Tag: Psalms

Scripture Focus: Psalm 19.1-4
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Reflection: Spiritual Instruments
By John Tillman

Whatever scientific instruments we use, whether looking at evidence of black holes, at video from a helicopter on Mars, or deep within our own DNA, we find the fingerprints of God.

In Psalm 19, David tells us that the fingerprints of God are on the stars. Speech about God pours forth from the heavens in an unhearable voice that echoes through the Earth and to the “end of the world.” 

David wasn’t writing about the realities of physics but about spiritual realities. However, subatomic vibrations, unhearable to human ears, seem to testify to the creator. In a 2021 interview with Steven Colbert, physicist Michio Kaku said while explaining string theory, “The mind of god is cosmic music resonating through hyperspace.” (Interview, Part One; Interview, Part Two) 

Kaku is not a devotee of any religion. The “god” he describes is an impersonal “god of order,” not the God we know. However, the complexity and interconnectedness of what he can see tells him that there is more to see. What he can know tells him that there is more to know. 

Wonder about our universe is returning. With wonder comes seemingly contradictory truths about our humble state and our eternal destiny. We seem to be insignificant specks in the universe, yet the maker of that universe considers us not meaningless or trivial but glorious and of eternal worth.

This week, or whenever you look to the heavens, pray this prayer from 2019, reflecting on Psalm 19.


Humbled by the Heavens
God, we stand in awe on our tiny planet.

You have placed us here among deserts, seas, and mountains that seem incredibly vast, yet they are just imperceptible ridges on the tiny ball of our planet.

And, in the vast darkness of space, our tiny blue dot of light seems so insignificant compared to the other great lights of the sky that you have created.

Thank you for heavens that humble us, Lord.

Without words, let us hear your glory, see your law, experience your touch and your love.
Yet you gave us more than wordless wonder, Lord. You send your Word, your Son, Jesus, to clarify your commands and enlighten our understanding.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,
   giving light to the eyes.

Give our eyes your light, our actions, your love, our words, your persuasive persistence. 
Make us spiritual instruments through which the world can detect your magnificent presence.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
When your word goes forth it gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. — Psalm 119.130


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


​Today’s Readings
Job 35 (Listen 1:33)
Psalm 19 (Listen 2:22)

​This Weekend’s  Readings
Job 36 (Listen 3:04), Psalm 20-21 (Listen 5:47)
Job 37 (Listen 2:27), Psalm 22 (Listen 3:49)

Read more about Pause To Read
Today we begin a three-part series of related podcast episodes. This week, “Lady Folly” from Erin. Next, “Lady Wisdom” from John, followed by “RSVP to Wisdom or Folly.

Pause To Read Podcast

Read more about The Materialist Cosmos
If the cosmos of the materialist is the real cosmos, it is not much of a cosmos. — GK Chesterton

The Materialist Cosmos :: Throwback Thursday

Scripture Focus: Psalm 18.47-49
47 He is the God who avenges me, 
who subdues nations under me, 
48    who saves me from my enemies. 
You exalted me above my foes; 
from a violent man you rescued me. 
49 Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; 
I will sing the praises of your name. 

Reflection: Victory Over Violence
By John Tillman

Psalm 18 is a victory song in which the weak, helped by God, have defeated the strong.

Violence is a complex topic in scripture, made more complex for those who have experienced it in their lives.

I experienced much small-scale violence growing up, either fighting back against my own bullies or intervening with violence to stop others from being bullied. Fights were common in school and not always immediately stopped. I think the idea was that if a fight had a clear victor, the disagreement would be “settled” and not pop up again. This unofficial policy may have worked occasionally but was certainly dangerous and unwise. 

In one memorable fight, I defeated my attacker using techniques learned in the elementary wrestling program. While we both awaited punishment outside the principal’s office, the other boy asked me where I learned “those moves.” He later joined the wrestling team. We never became friends, but we became teammates who practiced and competed together.

Violence is not a solution to disputes or conflicts. It normally escalates rather than de-escalates. It rarely turns combatants into teammates. The violence described in the psalm is not a small-scale schoolyard scuffle. It describes war and death.

Federico Villanueva comments on this victory psalm from the perspective of Filipinos, who have often experienced large-scale violence, including defeat and domination by foreign powers. “It is not easy to identify with the triumphant,” Villanueva says. However, “The vision of one who is powerful but at the same time willing to support the weak touches our hearts like no other.”

As someone who experienced and participated in violence, I’m shocked at the glorification of violent words and actions in our culture and among Christians. Those who would welcome a fight or a war rarely have deep experience with either. Those who threaten or enthusiastically support violence in the name of Jesus or “Christian” politics understand neither Jesus nor politics.

