Scripture: Ezekiel 9.3-4
Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

From John:
To weep and lament for the corruption in our world is a fitting activity for believers. In Ezekiel’s vision we witness a different kind of passover, as God’s judgment passes through Jerusalem it is lament over the detestable practices in the land that marks God’s remnant.

Lament is a task that the people of God take up as we become increasingly pressured, sidelined, and exiled. It is a recognition, not just of the sin of those around us, but of our failure to live out and proclaim the gospel to them…

Reflection: Lament the Effects of Hard-Heartedness :: Throwback Thursday
By Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

Take notice of the doleful effects of hard-heartedness in the world.

This fills the world with wickedness and confusion, with wars and bloodshed; and leaves it under that lamentable desertion and delusion, which we see in the majority of the earth. How many kingdoms are left in the blindness of heathenism, for hardening their hearts against the Lord!

How many Christian nations are given up to the most gross deceits, and princes and people are enemies to reformation, because they hardened their hearts against the light of truth!

What vice so odious, even beastly filthiness, and bitterest hatred, and persecution of the ways of God, which men of all degrees and ranks do not securely wallow in through the hardness of their hearts!

This is the thing that grieves the godly, that wearies good magistrates, and breaks the hearts of faithful ministers: when they have done their best, they are obliged, as Christ himself before them, to grieve for the hardness of men’s hearts.

Alas! We live among the dead; our towns and countries are in a sadder case than Egypt, when every house had a dead man. Even in our churches, it were well if the dead were only under ground, and most of our seats had not a dead man, that sits as if he heard, and kneels as if he prayed, when nothing ever pierced to the quick.

We have studied the most quickening words, we have preached with tears in the most earnest manner, and yet we cannot make them feel!

*Abridged and language updated from Christian Ethics

Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us, saying: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled under foot by men.” — Matthew 5.13

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

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 9 (Listen – 2:05)
Psalm 48 (Listen – 1:28)

Additional Reading
Read More from Richard Baxter: On Idolizing Man :: Throwback Thursday
This iniquity [idolizing man] consists not simply in the heart’s neglect of God, but in the preferring of some competitor.

Read More from Richard Baxter: What Slavery We Choose :: Throwback Thursday
A people-pleaser cannot be true to God…The wind of a person’s mouth will drive him about as the chaff—from any duty, and to any sin.

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Scripture: Ezekiel 8.6
And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

Reflection: Lamenting Our Detestable Things
By John Tillman

Ezekiel is an account of a priest removed from the temple he was to serve in and a prophet in exile from the land he is prophesying about.

Ezekiel was exiled to Babylon approximately 597 B.C.E., probably along with Jehoiachin and those who were taken at that time. Ezekiel is thought to have been a young man during the reforms of Josiah, where he would have seen the possibilities of a nation turning back to God and rejecting its entrenched idols.

Although it is possible Ezekiel saw the destruction of idols during Josiah’s day, he would also have seen them gradually returning to prominence and usurping the worship of God.

Just as ancients made idols from their environment—the sun in the sky, a stone from the ground, a tree from the forest—we make idols from our environment. Ours are less likely to be made of durable goods. We make idols out of people, pixels, programming, politics, or (the all-consuming god of materialism) profit.

Idols are an expression of our desire for control and self-reliance. They are fueled by our selfishness and self-importance. In response to idolatry, God leaves us without his presence—he gives us what we want and lets us fall into the ruin that we choose.

God tells Ezekiel that the detestable idolatry will cause him to move away from his temple. The very place God designed for people to approach him for the intimacy of prayer, repentance, and restoration, he abandons when the people brought gods to replace him. He exiles himself; then he exiles them.

Many have written about Christianity becoming a community in exile in a modern anti-faith culture. Part of being in exile is lamenting what has been lost. Some Christians settle for lamenting the loss of cultural power. But to join with God we must lament not the things we have lost but the sinful idolatry that caused God’s judgment. We must own our part of our culture’s and our nation’s sin.

Ezekiel had been removed from his place of service in the temple, removed from his country, but through lament, God came to him. No matter how far our culture drags us away from God and from scripture, if we seek him, he can be found.

Like Ezekiel, God will find us and God will speak to us when we lament our culture’s sins as our own.

Prayer: The Request for Presence
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me. O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me. O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me your peace. — Agnus Dei

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

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 8 (Listen – 3:21)
Psalm 46-47 (Listen – 2:15)

Additional Reading
Read More about How to Read Prophetic Judgment :: Readers’ Choice
The best way to read prophecy is to imagine yourself not as the speaker, but as the spoken to.

Read More about Prayers God Hates
So what makes the temple a den of robbers? What makes prayers pointless—detested by God? (It’s not book shops in the foyer.)

