Tag: Psalms

Scripture Focus: Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses the man of God. 
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place 
throughout all generations. 
2 Before the mountains were born 
or you brought forth the whole world, 
from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 
3 You turn people back to dust, 
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” 
4 A thousand years in your sight 
are like a day that has just gone by, 
or like a watch in the night. 
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— 
they are like the new grass of the morning: 
6 In the morning it springs up new, 
but by evening it is dry and withered. 
7 We are consumed by your anger 
and terrified by your indignation. 
8 You have set our iniquities before you, 
our secret sins in the light of your presence. 
9 All our days pass away under your wrath; 
we finish our years with a moan. 
10 Our days may come to seventy years, 
or eighty, if our strength endures; 
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, 
for they quickly pass, and we fly away. 
11 If only we knew the power of your anger! 
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. 
12 Teach us to number our days, 
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 
13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be? 
Have compassion on your servants. 
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, 
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, 
for as many years as we have seen trouble. 
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, 
your splendor to their children. 
17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; 
establish the work of our hands for us— 
yes, establish the work of our hands.

Reflection: A Broken Rebel’s Prayer
By John Tillman

Psalm 90, the prayer of Moses, is the prayer of a broken rebel, humbled and wise, relying on God.

Moses was a rebel from the beginning. Born illegally, the state condemned him to death from birth. Secreted into the wicked king’s palace as a child, he grew up like a sleeper agent. His family did this for his safety but also must have hoped that their little rebel, like a well-slung stone, might take down the oppressive giant.

Instead, he fails miserably. Commits murder. Gets caught. Flees for his life. Marries foreigners. Has uncircumcised children. He stutters. He hesitates. He hides. Yet, God speaks directly to him and does wonders before his eyes. But, despite the burning bush and the voice of God and all those miracles, Moses still says, “Please send someone else.”

Who better to emulate in prayer than a man this broken, purposeless, ashamed, and fearful? Through prayer, Moses became a different kind of man. He became a man used for God’s purposes, breaking the might of a national superpower. He became a man of humility instead of shame. He became a man who stood his ground in faith rather than fleeing in fear.

A Broken Rebel’s Prayer
Lord, whether in a precariously floating basket, a gleaming palace, or a desert lit by burning bushes, you are the source of our life.

All our strivings are pointless before you.
You are the better dwelling place we long for.
Everything we hope for is in you.
We dwell enslaved to our brokenness, our shame, and our fear.
We return to the dust with you as our only hope.

Lord, you see thousands of years like a day and our lives like a blink of an eye.
Help us live our brief lives wisely, with your righteous wrath and merciful love before our eyes.

Have compassion on us, Lord, weak as we are.
Help us praise you with our faltering voices,
Raise our unworthy hands to see you win what our rebellions never could.

Let us pursue your power for your purposes.
Let us release our shame and stand before you in humility.
Let us stand our ground defending the weak with faith that seas will part and armies will fall without striking a blow against us.

Establish your work through our hands and speak your words through our voices.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Lord, God of hosts, hear my prayer; hearken, O God of Jacob. — Psalm 84.7

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


​Today’s Readings
Malachi 2 (Listen 3:12)
Psalm 90 (Listen 2:03)

Read more about Outward-Focused Rhythms
Instead of focusing mostly on activities that are forms of self-investment, practicing daily rhythms that are rooted in Christ can take us beyond ourselves.

Read more about Offal Leaders
God smeared their faces with offal, but some keep trying to wipe it off and pretend nothing is wrong.

Scripture Focus: Psalm 82
1 God presides in the great assembly; 
he renders judgment among the “gods”: 
2 “How long will you defend the unjust 
and show partiality to the wicked? 
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; 
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. 
4 Rescue the weak and the needy; 
deliver them from the hand of the wicked. 
5 “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. 
They walk about in darkness; 
all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 
6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”; 
you are all sons of the Most High.’ 
7 But you will die like mere mortals; 
you will fall like every other ruler.” 
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth, 
for all the nations are your inheritance. 

Reflection: Favored Undertakings
By John Tillman

Spiritual and physical worlds overlap in Psalm 82, and interpretations also overlap.

Is God raising objections in the assembly of other gods, or is God speaking in judgment against human “gods,” the rulers and wealthy leaders? In either case, God judges and punishes them for defending the unjust and showing partiality to the wicked.

Federico Villanueva observes Westerners seem uncomfortable with the idea of many “gods” and one “Most High God.” But the rest of the world, including biblical writers, see no conflict with Yahweh ruling over other spiritual beings. Asaph’s original meaning seems to refer to such a spiritual realm, but Jesus quotes Asaph and interprets “gods” in a way that includes human leaders who received the word of God. (John 10.33-39) Neither interpretation negates the other. Both can be true simultaneously. But don’t let the “who” make you miss the “why.”

Why God is angry is more important than who the other gods are. God is angry at injustice.