Victory psalms are not intended to glorify violence and war. They glorify the God who saves his people from both. Violence is sometimes thrust upon us in this world. In the next few years, we may all be touched by it. Let not violence deter us from being like Jesus. We must never shirk from standing between the wolf and the sheep, between the strong and the weak.

May God grant us victory over violence and from the temptation to glory in it.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. — Matthew 5.6

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


​Today’s Readings
Job 34 (Listen 3:26)
Psalm 18 (Listen 5:47)

Read more about Responding to Political Violence
For Christians to fail to condemn, or worse, to directly endorse this type of violence is a great moral and theological failing.

Responding to Political Violence

Read more about How Long?
Christ’s rule is not oppressive. Neither should ours be. His burden and yoke are easy and light. So should ours be.

How Long?

Scripture Focus: Psalm 13
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? 
How long will you hide your face from me? 
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts 
and day after day have sorrow in my heart? 
How long will my enemy triumph over me? 
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. 
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” 
and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 
5 But I trust in your unfailing love; 
my heart rejoices in your salvation. 
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, 
for he has been good to me. 

Reflection: How Long?
By John Tillman

Navigation is more than directions. It accounts for distance, speed, hazards on the journey, and the need to stop for fuel, food, or rest. This was true for Paul’s gospel-spreading voyages. It is also true for shorter trips such as commuting to work or driving across town for a meeting.

The navigation software on my phone continuously calculates my estimated time of arrival. If a wreck occurs ahead of me, it adds time for the slowdown. When I cannot resist “beating” the ETA by driving faster than expected, it adjusts accordingly. But without a connection, the software cannot adjust. I’m off the map.

Many psalms celebrate faith’s journey when it goes smoothly and God seems so close. Psalms of lament come from moments when faith’s journey slides off the map. Our ETA becomes a question mark. The turn-by-turn directions fail. Milestones disappear. Hazards loom larger. We no longer feel connected to God. We do not know how long the journey is or if we will ever arrive. Ancient mapmakers wrote warnings on the edges and unmarked areas of maps. “Here there be monsters.”

“How long?” is repeated often in scripture. It recognizes that something needs to be corrected—that there are monsters to confront.

These monsters are real. How long will we suffer wrongs that are not righted? How long will the wicked prosper off the backs of the poor? How long will justice be delayed and denied? How long will victims be less important than leaders and institutions? How long will we have to blow a whistle before help arrives?

The psalmist’s thoughts and heart race out of control, filled with sorrow. We may wrestle with the same dark feelings and thoughts. “How long?”

Like the psalmist, we can question openly and honestly. We need not hide our feelings from God. Also, like the psalmist, we can reorient by remembering God and his goodness.

Reorient means turning our map back to the correct position to represent the world properly. “How long?” recognizes a delay, but from another perspective, “How long?” recognizes a destination. There is an end. Wrongs will be righted. Tears will be dried. Monsters will be crushed.

Don’t be ashamed to cry out, asking, “How long?” It is a statement of both struggle and victory. It is a prayer that will be answered. “How long, O Lord?”

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Look upon your covenant; the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence. — Psalm 74.19

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

​Today’s Readings
Job 31 (Listen 4:16)
Psalm 13-14 (Listen 1:45)

Read more about Convicted by Job’s Righteousness
We confess, Lord, we are not like Job. (Job 31.16-23)
We have seen those perishing due to lack of bread, lack of clothing, lack of freedom, lack of shelter, and said, “It is their own fault.”

Convicted by Job’s Righteousness :: A Guided Prayer

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Scripture Focus: Psalm 9.7-14
7 The Lord reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.
13 Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation. 

Psalm 10.1-7
1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off? 
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 
2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, 
who are caught in the schemes he devises. 
3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart; 
he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. 
4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; 
in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 
5 His ways are always prosperous; 
your laws are rejected by him; 
he sneers at all his enemies. 
6 He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” 
He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.” 
7 His mouth is full of lies and threats; 
trouble and evil are under his tongue. 

Reflection: The Righteous Judge — A Guided Prayer
By John Tillman

Psalm nine and ten may originally have been one psalm. Today we combine them in a prayer to God, the only righteous judge and the only one who dispenses justice without failing. May he hear the cries of all victims. May he bring every wrong-doing to light. May those who seek to cover their secrets have their plans exposed by his light and truth.

Our Righteous Judge
May our highest, most prized right, be to stand before you.

For you have upheld my right and my cause,
  sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.