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Bonus Readers’ Choice:
We were blessed with such an overflow of Readers’ Choice posts this year we couldn’t fit them in just one month. So we are going to scatter the rest of them out through the Fall, sharing one or two a week. Thank you to all who contributed! Your voices are important for our community to hear. — John

Selected by reader, Melanie, from Washington DC
As we were reading through the prophets, I was dwelling on the question suggested in this devotional’s title: how should we read prophetic judgment? Or, how does prophetic judgment relate to our lives today? This post really helped me access the prophetic texts in a new way.

Originally posted on May 29, 2018 with readings from Isaiah 30 and Jude 1.

Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. — Jude 5

Reflection: How to Read Prophetic Judgment :: Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

There are many passages in the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments that are meant to comfort us. But the more typical function of prophecy is to cause us discomfort. Examples of both comforting and afflicting passages occur in our readings today—both in Jude and in Isaiah.

Comforting:
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! — Isaiah 30.18

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. — Jude 20-21

Afflicting:
“Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. — Isaiah 30.12-13

Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. — Jude 10-11

When we read prophecy in the Old or New Testament, we often try to identify ourselves with one of the groups mentioned. Are we the prophet? Are we the Israelites? Are we Balaam? Are we the Gentile nations?

This can be an interesting intellectual exercise, but is often a waste of time. One reason is it is unhelpful is that when we do this we take it easy on ourselves.

We tend to identify ourselves as the Israelites when prophets are saying comforting things to Israel, but when the prophet is condemning Israel, we imagine ourselves as the righteous prophet and our evil government or evil culture as the target.

In the end, it doesn’t matter that much if we understand who is analogous to the nation of Israel or who is analogous to the nation of Babylon. It matters far more to understand why God is angry, what he requires of us, and what he wants to do through us if we return to him.

Prophecy can spur us on to love and good deeds, to mark a clear path of repentance and clarify the consequences of disobedience. But we blunt the point of prophecy’s spurs when we avoid the probability that we are the ones a prophecy is about. We miss the point of prophecy entirely when we weaponize it to attack others.

The best way to read prophecy is to imagine yourself not as the speaker, but as the spoken to. Judgment-filled prophecy is one case in scripture where it is safer to assume it’s about you than others. Once you do this, you can take whatever steps of grace-filled repentance the Holy Spirit directs you to.

Following this approach we will be far more uncomfortable reading prophecy, but our discomfort will lead to a more richly flourishing faith.

Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; wash me, and I shall be clean indeed. — Psalm 51.8

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

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 7 (Listen – 4:32)
Psalm 45 (Listen – 2:17)

Additional Reading
Read More about Christian Pagans and Disasters
As Paul says, we are not to treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all—holding on to what is good and rejecting evil.

Read More about Decorating the Tombs of the Prophets
The most difficult thing about following a risen and reigning prophet, priest, and king, is that He will keep bugging us. He will keep saying uncomfortable things to us. He will not stop challenging us to break down our idols.

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Selected by reader, Brian, from DC
I stopped celebrating the 4th of July a long time ago. I stopped pledging allegiance to the US Flag more than 25 years ago. The most painful worship services I have been to in my life were in churches that had a full on “We celebrate the troops and the war” during the service. I cannot get past thinking that these things—done in church during worship services—is idolatry. We are called to be aliens and strangers in this land. The US is my current address but it is not my permanent home.

From John:
Brian and I have had many wonderful conversations via email. (I love hearing from readers!) I am so glad to have Brian’s voice regarding this post because I feel that Brian has a unique viewpoint, similar to views of Quaker and Mennonite communities. Some readers may agree or disagree with Brian and these well respected Christian groups. That’s okay.

This post made some readers on social media uncomfortable and was uncomfortable for me to write, being an extremely patriotic citizen who joyfully celebrates the 4th of July in my private life. But if what we read in the Bible only ever comforts us and never confronts us, causing discomfort, we might be missing part of what the Spirit wishes to say to us.

This post’s intention was never and is never to say “pledge” or “don’t pledge” to any flag or nation. (The post’s main concern is not what we do in our lives, but what we do in our worship services.) Instead this should call all of us to our knees before Christ to pledge that no earthly authority will be allowed to usurp His primacy. Brian has found where he feels God has called him to stand. We each must individually seek God’s face on this issue. May we do so with grace and humility.

Originally posted on July 3, 2018 with readings from Isaiah 65 and Matthew 13.

To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations. — Isaiah 65.1-2

Reflection: Celebrating Earthly Kingdoms :: Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

Celebrating the country in which one lives is not un-biblical but it can be a dangerous, idolatrous trap. In American churches, this past weekend (the closest to July 4th) many worshipers sang patriotic anthems with questionable theology or, in some cases, completely absent theology.

Hymnody has a long history of politically motivated and theologically dubious lyrics, usually expressing God’s divine blessing on the nation of the hymn writer. In 1778, New England hymn writer, William Billings, published this hymn as a declaration that the colonies were winning the war due to divine intervention. It’s a view that still survives in some quarters.

