Tag: Psalms

Links for today’s readings:

Apr 28  Read: Jonah 2 Listen: (1:20) Read: Psalm 77 Listen: (2:12)

Photo Note: Today’s image is of a Baptist church in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia struck by a Russian KAB-1500L laser-guided precision bomb during a prayer meeting this month, killing at least one person, a minister, and injuring at least eight others. (The Christian Post)

Reflection: Marks of Identity and Destiny

By John Tillman

Federico Villanueva’s commentary on Psalm 77 begins with a story.

“In the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda…newspapers printed a photo of a woman standing in front of the ruins of a chapel after the typhoon devastated the city of Tacloban. Alone and soaked in the rain, the woman’s face is turned towards the place where the altar had stood. This image captures the persistent faith of Psalm 77.” (Asia Bible Commentary Series)

Something horrible happened to the psalmist. In context with the surrounding psalms, the event the psalmist mourned seems to be the destruction of the temple. Why else would the poet fear that God’s promise failed? Why else would the poet wonder if God’s unfailing love vanished?

Have you experienced something that inspired similar doubts? Have you stood, like the Filipino believer and the psalmist, witnessing a wrecked place of worship? Maybe one wrecked by something other than a physical storm? Have you lamented wreckages, damages, abuses, or failures that challenged your picture of God?

Defining moments leave marks of identity. Holocaust survivors have physical tattoos from Nazi camps, but also carry tattoos on their souls and psyches. Other traumatic events such as mass shootings, sexual abuse, unjust incarceration, violent crimes, or acts of war or terrorism can leave similar marks. These marks don’t ruin you unless you let them, but they also can’t be ignored or swept away.

Without experiencing such things, you might struggle understanding those who have. You might cringe at the honesty of someone saying, “It is all the same…He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.” (Job 9.22) You might want to plead, “You shouldn’t say that!” But God welcomes brutal honesty.

The psalmist was irrevocably marked by the temple’s fall, however, a greater event left a greater mark. The psalmist reflected on God’s saving work in the Exodus. This defined God’s and Israel’s identities. This reflection didn’t erase suffering or doubt but provided reassurance of God’s holiness and love which sustained the souls marked by tragedy.

For Christians, the cross and resurrection are our Exodus story. In moments of loss, confusion, doubt, and pain, reflecting on the cross sustains us. The cross is the event upon which Jesus stakes his identity and in which we find ours.

No matter what has marked you, it doesn’t have the final word on your identity or destiny. The cross settles both our identity and destiny as united to Christ.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad. — Psalm 14.7b

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Who Tells Your Story?

We can afford to be unsympathetically honest about our sins because Jesus is the anti-Jonah

Who Tells Your Story?

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Links for today’s readings:

Apr 27  Read: Jonah 1 Listen: (2:29) Read: Psalms 75-76 Listen: (2:33)

Reflection: Don’t Misrepresent God’s Name

By John Tillman

David wrote a trilogy of psalms using the tune “Do Not Destroy.” Psalm 75, written long after David, uses the same tune. Perhaps that is because this psalm responded to something precious being destroyed and something more precious surviving destruction.

Psalm 74 and 75 seem to be a pair. Psalm 74 laments. Psalm 75 comforts. Psalm 74 mourns the destruction of the temple, the place of God’s name. Psalm 75 discovers that God’s name is still near.

Why was the place of God’s name destroyed? One reason was misrepresenting the name of God.

The name of God, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3.14), is connected to the attributes of God: compassion, grace, being slow to anger, abounding in love and truth (Exodus 34.6). People, places, and communities can misuse God’s name (Exodus 20.7) by acting in ways that clash with God’s attributes.

When we slander compassion, withhold grace, rush to anger, refuse love, and reject truth, while claiming to represent God, we abuse God’s name and misrepresent God’s character. We are arrogantly exalting our horn (Psalm 75.4-5), our power, our judgment, our deeds. We are defying God’s kingdom from coming on earth as in Heaven. We are asserting our will and calling it by God’s name. (Matthew 6.10)

Because God is slow to anger, this may succeed for a time. It might look like blessing, but in truth God is allowing the arrogant to drink to the dregs a cup of judgment. (Psalm 75.8)

Will we be people to whom God’s name will remain near, even in times of judgment, destruction, and strife?

We may experience precious things that represented God’s name and presence to us being destroyed when God finds corruption in them. Our fruitless fig trees are cursed (Matthew 21.19-20). Our temple’s corrupt tables are flipped (Matthew 21.12). Our shepherds are exposed as ravening wolves (Eze 22.27; Matt 7.15; Acts 20.29).

