…Only a fool gloats when others fail.”

*Abridged and language updated from Christian Ethics: Temptations to Particular Sins

Prayer: The Morning Psalm
In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands;
They shall perish, but you shall endure; they all shall wear out like a garment; as clothing you will change them, and they shall be changed… — Psalm 102.25-26

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Isaiah 39 (Listen – 1:35)
Revelation 9 (Listen – 3:30)

Additional Reading
Read more about Pride and Cowardice
The separation of cowardice and pride is a false one, for these two are really one and the same.

Read more about Pride, the Enemy of Pleasure
When our lives take on a posture of humility it affects not just our relationships with others, but our relationships with the objects and pleasures of this world.

Prayer Beyond Petitions

Scripture: Isaiah 38.2-3
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Reflection: Prayer Beyond Petitions
By John Tillman

The adage, “Prayer doesn’t change things, it changes us,” is a cop-out.

If it is anything other than a cop-out it is at best a description of only part of what prayer is. It diminishes prayer to a self-counseling tool, a mere coping mechanism.

Todd Edmondson discusses this in his essay, Praying for a Change:

Such a perspective, however neat and tidy it might be, is profoundly unsatisfying and contradictory to what the Church has long held to be true.

When we envision prayer solely as something we do, as a work of human agency, it is almost impossible not to see it as a ritual designed for our benefit, as an incantation in which only the most superstitious or simple-minded people believe.

The healing of Hezekiah from his illness is a unique scriptural example of a prayer for change for several reasons.

There is not a formula to be applied in a prayer for change other than giving ourselves to a relationship with God. We cannot attribute success to Hezekiah’s words or the words of any recorded prayer. We must, instead, get to know Hezekiah’s God.

That our prayers to God would bring the realities of this world into contact with divine purposes, or that God would join us in our this-worldly struggles, should not strike us as odd or irrational, because it is exactly what God has been doing for thousands of years… Indeed, other methods of affecting change and other recipients of our trust—from politics to technology to military might—would seem to be far less proved than prayer, if our memories were not so short and our imaginations so easily manipulated by the kingdoms of this world.

It is more important that we know God through prayer than petition him. God answers Hezekiah’s unasked prayer through relationship. Our needs, like Hezekiah’s will be apparent to God, when we invest time in a relationship that goes beyond petition.

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

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Isaiah 38 (Listen – 3:20)
Revelation 8 (Listen – 2:15)

Additional Reading
Read more about Pleading Prayer
When we run out of pretty prayers and Sunday School answers, pleading is an intimate, ugly cry that dares to cast away its pride.

Read more about Finding God :: A Guided Prayer
Even today my complaint is bitter;
his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.