Scripture Focus: 
Psalm 81.16
But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
   and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

Reflection: Honey and Grace
By John Tillman

The honey from the rock in Psalm 81 is an image of God’s provision. Asaph is making reference to similar imagery in the Song of Moses recorded in Deuteronomy. This is the song Moses sings to the people right before his death as he passes leadership to Joshua. In the Psalm, Moses uses the image of honey from the rock to describe God’s provision for Jacob and metaphorically for Israel in their desert journey which has come to an end. 

In Charles Spurgeon’s commentary on Psalm 81, he notes that, “God extracts honey out of the rock—the sweetest springs and pleasures from the hardness of afflictions; from mount Calvary and the cross, the blessings that give greatest delight; whereas the world makes from the fountains of pleasure stones and rocks of torment.”

Puritan pastor, Thomas Wilcox, also takes the image of Christ the Rock and combines it with the imagery in Psalm 81:

“If ever you saw Christ, you saw him as a Rock, higher than self-righteousness, Satan, and sin, and this Rock follows you; and there will be continual dropping of honey and grace out of that Rock to satisfy you. Examine if ever you have beheld Christ as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Be sure you have come to Christ, that you stand upon the Rock of Ages, and have answered His call to your soul, and have closed with Him for justification.”

The rock implies our suffering and our sojourn, but it also implies a sure foundation of Christ on which we may stand. Honey from the rock is an image of extravagance brought out of scarcity. Honey is a treat, an extra. It provides energy and health, but it, chiefly, is pleasurable and even indulgent.

The grace and mercy that we receive through the gospel of Christ is honey from the rock. It goes beyond satisfying some need or law or rule. Christ pours out, upon those who follow him, extravagant grace that goes beyond a dry court ruling of “not guilty.” It is the passionate, running embrace of a father receiving back a son from the dead.

Seek for Jesus in your pain, in your desert, in your struggle, for it is only from him that you can receive, not just sustenance, but honey from the rock.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Everyone will stand in awe and declare God’s deeds; they will recognize his works. — Psalm 64.9

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

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 1 (Listen – 6:27)
Psalm 81-82 (Listen – 2:36)

This Weekend’s Readings
Deuteronomy 2 (Listen – 5:06), Psalm 83-84 (Listen – 3:20)
Deuteronomy 3 (Listen – 4:33), Psalm 85 (Listen – 1:25)

Read more about Too Good Not to Be True
“The preacher is apt to preach the gospel with the high magic taken out, the deep mystery reduced to a manageable size.” — Frederick Buechner

Read more about The Ram and the Cornerstone
May we not reject the stone of suffering, of sacrifice, of self-control, or of truth.

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

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
In your great mercy, O God, answer me with your unfailing help. — Psalm 69.15

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

Today’s Readings
Numbers 36 (Listen – 2:15)
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.

https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/cultivating-is-supernatural/

Scripture Focus: Psalm 74. 7-9
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name. 
8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!” 
They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land. 
9 We are given no signs from God; 
no prophets are left, 
and none of us knows how long this will be. 

Reflection: Today’s Roots, Tomorrow’s Fruit
By John Tillman

Asaph was a prophet, a poet, and a creative leader living in the golden age of the kingdom of Israel and of the worship of God in the Temple. He is often noted as playing the cymbals, and was appointed chief over all the Temple musicians.

David’s psalms are largely autobiographical. Asaph’s seem focused on the fate and faith of the country in times ahead. Despite living in Israel’s best years, many of Asaph’s works contain laments about the destruction of Israel or the Temple. 

During the lifespan of Asaph, The Temple was never under any threat similar to his description. It would be hundreds of years before the Babylonians laid waste to Solomon’s Temple and hundreds more before the Romans destroyed the Temple of Jesus’ day.

For this reason, some think this psalm was likely written later by a descendant of Asaph or merely in his style. Some think it could be looking back to the battle at Shiloh and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant. 

However, psalms were often considered to be prophecies. Jesus described David’s psalmody as being written, “by the Spirit.” When we know many psalms are prophetic, perhaps we need not doubt the prophetic nature of this psalm.

Christians often idealize (even idolize) David and his time as king. However, the roots of the sins that would eventually destroy the kingdom were present in David’s reign. Perhaps, Asaph saw that.

Prophecy seems to run in Asaph’s family. One of Asaph’s descendants speaks up before King Josiah in a moment of crisis with a prophecy from the Lord about salvation from invading armies. Prophecies can tell of coming salvation or warn of coming disaster. There’s no question which we prefer to listen to.

We need prophetic warnings no matter what our circumstances. It doesn’t matter if we live in a golden age or in one we wish could be restored to its former state, the warnings of the prophets are for us. Even in times of blessing, prophets speak to the roots of sins that will bear bitter fruit in the future. Today’s roots grow tomorrow’s fruit.

May we never shrug off the messages of prophets, especially when they tell us something that we don’t want to hear. Heeding dire warnings of the prophets during a golden age, may be the best way to ensure a flourishing, rather than a failing, future.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Our sins are stronger than we are, but you will blot them out. — Psalm 65.3

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

Today’s Readings
Numbers 30 (Listen – 2:20)
Psalm 74 (Listen – 2:34)

This Weekend’s Readings
Numbers 31 (Listen – 5:52), Psalm 75-76 (Listen – 2:33)
Numbers 32 (Listen – 5:22), Psalm 77 (Listen – 2:12)

Read more about How to Read Prophetic Judgment
Judgment-filled prophecy is one case in scripture where it is safer to assume it’s about you than others. 

Read more about Sufferings and False Prophets
Some [faithful prophets] were maligned for being unpatriotic or hating their country. Some were arrested, killed, or accused of conspiracy against the king.