Tag: Psalms

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119.169-176
169 May my cry come before you, Lord; 
give me understanding according to your word. 
170 May my supplication come before you; 
deliver me according to your promise. 
171 May my lips overflow with praise, 
for you teach me your decrees. 
172 May my tongue sing of your word, 
for all your commands are righteous. 
173 May your hand be ready to help me, 
for I have chosen your precepts. 
174 I long for your salvation, Lord, 
and your law gives me delight. 
175 Let me live that I may praise you, 
and may your laws sustain me. 
176 I have strayed like a lost sheep. 
Seek your servant, 
for I have not forgotten your commands. 

From John: As we wrap up Psalm 119 this week, we look back again at our reflection on Charles Spurgeon’s words about the great psalm. We are also eagerly anticipating the beginning of Student Writers Month in July followed by your Readers’ Choice selections in August. To submit your selections for Readers’ Choice, follow this link.

Reflection: The Garden of Psalm 119
By John Tillman

We finish Psalm 119 today and reflect on it with some words from Charles Spurgeon: 

“Those who have studied this divine hymn, and carefully noted each line of it, are amazed at the variety and profundity of the thought…The more you look into this mirror of a gracious heart the more you will see in it.”

Spurgeon is convinced that David wrote the Psalm and if not he, then some other writer who spent long years in its work and created it not over a short span, but through a lifetime of faithfulness.

“There is evident growth in the subject matter. The earlier verses are of such a character as to lend themselves to the hypothesis that the author was a young man, while many of the later passages could only have suggested themselves to age and wisdom.”

In the end, rather than rising in acclaim or celebration, the aged wisdom of the psalmist leads him to a humble and prostrate stance.

“The psalmist is approaching the end of the Psalm…he seems to break into the inner circle of divine fellowship, and to come even to the feet of the great God whose help he is imploring. This nearness creates the most lowly view of himself, and leads him to close the Psalm upon his face in deepest self-humiliation, begging to be sought out like a lost sheep…It is a very sweet thing to a suppliant when he knows of a surety that his prayer has obtained audience. It is to Jehovah that this prayer is expressed with trembling earnestness…we crave audience of none else, for we have confidence in none beside.”

Meditating on Psalm 119 daily has been a common spiritual practice for centuries with many reporting a wealth of spiritual benefit.

“This sacred ode is a little Bible, the Scriptures condensed, a mass of Bibline, holy writ rewritten in holy emotions and actions. This Psalm, like the whole Scripture which it praises, is a pearl island, or, better still, a garden of sweet flowers.”

It is our hope that each cycle of our two-year-long tread through the garden of scripture produces not pride, but humility. Not judgmental attitudes, but merciful gratitude. Not clamoring commands for others, but tender notes of correction in our own hearts.

*Quotations abridged from A Treasury of David, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Hallelujah! Give praise, you servants of the Lord; praise the Name of the Lord. — Psalm 113.1

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

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 33-34 (Listen – 4:43)
Psalm 119:145-176 (Listen – 15:14)

Read more about Readers’ Choice 2021
It is time for us to hear from you about the posts from the past eleven months (September 2020 through July 2021) that have challenged and comforted you and helped you find new meaning in the scriptures.

https://forms.gle/ozM13qvW9ouSWhJS7

Read more about Setting Aside the Scriptures
Considering all of Scripture together without breaking it apart requires patience and a deep familiarity with Scripture.

Setting Aside the Scriptures

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119.50-53, 61-64
50 My comfort in my suffering is this: 
Your promise preserves my life. 
51 The arrogant mock me unmercifully, 
but I do not turn from your law. 
52 I remember, Lord, your ancient laws, 
and I find comfort in them. 
53 Indignation grips me because of the wicked, 
who have forsaken your law. 

61 Though the wicked bind me with ropes, 
I will not forget your law. 
62 At midnight I rise to give you thanks 
for your righteous laws. 
63 I am a friend to all who fear you, 
to all who follow your precepts. 
64 The earth is filled with your love, Lord; 
teach me your decrees. 

Reflection: Make God’s Love Evident
By John Tillman

There is great wickedness in the world. Yet, in such a world, the psalmist proclaims God’s love, the power of God’s laws, and the strength of his desire to know God more deeply.

Even in a world in which a person may be bound with ropes, or separated from their family, or denied justice, or put into a cage, or killed for the convenience of others, or hung from a tree, or gunned down in a church… Even in such a world, the psalmist tells us, “God’s love is evident.”

Wickedness is evident but God’s love is also evident.

God’s love is evident in the many Christian and secular organizations that move, at times into dangerous circumstances, to help the downtrodden, the poor, and those purposely excluded from justice. Our God sends help to the helpless, no matter the owner of the goods, the ship, the truck, or the organization.