Do not confuse the loss of places or people who represented God’s name with the loss of God’s presence. The place of God’s name, the temple, was destroyed. Yet, God’s name remained near those of the people who praised God and told of his deeds.

Nothing can, by its destruction, remove God’s name, his presence, from his faithful ones. Empires, cities, churches, and leaders can fall or be lost but Jesus will not lose one of those who trust in him. Represent God’s name as compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, loving, and truthful. He will be with us to the end of the age.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Jesus said to us: “…Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.” — Matthew 10.26-27

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Do Not Destroy?

Leaders go morally bankrupt in the same way Hemingway described financial bankruptcy—gradually, then suddenly.

Do Not Destroy?

Read more: Responding in Kind

There’s an old saying that we don’t have to attend every fight we are invited to. God doesn’t need our defense but he does desire our devotion.

Responding in Kind

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 25 Read:  Song of Songs 1 Listen: (2:16) Read: Psalm 69 Listen: (4:04)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 69:7-12

7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
    and shame covers my face.
8 I am a foreigner to my own family,
    a stranger to my own mother’s children;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
    and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast,
    I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth,
    people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
    and I am the song of the drunkards.

Reflection: Suffering Servant Psalm

By Erin Newton

Of the many names and epithets given to Jesus, the title “Suffering Servant” is one of most cherished. We often think about the community’s rejection of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah:

13 See, my servant will act wisely;
    he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
    his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
    and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations,
    and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
    and what they have not heard, they will understand. (Isa 52:13–15)

We also reflect on his suffering:

4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:4–6)

Likewise, much of Psalm 69 sounds familiar to the Gospels’ depiction of Christ. This psalm is a lengthy petition to God with a series of verses (vv. 7-12) that can be categorized as those of a “suffering servant.”

On the cross, Jesus was scorned, disgraced, and shamed. While on the cross, “they … gave me vinegar for my thirst” (Ps 69:21). The eagerness for God’s household is echoed by Jesus.

Though many similarities are found between Psalm 69, Isaiah’s Suffering Servant passages, and the Gospels’ depiction of Jesus, this is more than just a psalm about Jesus. Because of the suffering of Christ, we rest assured that he sympathizes with our own suffering. This psalm seems to foretell of Jesus’s complex grief and hardship, but it also resonates with our own.  

While we recognize Christ throughout the psalms and see how all God’s word points to him, we also understand that being made in God’s image and Jesus being incarnated to share in our humanity means that we can apply these psalms to our own lives. We grieve like Christ grieves. We weep; we cry out; and we hope just as the psalmist and Christ did.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

And yet my people did not hear my voice, and Israel would not obey me. — Psalm 84.11

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

Read more: Sexuality and Spirituality

The Song should encourage us to apply holiness to our intimate sexual relationships.

Sexuality and Spirituality

Read more: Our Hope Amidst Violence — Worldwide Prayer

You watch not only the sparrow, but you see us too.
And your hands guide us all the way.

Our Hope Amidst Violence — Worldwide Prayer

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 23 Read:  Ecclesiastes 11 Listen: (1:40) Read:  Psalms 66-67 Listen: (2:42)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 67.1-2

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us 
and make his face shine on us—  
2 so that your ways may be known on earth, 
your salvation among all nations.

Reflection: Redeeming “Blessed”

By John Tillman

“Live, Laugh, Love” is an example of meaning being lost through overuse followed by commercialization. ”Blessed” has followed the “Live, Laugh, Love” trio on the path to meaning melting into marketing.

Stores catering to Christian customers plaster these phrases on decorative driftwood, doormats, dog bowls and anything else that might take up space in the kitchen, or on mantles, side tables, shelves, or walls.

“Blessed” needs redemption.

“Blessed” is contaminated by messages of grinding work, competition, and winning. Cultural Christianity made “blessed” a brag, a curse of pride and greed. To use it, we must intentionally detach it from those meanings. To redeem and reclaim “blessed” remember and express what it means and doesn’t mean. Psalm 67 can help.

How are we blessed?

We are blessed by grace, not because we deserve it. (v. 1) We are blessed by God’s presence, not by wealth or achievement. (v. 1) We are blessed by obeying God and praising him, not by “grinding” and not by “gains.” (v. 2-3)

Why are we blessed?