Let tyrants shake their iron rods
And slavery clank her galling chains
We see them not; we trust in God
New England’s God forever reigns.

Patriotism based on national pride is an easy idol to fall victim to. So is anti-patriotism. This is true whether anti-patriotism is based on national cynicism or idolatry of party instead of nation. Christians must avoid all of these.

In 1932 Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer struggled in a Memorial Day sermon with how patriotic days should be celebrated in his Berlin church.

When the church observes Memorial Day, it must have something special to say. It cannot be one voice in the chorus of others who loudly raise the cry of mourning for the lost sons of the nation across the land, and by such cries of mourning call us to new deeds and great courage.

It cannot, like the ancient singers of great heroic deeds, wander about and sing the song of praise of battle and the death of the heroes to the listening ears of enthralled young people.

Memorial Day in the church! What does that mean? It means holding up the one great hope from which we all live, the preaching of the kingdom of God.

No matter our country or party, by echoing jingoistic patriotic divisiveness we risk diluting the gospel of Christ. We must not be too enamored of any earthly kingdom. As Jesus said, our “kingdom is from another place.”

Wherever we live, we are in exile.
When we pray for our city, we are praying for the city of our exile.
When we pray for our country, we are praying for the country in which we are aliens, not citizens.

May we never settle for earthly kingdoms. May we yearn and long instead for Christ’s kingdom to come.

Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Know this: The Lord himself is God; he himself has made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. — Psalm 100.2

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

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 3 (Listen – 4:41)
Psalm 39 (Listen – 1:49)

This Weekend’s Readings
Ezekiel 4 (Listen – 2:56) Psalm 40-41 (Listen – 3:57)
Ezekiel 5 (Listen – 3:28) Psalm 42-43 (Listen – 2:32)

Additional Reading
Read More The Seductive Idolatry of Politics
We must make sure we are pursuing actions that please Christ rather than pleasing human political kingdoms.

Read More about Temporary Victory
Elevating political victory to supreme importance is to confess functional atheism.

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Selected by reader, Lisa, from Gallatin, TN
I have family and friends that habitually critique the worship service immediately upon leaving. And, it’s usually critical and focused on some little obscure aspect of the service that has nothing to do with God. I firmly believe that the greatest surprise for all Christians will be what true worship looks like in heaven. With all the tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations that will be there from the beginning of time to the end… We, in our little bubbles, are clueless.

Originally posted on September 14, 2017 with readings from 2 Samuel 10 and 2 Corinthians 3.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. — 2 Corinthians 3:17

Reflection: Inattentiveness in Worship :: Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

As stodgy as C.S. Lewis sounds in his letter on Liturgiology (which we read together in two excerpts, here and here) one might mistakenly assume that he is campaigning for unilateral and unchanging homogeneity in worship style and liturgy. However, that is not the case. Lewis seems to appreciate variety, as long as the attention of the worshipers is drawn to God rather than the creativity of the celebrants.

Lewis chides his readers (Malcolm is a fictitious friend, standing in for Lewis’s reading audience) for casting judgment on the worship practices of others, making an appeal to variety within the community of the church.

Broaden your mind, Malcolm, broaden your mind! It takes all sorts to make a world; or a church. This may be even truer of a church. If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of the diversity which God intended when He made them, and Heaven will display far more variety than Hell. “One fold” doesn’t mean “one pool.” Cultivated roses and daffodils are no more alike than wild roses and daffodils.

In a consumer society and culture, our identity is tied up in our tastes, and our tastes are broadcast through our criticism. The superiority of the role of worship critic is more attractive to us than the supplicative posture of a worshiper.

What pleased me most about a Greek Orthodox mass I once attended was that there seemed to be no prescribed behavior for the congregation. Some stood, some knelt, some sat, some walked; one crawled about the floor like a caterpillar. And the beauty of it was that nobody took the slightest notice of what anyone else was doing. I wish we Anglicans would follow their example. One meets people who are perturbed because someone in the next pew does, or does not, cross himself. They oughtn’t even to have seen, let alone censured. “Who art thou that judgest Another’s servant?”

We must cultivate in worship a certain kind of inattentiveness toward other worshipers and even toward the leaders—maintaining our attention on God as the focus of all our joined efforts.

*Excerpts from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, C.S. Lewis.

Prayer: The Call to Prayer
For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is more to be feared than all gods. — Psalm 96.4

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

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 2 (Listen – 1:38)
Psalm 38 (Listen – 2:14)

Additional Reading
Read More about Idolatry of Identity
We desire marketable idols to identify ourselves as theological tastemakers.

Read More about Prayer for the Self-Centered
Feelings are, by nature, self-centered—true prayer is God-seeking and kingdom-focused.

Support our Work
Every week The Park Forum sends over 13,000 email devotionals around the world. Support our readers with a monthly or a one time donation.