May we learn from you, true judgment.
Make us a part of bringing your kingdom, your justice and righteousness on earth.
And this is your justice on earth—to be a refuge and stronghold for the weak and troubled.

He rules the world in righteousness
  and judges the peoples with equity.
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
  a stronghold in times of trouble…
  he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted…
Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph;
  let the nations be judged in your presence.

The world hates us, because it first hated you, Lord.
Trouble comes to us in different ways and in different levels of severity, in every corner of this world, God.

Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
  Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
  who are caught in the schemes he devises.
He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
  He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”
His mouth is full of lies and threats;
  trouble and evil are under his tongue.

In times of trouble, Lord, we look to you.
Do not abandon us to the schemes of the wicked.

Break the arm of the wicked man;
  call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
  that would not otherwise be found out.

You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
  you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
  so that mere earthly mortals
  will never again strike terror.

We commit ourselves to you, O Lord.
See our trouble. Hear our cry. Take our grief.
Give us courage to shake the world with your love.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. — 2 Corinthians 4.6

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

​Today’s Readings
Job 28 (Listen 2:44)
Psalm 9 (Listen 2:21)

This Weekend’s Readings
Job 29 (Listen 2:26) Psalm 10 (Listen 2:13)
Job 30 (Listen 3:14) Psalm 11-12 (Listen 1:59)

Read more about Pause To Read
In today’s new podcast episode, Urban Legends and Good Shepherds, we address a myth that fuels spiritual abuse.

Pause To Read Podcast

Read more about Supporting Our Work
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Supporting our Work

Scripture Focus: Psalm 8
1 Lord, our Lord, 
how majestic is your name in all the earth! 
You have set your glory 
in the heavens. 
2 Through the praise of children and infants 
you have established a stronghold against your enemies, 
to silence the foe and the avenger. 
3 When I consider your heavens, 
the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, 
which you have set in place, 
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, 
human beings that you care for them? 
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels 
and crowned them with glory and honor. 
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; 
you put everything under their feet: 
7 all flocks and herds, 
and the animals of the wild, 
8 the birds in the sky, 
and the fish in the sea, 
all that swim the paths of the seas. 
9 Lord, our Lord, 
how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

John 15.5
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Reflection: The Moon and the Cross
By John Tillman

In 1969, Buzz Aldrin, an elder in his church, got permission to take communion elements to the Moon. From the Moon’s surface, he radioed Houston, calling for a worldwide moment of reflection. Then Aldrin silently read John 15.5 while taking communion. He read Psalm 8.3-4 over the air on the journey home.

The psalmist who wrote, “You have put everything under their feet,” might be shocked that the Moon would be under human feet one day. But the spiritual reality is even more impressive than the Apollo missions.

Psalm 8 is the first psalm without a hint of lament. It is a perfect circle of praise in the center of a group of psalms that are laments or mixed bags of praises and worries. 

The enemy, the foe, and the avenger are silenced. What stops these forces that oppose God and his creation? Fire from Heaven? A chaotic beast? A mighty warrior? No. At the center of this psalm, we see the power that defeats evil. It is not the command of a king or the sword of a warrior but the praise of infants.

When children praised Jesus, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” religious leaders objected. Jesus was not the Son of David they wanted. He healed the sick and cared for the poor instead of throwing off Rome and stoning adulteresses. Instead of galloping in on a warhorse, Jesus plodded through the streets on a donkey. Jesus defended the children by quoting this psalm.

The contrast of Aldrin’s verses is interesting. In one, we marvel that the God who made the moon and stars condescends to honor humanity. In the other, we see the depth of that honor. Jesus sits with his followers at Passover. He has just washed their feet. The one whose fingers formed stars scrubbed dirt from human toes. He is about to die on their behalf. The one who hung the moon will hang on a cross. Then Jesus tells his disciples they can do nothing without him.

God uses the weak to oppose what is strong and what is humble to shame what is proud. If we give Jesus our childlike praise, we will find strength for our steps, no matter who scoffs at our weakness. Let childlike praise strengthen our steps for the great leaps of faith he will show us.

Divine Hours 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

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


​Today’s Readings
Job 27 (Listen 2:21)
Psalm 7-8 (Listen 2:58)

Read more about Learning from the Suffering
Many “deconstructors” are spurred into this process by suffering. Some experienced sexual abuse or abuse of power. Many witnessed the defense and covering up of these kinds of abuse.

Learning from the Suffering

Read more about Pause To Rea
A new podcast episode, Urban Legends and Good Shepherds, is out tomorrow. Share and rate the episodes to spread the word.

Pause To Read Podcast