Tag: Psalms

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 18 Read:  Ecclesiastes 6 Listen: (1:44) Read: Psalms 56-57 Listen: (3:11)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 56:8

8 Record my misery;
    list my tears on your scroll—
    are they not in your record?

Reflection: God’s Lachrymatory

By Erin Newton

According to some accounts, ancient Roman mourners would collect their tears in small vials and bury them with their deceased loved ones. These little “tear jars” or lachrymatories were filled with tears, and their evaporation would parallel the end of mourning. As the bottle dried out, so would one’s eyes.

While the validity of such assumptions is questionable, Psalm 56 highlights the value of keeping a record of grief. As a lament and prayer to God in a time of trouble, the psalmist exposes their grief and asks God to take it into account.

There are many psalms that ask God to remove grief or misery. The Lord’s prayer asks that God lead us not into temptation. Paul begged God to remove the thorn in his flesh. Here, the psalmist embraces the fullness of misery. It is as if to say, “Don’t let my tears be wasted.”

Contrary to much of our impulses (or cultural conditioning), the psalmist doesn’t shy away from crying. Crying is a given. Crying might even be desired. And at least, crying won’t be for nothing.

Like the ancient mourners, God is thought to collect the tears of his beloved children and record them in his scroll. Like a divine accountant of pain and sadness, God sees, notes, and validates the psalmist’s tears.

The Bible is full of criers. Genesis 21:17 says, “God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.’ ” God heard another woman crying, “In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly” (1 Sam 1:10), and granted her desire to have a child. Even the prophets were known for their weeping: “Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed” (Lam 3:48).

Have you ever considered your tears as a sort of spiritual currency? I surely have not. I have been taught (and fully agree) that tears are not only a meaningful expression but also a regulatory experience. Tears are often necessary and can lead to emotional stabilization. Despite the dread of “having to cry it out,” we are reassured here that they are not ignored.

Crying is not a weakness. The Man of Sorrows joins in our misery by relating to our emotions, acknowledging our pain, and ensuring that grief is never wasted.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding, according to your word.
Let my supplication come before you; deliver me, according to your promise. — Psalm 119.169-170

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

Read more: More Money, More Problems

Wealth doesn’t solve all problems or fill our deepest spiritual needs…those who look like they have it all often are spiritually starving to death.

More Money, More Problems

Read more: Artful Prayers

In the psalms, we enter the lived emotion of artists who bared their souls to God in prayers that were always intended to be performed.

Artful Prayers

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 17  Read: Ecclesiastes 5 Listen: (2:50) Read: Psalm 55 Listen: (2:43)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 55.12-14; 17-21

Reflection: Good Discipleship but Wrong Master

By John Tillman

I recently made a comment on a friend’s post that was misinterpreted. He thought I was disagreeing and saying something political instead of theological.

He felt attacked and he counter-attacked. This friend (a pastor I went to seminary with and ministered with) replied with a meme from the Ace Ventura films of Jim Carey emerging from the rectum of a rhinoceros. The implication was that I, and my opinion (that he imagined I said), were comparable to animal feces

There are two lessons here related to Psalm 55.

One is that friends can hurt you worse than enemies. (Ps 55.12) Online insults and attacks from “trolls,” strangers, or non-human spam bots are distressing, but endurable. Attacks from friends are uniquely disheartening.

The second is that partaking means shaping. The wicked in the psalm were shaped by partaking in violence, strife, threats, and lies. (Ps 55.9-11) War entered the heart of the psalmist’s friend. (Ps 55.21)

There are politicians, podcasters, and pastors with “war” in their hearts. Even official government social media accounts use cruel, insulting memes about serious issues of war and death. And some Christians praise or approve it.

We become like what we behold, especially when we praise it. What many Christians behold and praise is not Christlike. Too many Christians (including pastors) are “discipled” by those peddling politics and pseudo-Christianity with memes, insults, fear, and hatred. It’s good discipleship, but the wrong master.

I gently confronted my friend (though I wanted to respond in anger) and he apologized, removing the offensive comment. But this isn’t about me or him or right or left. Whatever theological or political tribe you listen to has vitriolic voices and we are susceptible to becoming like them. We are being attacked by algorithms that are financially motivated to form echo-chambers and sow war into our hearts.

Christians should excel in love, not unkindness. We should excel in respect, not vitriol. Instead of throwing insulting punchlines, we should extend lifelines of engagement and care. We do not have to let go of orthodoxy to be loving, kind, and respectful. We can hold both.

We must be shaped by scripture, not culture, follow Jesus, not political leaders, and embrace truth and truth-tellers, not lies and lie-sellers.

Be prepared for yourself and others to fail. Be prepared to repent and to forgive. And when you are hurt, say with the psalmist, “as for me, I trust in you.” (Ps 55.23)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. — Psalm 70.1

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

Read more: Praising Christ’s Righteousness

Imagine hanging our hopes on a great leader, only to watch him or her fall…Most of us don’t have to imagine it. It has happened.

Praising Christ’s Righteousness

Read more: Unsurprising Oppression

The teacher of Ecclesiastes and Jesus, the teacher of Galilee would be shocked to find their words abused as excusing poverty and oppression.

