State of Our Souls

  • March 2, 2022
  • /
  • Erin Newton

Scripture Focus: Psalm 86.11-13
11 Teach me your way, Lord,
    that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
    that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
    I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me;
    you have delivered me from the depths,
    from the realm of the dead.

Reflection: State of Our Souls
By Erin Newton

Once again, these are unprecedented times. We have been jarred emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. We need an anchor. There are times that we typically set aside to refocus our lives and assess any shortcomings. We see this in the state of the union, new year resolutions, or annual work performance reviews. In the same way, the church has often used the liturgical calendar to mark Ash Wednesday as a day of reflection and prayer.

The early church often held baptisms only once a year and the period between Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday was meant to be a time when solemn reflection was made. Time to think about salvation. Time to ponder the depths of the sacrifice of Christ. Time to resolutely commit to the lordship of Jesus.

Reflecting on the work of Christ in our lives is something we must repeat. Remembering our need for salvation, confessing our sin, and rejoicing in the grace of God is an anchor in these storm-tossed waves of life.

Psalm 86 is a wonderful hymn to pray for this purpose. The verses guide us. We acknowledge our need for God’s help. Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Our resources are shrinking; our mental and emotional capacity to endure wains. We need our Lord to intervene.

We must remind ourselves that we do not trust in an empty god as other nations do. Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. We anchor our souls in no false hope or pseudo-savior. We know that Christ alone is Lord.

We meditate on the character of God. You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you… But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. We need to remember his goodness and love for us. Our world is always angry and hateful, but he abounds in love and is slow to anger.

So, with this, we recenter our hearts and minds on him. As we move toward the solemn remembrance of the crucifixion of Christ and his joyous resurrection, we recommit our lives. We pray for an undivided heart. No person, cause, or ideology should vie for the supremacy of Christ in our lives. Take this time to remember the anchor of our souls.  

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
I will confess you among the peoples, O Lord; I will sing praises to you among the nations. — Psalm 108.3

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

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 21 (Listen – 3:12)
Psalm 86-87 (Listen – 2:26)

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The Cultivating Life

  • March 1, 2022
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Psalm 85.8-13
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says; 
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— 
but let them not turn to folly. 
9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, 
that his glory may dwell in our land. 
10 Love and faithfulness meet together; 
righteousness and peace kiss each other. 
11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, 
and righteousness looks down from heaven. 
12 The Lord will indeed give what is good, 
and our land will yield its harvest. 
13 Righteousness goes before him 
and prepares the way for his steps.

From John:  In times of crisis, we need to rely on the harvest of faith. This re-edited post from 2019 gives us simple steps to cultivating a faith that we can rely on. A well-cultivated faith will yield encouragement for our own survival and also an overflow that we may share with others.

Reflection: The Cultivating Life
By John Tillman

The Lord seeks harvests of faithfulness from the earth. When we partner with him and cultivate the soil of our hearts, we ensure that Christ’s power will take root in us and bring forth a harvest of the fruit of the spirit.

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.

Water the Ground with Prayer
Praying is like watering the soil of your heart so that it doesn’t become hard and dusty and so that the things God plants there can grow.

Jesus taught his followers to pray to God as our father. It is easy to forget to converse with God like a trusted friend or a parent. Praying is also listening, so when we pray, listen—the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us something.

Spread the Good Seed of the Bible
The Bible, the Word of God, is the good seed that God plants in us, his fields.
It is a false dichotomy to attempt to set The Holy Spirit (or Jesus) against the Bible as if we could cancel the one with the other. If Satan’s kingdom would fall when divided against itself, how much more Christ’s?

The Bible is the writing of—the very breath of—the Holy Spirit, given to the men and women who wrote the Bible. So, to hear from the Holy Spirit, the most direct method is to pick up a Bible and read.

Nourish the Soil and Pollinate through Corporate Worship
Many plants growing near one another will share water and nutrients with one another. Other plants, when they detect a closely related plant will put out less extensive roots, so as not to soak up all the resources for themselves.

When we gather to worship we are helping others to experience the fruit of the Spirit and to share our physical and spiritual resources.

Cultivation is not an out-of-the-box, pre-prepared spiritual solution. It’s customized to our culture and our climate. When we keep worshiping God with others and planting the right seeds of what we learn about the Bible, and we keep watering the soil of our hearts with prayer, “faithfulness will spring up from the earth,” and “our land will yield its harvest.”

