Revenge to Redemption

  • June 16, 2021
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  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Psalm 109.16-20
16 For he never thought of doing a kindness, 
but hounded to death the poor 
and the needy and the brokenhearted. 
17 He loved to pronounce a curse— 
may it come back on him. 
He found no pleasure in blessing— 
may it be far from him. 
18 He wore cursing as his garment; 
it entered into his body like water, 
into his bones like oil. 
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, 
like a belt tied forever around him. 
20 May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, 
to those who speak evil of me. 

Reflection: Revenge to Redemption
By John Tillman

Vengeful-sounding songs in the Bible make some people uncomfortable but we seem comfortable with revenge songs in general. Many genres have them but perhaps the most famous ones come from American Country music. If you’ve ever heard a crowd begin shout-singing along to, “I dug my keys into the side of his pretty, little, souped-up, four-wheel drive…” (Before He Cheats — Carrie Underwood) you’ve glimpsed the gusto with which our hearts cry for even a semblance of justice. 

True justice eludes most revenge songs. They celebrate revenge in justice’s absence. When there is no justice, revenge is what we settle for. If we don’t trust in God, revenge may be all we think there is to justice.

David trusts God and cries out for vengeance from God’s hand, not his own hand. David’s curses are requests for God to act and he draws a contrast between himself and his accuser. His adversary loves pronouncing curses. He hounds the poor to harm them, not to bless them, wearing curses like a garment. 

Like David’s adversary, our culture proudly wears the garment of cursing others, blaming them, doxxing them, pursuing them to exhaustion, destruction, or even their death. These curses seep into our hearts. The spirit of our age is one of wrath and revenge. The Spirit of Christ is one of radical redemption. 

This past Monday, we read one of several “eye for an eye” passages in the Law. Despite how some people interpret these passages, God never intended for humans to stand around, poking each other’s eyes out. “Eye for an eye” and the Golden Rule aren’t in conflict, but cooperation. They are two sides of the same coin. Reactive justice points to preemptive grace. 

Imperfect forms of human justice may involve doing to others what was done to you. Jesus comes to complete and perfect that law with something better: doing to others what you wish would be done to you.

We can still pray with imprecatorial honesty, crying out for justice, not just for ourselves but for all pursued and crushed by evil.

Our cries will be answered by Jesus, the one to whom all judgment is entrusted by the Father. In him alone all harm will be healed and all evil destroyed. All evil and lies will be cut down. Jesus alone can turn revenge into redemption.

Music: “Better tell that long-tongued liar…
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down.” 
— Johnny Cash (God’s Gonna Cut You Down — Video)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. — Psalm 31.1

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 21 (Listen – 3:33)
Psalm 108-109 (Listen – 4:28)

Read more about Abandon Human Vengeance
In a culture in which vengeance drives a machine of violent rhetoric which leads to physical violence, Christians have a responsibility to break the machine.

Abandon Human Vengeance

Read more about The Maddest Prophet, The Saddest Prophet
Jonah doesn’t want a savior. He wants a weapon. God will not be made into a tool for us to destroy our enemies.

The Maddest Prophet, The Saddest Prophet

Stories of the Redeemed

  • June 15, 2021
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Psalm 107.19-22, 43
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, 
and he saved them from their distress. 
20 He sent out his word and healed them; 
he rescued them from the grave. 
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love 
and his wonderful deeds for mankind. 
22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings 
and tell of his works with songs of joy

43 Let the one who is wise heed these things 
and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord. 

Reflection: Stories of the Redeemed
By John Tillman

Psalm 107 commands those redeemed by the Lord to tell their stories. Then the writer tells about several groups of the redeemed. One might expect stories of glorious kings, great moral leaders, righteous prophets, and powerful warriors. If that’s what we expect the stories of the redeemed to be, this psalm would be highly disappointing. 

The psalmist chooses to highlight the losers, the castoffs, the unwanted, and the condemned:
There is a story of migrants wandering in a desert, looking for a country to settle in…
There is a story of prisoners sitting in darkness because of their rebellion against God…
There is a story of foolish rebels who suffer illness and affliction because of their sins…
There is a story of wealthy and powerful merchants confronted with their own mortality and powerlessness…

What is the point? Why should we care for stories of the vagrants, the vagabonds, and the vanquished? We are listening for the turnaround point. Each of these stories has one and these stories are our stories too.

We are redeemed by a God who turns situations around. God turns rivers into deserts and deserts into flowing streams. He makes possible cities and gardens where before there were only wastes and wilds. He lovingly pursues those who run from him. No matter how far we run, whenever we turn around to return, God will be standing right there to receive us.

When we run to wealth, when we run to empty philosophies, when we run to addictions and distractions, even when we run without a destination, God patiently waits for our turnaround point.