Unsurprising Oppression

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 12  Read: Proverbs 31 Listen: (2:50) Read: Psalm 48 Listen: (1:28)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 48.1-3, 14

Reflection: A Hill That Defeated the Mountains

By John Tillman

In the 1995 film, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, a surveyor making a new map finds a Welsh village’s beloved “mountain” is 20 feet too short and would be designated a “hill.” The villagers won’t accept this downgrade and carry dirt to the peak to raise the hill’s height.

It was a mountain in their hearts, so they labored to ensure it remained a mountain on the map. The film’s tale was fictional. However, new measurements have upgraded hills to mountains in modern times. One example comes from Wales, in 2018.

In the Bible, mountains were considered divine places where Heaven touched Earth. The greater the mountain, the greater the god.

Zion is Yahweh’s “holy mountain” (Psalm 2.6), the home of Jerusalem and the Temple. Zaphon (known today as Jebel Aqra on Syria’s border with Turkey) was the “holy mountain” of the Canaanite god Baal.

Zion, at 2,460 feet in elevation, is dwarfed by Zaphon at 5,669 and other, closer mountains like Mount Hermon at 9,232. This psalm is not contradicting geographical facts or calling for human efforts to “build up” Zion to match Zaphon’s height. The psalm’s claims are theological.

No mountain compared with Zion because no god compared with Yahweh. No matter how high Zaphon or Hermon rise toward Heaven, their gods are gods of darkness and death, not light and life. The “loftiness” and “beauty” of Zion is the loftiness and beauty of God who chooses to dwell there.

Jesus doesn’t dwell with us on a mountain, but through the Holy Spirit, the scriptures, and the church. That’s our “Zion.” However, we do have competing “divine mountains” and mapmakers trying to “downgrade” the way of Jesus. They say loving God, neighbor, and enemy is a nice “hill,” but we need a mountain. They say the way of Jesus doesn’t work in the real world. They say love is weak, forgiveness is complicity, integrity equals losing, and character is cowardly.

Don’t you believe them; they are wrong. Their gods are false. Calvary’s “hill” defeated their mountains.

Survey “Zion’s citadels” and walk with her king, Jesus. He is “our guide, even to the end.” (Psalm 48.14) In the end, no mountain will be higher than his. It is better to be in his city on a hill than on any mountain that makes false promises of greater things.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to you dwelling. — Psalm 43.3

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

Read more: The Impossibility of Proverbs 31

She sets a high bar…If she is the ideal for all women, she is also the ideal for all men

The Impossibility of Proverbs 31

Read more: A City to Live In

Zion hints at Heaven, described by biblical writers as a city of healing, peace, justice, and mercy, from which the river of life flows.

A City to Live In — Readers’ Choice

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 10  Read: Proverbs 29 Listen: (2:44) Read: Psalm 45 Listen: (2:17)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 45.6-7, 9-11

Reflection: A Strange Musical Mashup

By John Tillman

What do the cries of a threatened nation, the pleas of a drowning prophet, and the praises of a royal wedding have in common? Apparently, it’s the tune they are set to.

In college in the 1990s, as a mediocre guitar player, I was excited to learn that I could sing and play “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” by the Eagles. It brought a unique touch to the familiar lyrics and caused a few double-takes.

A few Psalms have tunes mentioned in their headings. Some might even be non-Israelite, non “worship” tunes. “Gittith” used in Psalm 81 probably isn’t “Peaceful Easy Feeling” but it could refer to Gath or the grape harvest.

One tune, “Lilies,” seems to be shared by Psalm 45, 69, and 80. A tune named “Lilies” seems perfect for Psalm 45’s royal wedding. But the other psalms have a very different tone.

In Psalm 69, the poet is drowning in miry depths, wearing out his voice calling for help (Psalm 69.1-3). In Psalm 80, the nation is crying out for help like a rebellious lost sheep to God, their shepherd (Psalm 80.1-6). This musical mashup doesn’t seem like it would work.

Many kings got married. Most of them far too many times. Probably every single royal wedding had a wedding psalm, but only one became part of scripture. Psalm 45 is in our Bible because it pointed beyond the unnamed couple to something (and someone) greater.

The couple is celebrated, but God is praised. The moment is hyped up, but God is honored. The marriage vows are vaunted, but God’s promises are longed for. Beyond the marriage of the moment, this was about the Messiah.

New Testament authors recognized the Lamb’s Marriage Feast in this psalm and that we are the bride. We should also recognize ourselves as the lost sheep and the sin-mired singer.

I’ve never heard the tune, “Lilies,” but I feel confident that, whether celebrating a wedding or calling for salvation, it is a song of hope. Sing along with the psalmist and remember, this psalm is about us too.

We are the bride from a rebellious people, sunk in sin’s mud and mire. We are not just saved from something but for something. Our rescue has a reason and our propitiation a purpose. No matter how muddy our moment is now, our destiny is glorious.

That is a reason to sing!

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Sing praise to the Lord who dwells in Zion; proclaim to the peoples the things he has done. — Psalm 9.11

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

Read more: When Nations Pray — Worldwide Prayer

When nations pray, humbling themselves before him, great moves of God are more than possible—they are likely.

When Nations Pray :: Worldwide Prayer

Read more: Miracles of Deliverance and Judgment

We pray for more than just miracles of weapons that do not prosper…We pray for the more miraculous deliverance of the hearts of evil leaders to change.

Miracles of Deliverance and Judgment