We are blessed to help others, not ourselves. (v. 5) We are blessed to make God’s ways and his salvation known. (v. 2) We are blessed to make nations glad and joyful. We are blessed to create a world of equity and wisdom. (v. 4) We are blessed to cultivate, not harm, the earth. (v. 6) We are blessed to create respect for God to the ends of the earth. (v. 7)

God’s purpose for blessing us is to bless the world through us. If that isn’t happening, we are neglecting or misusing our blessings.

In the Asia Bible Commentary on this psalm, Federico Villanueva reflects that his nation, the Philippines, is the only Christian nation in Asia, yet is the poorest in the region with corruption that directly perpetuates poverty. Filipino overseas workers bless other nations by sharing the gospel, but at home, corruption, instead of blessing, dominates their lives.

Villanueva longs for his nation to live up to their potential to be blessed and bless others: “Let us pray that the Lord will bless us so that God’s ways may be known among our people. This is my own prayer for my country.”

Don’t say “blessed” like culture means it. Echo Villanueva’s prayer for your country. Ensure that our use of the word “blessed” reflects God’s purpose and definition.

If you aren’t blessing, you aren’t blessed. When you say “blessed,” say it like God means it.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Bless the Lord, you angels of his, you mighty ones who do his bidding, and hearken to the voice of his word.
Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, you ministers of his who do his will.
Bless the Lord, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. — Psalm 103.20-22

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

Read more: Blessed are the Troublemakers

Blessed are the troublemakers who demand justice. We should have the humility…to consider whether the source of trouble might instead be our own hearts.

Blessed are the Troublemakers

Read more: Jesus, Our Blessed One — A Guided Prayer

Jesus is the Blessed One, whose leaf does not wither. We are merely grafted in branches…

Jesus, Our Blessed One — A Guided Prayer

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 19  Read: Ecclesiastes 7 Listen: (3:37) Read: Psalms 58-59 Listen: (3:32)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 58.1-2; 10-11

Psalm 59.11-13

Reflection: Do Not Destroy?

By John Tillman

In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway described how bankruptcy happens: “Gradually, then suddenly.” Other writers have adapted this idea to falling in love or falling asleep. Both happen “Slowly, then all at once.”

In David’s trilogy of Psalms 57, 58, and 59, which use the tune “Do Not Destroy,” he mixes lament for his sufferings with imprecatory passages against morally bankrupt enemies.

The middle psalm, Psalm 58, is harshest. It asks God to break and rip out his enemies’ fangs. It pictures enemies swept away like Pharoah’s army in a flood and the righteous walking through the wicked’s blood. This is typical language for imprecatory psalms, which do not endorse or command vengeful violence, but instead leave vengeance to God. But a surprise awaits in the final psalm.

In Psalm 59 David asks God not to kill his enemies. Or at least, not too quickly. He asks that they be uprooted and consumed slowly. This gradual punishment is not mercy. David is not concerned for the lives of the wicked but for the lives of those who will witness their long, slow, painful fall.

David wants God’s people to see these enemies fall and fail publicly, on an epic scale, and in slow motion. The tune, “Do Not Destroy” might be more accurately called “Do Not Destroy Too Quickly.”

Leaders go morally bankrupt in the same way Hemingway described financial bankruptcy—gradually, then suddenly. Justice comes against the corrupt in the same way David prayed for—slowly, then all at once.

Our world is not short of leaders like those David prayed about. Do you see those who devise injustice and spread lies? (Ps 58.2-3) Do you see those whose words are harmful swords promoting and promising violence scoffing that no one can hold them accountable? (Ps 59.7) (I hesitate to mention examples like the Epstein files…this is not about just one scandal.)

We can and should pray imprecatory psalms but imprecatory psalms are not angry social media posts. Those “prayers” on the “public street corner” have earthly rewards. (Matthew 6.5-6) Imprecatory psalms turn our justifiable rage, anger, and pain over to God for his vengeance and justice.

Pray that, whether slowly or all at once, the fall of the wicked would be seen in our days. Bring them down, Lord, that the suffering may be encouraged, the wicked may be warned, and the world may remember you are watching.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm

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

Read more: Extremes of Moralism and Permissiveness

There is a level of religious fervor and moral strictness that destroys our souls rather than saves them.

Extremes of Moralism and Permissiveness

Read more: Wisdom in Houses of Mourning

Many may confess we tossed aside Jesus, and the entanglement we escaped was the cords of loving-kindness God sought to guide us by.

Wisdom in Houses of Mourning