In each of the psalmist’s stories, the people reached a crisis before reaching out to God. We don’t have to wait for a crisis to find a turnaround point but we often do. All followers of Christ have a story of redemption with a turnaround point. 

Which of these stories is closest to your own? 
How did you reach the point where you “cried out to the Lord” in your trouble”?
How was your life different after your “turnaround point”?

Prayerfully recall your story of redemption. Thank God in prayer for his patience and persistence in pursuing you. Prepare yourself and ask God to give you the chance to share your redemption story.

What is your story of redemption? Tell it to someone who needs a turnaround.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your Name give glory; because of your love and because of your faithfulness. — Psalm 115.1


– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 20 (Listen – 2:55)
Psalm 107 (Listen – 4:12)

Read more about Waking Up With Pigs
God deals with hard-hearted people throughout the Bible. God is consistently calling, pleading with the hard-hearted to return to him.

Waking Up With Pigs

Read more about Unobligated God
Thank God that he pays debts that he does not owe. He is a God who gives when he has no obligation.

Unobligated God

Father of Fathers — Guided Prayer

  • June 11, 2021
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Psalm 103.13-18
13 As a father has compassion on his children, 
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; 
14 for he knows how we are formed, 
he remembers that we are dust. 
15 The life of mortals is like grass, 
they flourish like a flower of the field; 
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, 
and its place remembers it no more. 
17 But from everlasting to everlasting 
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, 
and his righteousness with their children’s children— 
18 with those who keep his covenant 
and remember to obey his precepts. 

Reflection: Father of Fathers — Guided Prayer
By John Tillman

We pray together today, using words from today’s Psalm, seeking the face of the Father who loves us and knows us as his children.

Father of Fathers
Jesus, you taught us to call God our Father.
We praise you, Lord, today as the Father who loves us and lifts us up.

You are the Father all fathers should be.
Gentle. Caring. Loving. Righteous. Just.

Your justice, our Father, is not destructive and violent.
You “work” righteousness, O Lord. 
You repair. You set right. You maintain.

“The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all the oppressed.”

You hear the cries of all children.
You see the cruelty of those who abuse.
You see the callousness of those who abandon.
You see the selfishness of those who allow harm to children to benefit themselves.
You cry out for the children of this world, “Let them come to me.”

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.”

Our nation and our culture profane the name of “father.”
We do not deserve love and mercy from you, God our Father.
But you provide it through your Son, Jesus.

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

North and South meet at the poles.
They are separated by a finite distance.
One can only travel so far North before traveling South.
But East and West never meet.
They are separated by an infinite distance.
Thank you Father for removing our sins an infinite distance from us!

“As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children.”

Though we are but dust, Lord, you care for us.
You promise your presence not only to us,
But to generations afterward.

Bless our lives that we may build a faith that endures past our lifetimes.
When we lay down our lives as seed, may generations yet unknown take root in you.

“Praise the Lord, my soul.”

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us saying: “I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy complete. This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15.9-13

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 16 (Listen – 3:25)
Psalm 103 (Listen – 2:07)

This Weekend’s Readings
Deuteronomy 17 (Listen – 3:24), Psalm 104 (Listen -3:37)
Deuteronomy 18 (Listen – 3:08), Psalm 105 (Listen – 4:02)

Read more about How He Loves Us
Doubting God’s love, they showed little love for him in return and little love for the poor and needy around them.

How He Loves Us—Epiphany

Read more about The Naked Emotion of God
This shows us a God unashamed of shame, nakedly confessing his love for the unlovable.

The Naked Emotion of God

Ways of Canaan, Ways of Christ

  • June 8, 2021
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  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 12.4-7, 30-31
4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. 5 But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; 6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

…be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” 31 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

Psalm 97.10-12
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil, 
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones 
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 
11 Light shines g on the righteous 
and joy on the upright in heart. 
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, 
and praise his holy name.

Reflection: Ways of Canaan, Ways of Christ
By John Tillman

Despite Moses’ warnings, eventually the Israelites would accommodate to the practices of the land, even while claiming to be God’s people. Every evil thing that God sent Israel to destroy Israel would eventually set back up. 

They topple corrupt and brutal kings, then ask for their own. They cleanse the land of cultic prostitution, only to become prostitutes themselves. They destroy shrines and altars soaked in the blood of children, and later set them back up. The Temple in Jerusalem that Babylon would later destroy had been debased with the very Asherah poles God commanded Joshua to cut down. Some children in the line of Christ’s human ancestors would be sacrificed to Molech by wicked kings in David’s line.

The way the world worships, the way the world operates, and the way our world’s kings lead will always be a temptation for us, just as they were for Israel. 