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God — Psalm 92.12

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

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 20 (Listen – 3:19)
Psalm 85 (Listen – 1:25)

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When love and faithfulness meet, righteousness and peace kiss each other. But before that…there is confession and justice, mercy and redemption.

Kiss of Righteousness and Peace—Guided Prayer

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Throughout the Bible, God is often pictured as an ever-patient agriculturalist. God begins by planting a garden in which to place humanity…

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Facts and Harsh Realities

  • February 28, 2022
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Proverbs 19.6-8
6 Many curry favor with a ruler, 
and everyone is the friend of one who gives gifts. 
7 The poor are shunned by all their relatives— 
how much more do their friends avoid them! 
Though the poor pursue them with pleading, 
they are nowhere to be found. h 
8 The one who gets wisdom loves life; 
the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.

Psalm 83.1-4
1 O God, do not remain silent; 
do not turn a deaf ear, 
do not stand aloof, O God. 
2 See how your enemies growl, 
how your foes rear their heads. 
3 With cunning they conspire against your people; 
they plot against those you cherish. 
4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, 
so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”

Reflection: Facts and Harsh Realities
By John Tillman

When we say “scripture is true,” oftentimes we mean that it is the true word of God—that it is God’s chosen means of self-revelation—the message of the gospel. However, that is not all we mean when we say that scripture is true. Sometimes the scripture being “true” just means it is spitting straight, cold, hard facts. 

Harsh facts of life are inked in black and white in Proverbs. No punches are pulled. “The poor have no friends.” “Bribes work.” “Fools die.”

These kinds of statements aren’t endorsements of these conditions or events. They are merely factual observations that are meant to encourage students toward wisdom. When Proverbs tells us that the poor have few friends, the writers are not advising us to avoid their friendship. Rather than endorsing transactional relationships and practical concerns, the wisdom of the Bible encourages impractical friendships and helping those who cannot help us in return.

The wisdom of the Bible does not come from isolated religious hermits. The writers of Proverbs and the rest of scripture lived in the real world. They knew corruption. They were acquainted with grief. They bore the burden of oppression. They tasted the lash of abusive leaders. They knew more brutal horrors of war than we do. 

Among the harshest of realities are the realities of war. Writing this post on Friday, who knows how much further the war in Ukraine may spread by Monday. Uncertainty abounds.

I’m personally connected to some Baptist mission work in Ukraine through a seminary classmate. With non-Ukrainian workers now evacuated, the group’s posts are tense with concern and vibrant with faith. The pastors and churches they support in Eastern Ukraine are in real, tangible danger. As they share pictures of their children huddled in shelters…harsh realities surround them.

We don’t turn to scripture to avoid harsh realities but to face them. Pray continually this week over the harsh realities of war. Ukraine’s war has caught more headlines than most, but hardly a month goes by without some conflict that costs lives somewhere in the world.

The Bible acknowledges these harsh realities side-by-side with aspirational faith that justice will be done. Liars, lunatics, and war criminals will come to their end and be rewarded in kind for the evil that they do. God will not remain silent or stand aloof. He is with the suffering and the dying and those responsible will face justice.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Deliverance belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be upon your people! — Psalm 3.8

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

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 19 (Listen – 3:09)
Psalm 83-84 (Listen – 3:20)

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Hardest Words to Say: “I’m Sorry”

  • February 23, 2022
  • /
  • Erin Newton

Scripture Focus: Psalm 78.36-37
36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;
37 their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.

Proverbs 14.9
9 Fools mock at making amends for sin,
but goodwill is found among the upright.


Reflection: Hardest Words to Say: “I’m Sorry”
By Erin Newton

Social relationships are fragile. Whether platonic friendships or intimate relationships, some experiences are damaging, maybe even severely. Our cultural climate provokes the struggle to keep peace with friends, families, neighbors, and coworkers.

Often damage to relationships is inflicted by gossip, envy, lies, selfish pursuits, disrespect, infidelity due to boredom or temptation, lack of appreciation, or narcissism. These relational blunders have plagued humanity since the beginning.

Psalm 78 describes the forgetfulness of God’s people in the wilderness. Although God had worked miracles in parting the sea and providing manna, the people failed to remember. Even more, the psalmist says “they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law.” (v10)

For the wandering group, the law was summarized in the 10 Commandments given to Moses at the start of their journey. The first half relates to the people’s fidelity to God. The second half relates to their relationships with one another. Fidelity in intimate partnerships. Honor to elders. Respect for another’s possessions. Justice in withholding violent wrath. These statements were concise enough to remember.