God cries out, “How long?” We are used to humans crying out “how long” to God when suffering injustice, but in this case, God raises the lament when gods and rulers defend the unjust.

In the United States Senate chamber, senators assemble beneath a Latin phrase carved into the edge of the balcony above their heads: annuit coeptis, or “God has favored our undertakings.” Americans, especially Christians, often take God’s favor for granted. “We’re the good guys. God is on our side.” But is he? Many of the most horrible undertakings in history claimed to have God’s favor. Care and humility are needed. Do we claim God’s favor while causing him to say, “How long?”

God is angry when the unjust and wicked are defended and shown partiality. Are we?
God is angry when the cause of the weak, the vulnerable, and the oppressed is ignored. Are we?
God takes his stand in the assembly, speaking against injustices. Do we?

God’s objections to unjust undertakings imply undertakings he would favor.

We must speak against, not defend, unjust events, leaders, or causes.
We must refuse to defend or show partiality to the wicked for any purpose, power, or profit.
We must take up the cause of the vulnerable, lending our voices and support, defending them from the powerful and wealthy.

God favors undertakings aligned with him. Let’s undertake them, no matter what assembly we stand in or who opposes us.

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
Micah 3 (Listen 1:51)
Psalm 81-82 (Listen 2:36)

​This Weekend’s Readings
Micah 4 (Listen 2:33), Psalm 83-84 (Listen 3:20)
Micah 5 (Listen 2:21), Psalm 85 (Listen 1:25)

Read more about Turn Out the Lights
In choosing prophets that please us, we will soon find ourselves ashamed in the dark and isolated from the God we stopped listening to.

Read more about Honey and Grace
Christ pours out, upon those who follow him, extravagant grace that goes beyond a dry court ruling of “not guilty.”

Scripture Focus: Psalm 80.8-11, 14-18
8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; 
you drove out the nations and planted it. 
9 You cleared the ground for it, 
and it took root and filled the land. 
10 The mountains were covered with its shade, 
the mighty cedars with its branches. 
11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea, 
its shoots as far as the River.
14 Return to us, God Almighty! 
Look down from heaven and see! 
Watch over this vine, 
15 the root your right hand has planted, 
the son you have raised up for yourself. 
16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; 
at your rebuke your people perish. 
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, 
the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 
18 Then we will not turn away from you; 
revive us, and we will call on your name. 

Reflection: The Ever-Patient Agriculturalist
By John Tillman

The psalmist compares Israel to a transplanted vine that is intended to bring the wine of God’s blessing to the world. Throughout the Bible, God is often pictured as an ever-patient agriculturalist.

God begins by planting a garden in which to place humanity. When tares are sown among his wheat, he delays judgment for the sake of his crop. He is a shepherd who seeks the lost sheep and gives his life for them. As the sower, he scatters seed even to soil others abandon. He is the oxen-driver who prepares a well-fitted and “easy” yoke for us. He is the orchard owner, giving his fruitless trees another year and every opportunity to flourish. He is a vinedresser, tenderly transplanting his vines from bad soil to good. He grafts in wild vines to join his true vine from which the blessings of wine will flow.

Israel was to become God’s representatives upon the Earth. They were to be set apart from the nations yet welcoming to all nations. Their holiness was not intended to condemn other nations but to call them out of the darkness. God uprooted and transplanted Israel out of Egypt. He saved them from the darkness of idolatry and from under the thumb of empire. But a little bit of Egypt stuck to their roots. Eventually, they would become as evil as the empire they were extracted from.

Like his vineyard and like the fruit tree, God wants to give us every opportunity to flourish. God desires that we be placed, planted, protected, preserved, and made productive by him. We, however, can put a halt to his husbandry.  Our soil can resist his seed. Our roots can refuse his tending. Our branches can frustrate him with our fruitlessness. We can uproot in our hearts what he plants, replanting our own idolatrous crop of greed, lust, and anger.

Eventually, God will till under fruitless vineyards. Eventually, fruitless trees will be cursed and cut down. Eventually, our tares will be separated from our wheat and burned. We will experience both God’s justice and his grace.

We can participate in this process of sanctification now, becoming a partner to our own cleansing, tilling under our own sinful crops, and enabling a rebirth of fruitfulness.

The purpose of deconstruction is reconstruction.
The purpose of uprooting is to replant.
May we rejoice in being pruned and replanted.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name. — Psalm 86.11

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


​Today’s Readings
Micah 2 (Listen 2:11)
Psalm 80 (Listen 1:58)

Read more about The Cultivating Life
We have written before “cultivation is supernatural,” but the simple actions of cultivating faith are not ethereal or fanciful. They are the practical, steady doings of the farmer.

Read more about Cultivation Is Supernatural
Cultivation is not natural. It is supernatural. We give plants a safer, healthier place to grow than exists naturally, and they give us better food in greater quantities.