God’s love is evident in his promises to bring disaster upon nations that ignore their responsibilities to the poor and to the foreigner. An endlessly repeating biblical theme, especially in the Old Testament, is that God’s people are to be kind and compassionate to foreigners and the marginalized. Our God humbles nations addicted to greed—including His own. 

God’s love is evident in God’s help and justice, but also in his presence. Our God is with those who suffer.

Only the suffering God can help. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Our God lies on concrete floors under aluminum blankets with abandoned children and ethnic minorities. He bleeds on the floor of a sanctuary with victimized worshipers. His body bears the wounds and scars of unjust captivity that are familiar to those brutalized by government forces.

God’s love is, of course, most fully evident in the gospel. However, passively chattering about “the gospel” in the face of evil, with no action, makes us smiling signposts on the road to Hell rather than under-shepherds of Christ, pulling sheep from the mouths of wolves.

The gospel is Christ’s frontal assault on wickedness. He storms Hell to set free its captives. We are Christ’s body in this world to carry out his righteousness. 

Make God’s love evident. Reach out in God’s love in any way that is available to you, whether through financial means or political. Even giving a cup of water in the name of Christ to the least of these will be remembered.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm
But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; let them be merry and joyful.
Sing to God, sing praises to his Name; exalt him who rides upon the heavens; Yahweh is his Name, rejoice before him!
Father of orphans, defender of widows, God in his holy habitation! — Psalm 68.3-5

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

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 29 (Listen – 4:14)
Psalm 119:49-72 (Listen – 15:14)

Read more about Spiritual Indicators
God holds his people responsible for the welfare of the poor, the foreigners, the widows, and the orphans.

Spiritual Indicators

Read more about The Sojourn of Sanctification
Those who had been exploited as foreigners were commanded to become a nation that blessed foreigners.

The Sojourn of Sanctification

Scripture Focus: Psalm 113
1 Praise the Lord.  
Praise the Lord, you his servants; 
praise the name of the Lord. 
2 Let the name of the Lord be praised, 
both now and forevermore. 
3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, 
the name of the Lord is to be praised. 
4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations, 
his glory above the heavens. 
5 Who is like the Lord our God, 
the One who sits enthroned on high, 
6 who stoops down to look 
on the heavens and the earth? 
7 He raises the poor from the dust 
and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 
8 he seats them with princes, 
with the princes of his people. 
9 He settles the childless woman in her home 
as a happy mother of children. 
Praise the Lord. 

Reflection: He Stoops to Raise
By John Tillman

The psalmist sees God exalted over the heavens, over the glorious phenomena of visible space. We learn of his vast, majestic glory in this way, through telescopes. But the psalmist also sees God stoop…

To understand God fully, we need a microscope, not just a telescope. The equally interesting, intimate glory of God is how infinitely small he is willing to shrink in order to meet us, save us, and lift us up.

This poem from two years ago explores Christ’s life as a process of descending and ascending. In every aspect of his life, and death, he intentionally moves from the highest place, to the lowest place. And why does he do this? So that, gripping our hands, he may ascend, raising us from dusty ash heaps to a glorious place, prepared for us.

He Stoops to Raise
He strips himself.
He lays aside
His Heaven
His throne
His clothes
His life

He lowers himself
Steps down, descends
He stoops
He kneels
Head bowed
He bends

He sinks, He digs
He slides, prostrates
Below
Our sin
Below
Hell’s gates

And then he lifts
His eyes, His face
Begins
To rise
To claim
His place

With him we rise
Gripped in His hand
The lost
The dead
No more
The damned

No more to die
Held by His side
Faithful
Redeemed
Raptured
We rise

Then he returns
All things in place
Restores
Rebuilds
Redeems
Remakes

He then ascends
His throne above
Worthy
The lamb
Our king
Our judge

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church
O God, come to my assistance! O Lord, make haste to help me!

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

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 23 (Listen – 3:10)
Psalm 112-113 (Listen – 1:49)

This Weekend’s Readings
Deuteronomy 24 (Listen – 3:21), Psalm 114-115 (Listen – 2:18)
Deuteronomy 25 (Listen – 2:38), Psalm 116 (Listen – 1:34)

Read more about The Gospel is an Uprising
The Anastasis can be understood as “already and not yet.” It is both completed in the past, coming in the future, and happening now, in our midst.

The Gospel is an Uprising

Read more about Greater Footstool, Greater God, Greater Redeemer
Christ, who is higher and greater than anyone has imagined, would become less and lower than anyone would imagine, to do for us what no one could imagine.

Greater Footstool, Greater God, Greater Redeemer

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