Yet, the people forgot. They grumbled against Moses. They demanded God give them what their bellies craved. They followed in the ways of foreign religions which included idolatry and sexual immorality. They followed the way of Lady Folly by flattering God with empty words and the façade of religious ritual. (Prov 7)

The psalmist echoes the painful reality of God’s wrath poured out on the rebellious people. But they were fools. They refused to see their error. Their relationship was not important enough to make amends.

In which relationships do you feel the need, compulsion, desire to make amends when damage is done? Is it easier to smooth things over with certain people? What prevents you from restoring peace? The relationship between you and God is likely the one that suffers the greatest amount of frequent damage. We rely heavily upon his mercy and grace. We use the character of God as permission to be apathetic to making things right with God or one another.

Reconciliation is hard. Proverbs warns that the fool mocks the attempts to make things right. Fools see no value in integrity. Pride is a hallmark characteristic of the fool. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Cor 7.10) Seek the godly type of sorrow.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Your way, O God, is holy; who is as great as our God? — Psalm 77.13

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

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 14 (Listen – 3:45)
Psalm 78:1-37 (Listen – 7:12)

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Psalm 78 is a poetic filter through which to view Moses’ detailed record of the Israelites’ travels in the wilderness.

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Discipline for the Anxious

  • February 22, 2022
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Psalm 77.1-4
1 I cried out to God for help; 
I cried out to God to hear me. 
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; 
at night I stretched out untiring hands, 
and I would not be comforted. 
3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned; 
I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. g 
4 You kept my eyes from closing; 
I was too troubled to speak.

From John: This rewritten post was first posted in 2018. Since then, suicide rates continue to rise in the United States among Christians and Christian ministers. With Covid and political strife crossing into church life, it hasn’t exactly gotten any easier for pastors in the past few years. Many have left the ministry under these pressures. For ministers and laypersons, Christian meditation and prayer is vital to surviving our world but Jesus and Paul would both testify that some problems can’t be “prayed away.” Seeing a counselor or doctor does not make one unfaithful. See the resources at the end of this post for help and more information.

Reflection: Discipline for the Anxious
By John Tillman

We live in distressing times. If there are corners of our world not touched by division, aggression, worry, and angst, you probably can’t get email there.

Anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues have long been on the rise—especially among younger adults. Depression used to be the leading mental health issue. It’s been overwhelmingly surpassed by diagnoses of anxiety. In 2020 and 2021, Covid and the distressing task of sorting through the disinformation and politicization of the deadly disease drove anxiety to new heights. According to the CDC, symptoms of anxiety and depression peaked in December 2020 and January 2021 but are still far above previous norms.

A Harvard study found that church attendance paired with spiritual disciplines such as meditation and prayer have a beneficial effect on mental health. In a Forbes article, study author Ying Chen noted that being raised religiously, “can powerfully affect [children’s] health behaviors, mental health, and overall happiness and well-being.”

The psalmists would not express surprise at these findings. Though we think of our society as facing pressures unknown to humanity until now, we would be mistaken to think of ancient times as idyllic and calm.

David and the other psalmists certainly knew what it was like to live under threat, under financial pressure, under the constant weight of political instability and the wavering loyalty of an unpredictable government.

Amidst such pressures, they had a safe haven. Their help for the stresses of life was meditation and prayer.*

The psalmist writes of being “too troubled to speak,” yet he cries to God. He writes of insomnia, yet he rests in God. He writes of doubts and of feeling that God has rejected him, that his love has vanished, that he had forgotten to be merciful. Yet in the midst of doubts and fears, he remembers God’s faithfulness in the past. He meditates on these memories in the heated moment of stress.

The benefits of meditation can help in a crisis but are no quick fix. Meditation is not a fast-acting antidote for the world’s venom, but an inoculation to be taken ahead of time.

When beginning (or returning to) meditative prayer, start small and short. Use the prayer provided at the end of this devotional (Psalm 119.147) as a start. Spend two to five minutes simply re-reading the prayer with an expectant heart, asking God to be with you.

*We are in no way implying that meditation should be pursued in lieu of proper medical treatment. If you are in need of counseling and professional services, please consider the following resources:

Mental Health Grace Alliance
Not A Day Promised Resource Page
Life Recovered (Resources for Ministers)
Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention
Suicide Prevention Resource Center

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face. — Psalm 105.4

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 13 (Listen – 2:45)
Psalm 77 (Listen – 2:12)

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The social, financial, and mental health costs of this sickness are pushing our culture to the end of the ability of the “human spirit” to endure.

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