The way of the world is the way of Canaan. The world idolizes brutality in leaders, demanding our opponents to be crushed and dominated. The world lusts after promiscuity, desiring endless and unlimited sexual conquest. The world sacrifices others (children, family, friendship) for self-empowerment in the form of financial success, political acceptability, and personal advancement. 

As in Israel, some will take up these practices while claiming to serve God. But God will not be mocked in this way by us any more than he would by Israel. In our devotion to God, we must not take up these ways of Canaan but the way of Christ.

God would eventually choose Jerusalem as the place for his name and for centralized worship. Our worship must stay centered on Christ. Christ is the city where God dwells with us, the temple through which God meets us, the priest who serves us, the king who rules us, and the sacrifice which saves us.

We must admire gentleness instead of brutality in our leaders. We must maintain a passion for pure and holy ways of loving others, rather than satisfying our own desires. We must be willing to sacrifice our own empowerment for the benefit of others.

Our priestly task is to set before the world a better way, a light in the darkness.
Seek God’s face and ask him to reveal and remove “ways of Canaan” within you, replacing them with the ways of Christ.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of our salvation, O Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away. — Psalm 65.5

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 12 (Listen – 5:11)
Psalm 97-98 (Listen – 2:19)

Read more about Over Jordan
When we cross over the Jordan with Christ, the land has no enemies to be defeated.

Over Jordan

Read more about Ready to Exit the Desert
The exit from Egypt was more than salvation from slavery. God began shaping Israel to walk in their role as his priestly nation, to bless all nations.

Ready to Exit the Desert

Quotations from the Desert

  • June 4, 2021
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 8.3
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Psalm 91.11-13
For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
   you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Reflection: Quotations from the Desert
By John Tillman

Jesus and Satan both quote from our readings today during the temptation of Christ. Satan quotes Psalm 91, telling Christ that the angels would hold him up and would shield him from harm. The words are accurately quoted, and the psalm does claim that God will miraculously aid those he loves. However, the meaning of the verse is twisted.

From the temptations in the garden to the temptations of Jesus and his followers, Satan encourages us to misapply and misinterpret God’s words. In the garden, he says, “Did God really…,” minimizing God’s provision. Standing on top of the Temple, he says God, “will command his angels,” exaggerating God’s provision.

Commenting on Satan’s use of scripture, John Piper wrote, “What makes Satan happy is when he can get Christians to believe that Proverbs 15:6 justifies the accumulation of wealth in a world of hunger; that 2 Thessalonians 3:10 abolishes charity; that Romans 9:16 makes evangelism superfluous.”

It is significant that Satan stops his quotation of the Psalm before the verse about himself: “You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.” He is, after all, speaking to the one destined to do the trampling.

That brings us to Christ’s quotation, in which Moses is reminding the Israelites of the purpose of the manna in the desert. Manna wasn’t a backup plan. Israel’s hunger and God’s provision was a divine plan teaching his children dependence upon God and not the wealth of the land.

Christ and the Israelites weren’t hungry in the desert for no reason. Nor are we.

Christ demonstrated that he mastered the lessons of the desert that Israel failed to learn. He demonstrated that he learned the lessons of the Garden that Adam failed to learn. He locked eyes with the serpent upon whose head his heel would soon step down with infinite crushing weight.

Connecting to God’s Word and relying on it for our sustenance, for our source of life, is a consistent theme of scripture and the purpose of spiritual disciplines. In our deserts, we must eat the Word of God and drink the Living Water of Christ. We will be fed with Honey from the Rock.

What we lost in the garden, Christ has regained.
What we failed in the desert, Christ has won.
What we cannot bear, Christ has carried.
What we cannot complete, Christ has finished.

“Lord God Almighty
Came as a preacher man
Fastin’ down in the wilderness
Quotin’ Deuteronomy to the Devil
And then He set His face like a flint
Toward Jerusalem…”
— Quoting Deuteronomy to the Devil, Rich Mullins

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God; I will present to you thank-offerings;
For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. — Psalm 56.11-12

 – Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle
Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 8 (Listen – 2:58)
Psalm 91 (Listen – 1:39)

This Weekend’s Readings
Deuteronomy 9 (Listen – 5:06), Psalm 92-93 (Listen – 2:09)
Deuteronomy 10 (Listen – 3:12), Psalm 94 (Listen – 2:08)

Read more about Our Opportunistic Opponent
We can resist Satan and he will flee. But just as he left Jesus in the wilderness, he is only waiting for an opportune time to return.

Our Opportunistic Opponent

Read more about There is a Fountain Filled with Blood — Lenten Hymns
When we are at our lowest of lows, Jesus extends his hand to rescue us. He has been there.

There is a Fountain Filled with Blood — Lenten Hymns