Psalms - The Park Forum

October 21, 2020October 20, 2020

Public, Prayerful, Persistent Protest

Scripture Focus: Daniel 6.10-11
10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.

Psalm 112.7-8
They will have no fear of bad news;
their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
8 Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.

Reflection: Public, Prayerful, Persistent Protest
By John Tillman

Daniel’s daily prayer probably concerned his reading of Jeremiah’s prophecies about the return from exile. (Daniel 9.1-3)

Daniel’s prayer was not just any kind of prayer. Daniel prayed for God to forgive the sin of the people and return them to their homeland. This was a subversive prayer for the oppressed to be freed by the government Daniel served.

Regardless of the topic of Daniel’s prayer, when a law was passed forbidding it, Daniel’s public prayer became a protest against injustice.

Those who wish to regulate protests often say to protesters, “Not here. Not now. Not like this.” They may have told Daniel to pray at a different time or place. They may have told Daniel to pray in private, keeping his religion to himself. They may have told Daniel to pray silently, so as not to offend anyone. But Daniel did not allow anyone to dictate the timing and method of his prayerful protest for justice.

Daniel prayed in defiance of an unjust law. He was guilty before the law of the land, but blameless before God. He also remained blameless and unassailable in the righteousness of all his other dealings. He broke no other law in the course of his protest.

Finally, Daniel faced the consequences of his protest without protest. He did not demand or expect to be spared. He trusted in God for justice, not in humans.

We too, are exiles living in an unjust world. The corrupt followers of the corrupt systems around us are prepared to penalize us for resisting. In a corrupt system, incorruptibility is a crime.

When we protest injustice, no matter what is, we can follow Daniel’s model of publicly, prayerfully, and persistently protesting unjust laws in a just and righteous way. Daniel’s protest softened the heart of a king and changed the leadership of an entire nation. What might ours change today?

Pray this prayer for those living in and protesting injustice in a corrupt world: (Based on Psalm 112 and the proclamation of Darius in Daniel 6.)

Oh, God whose kingdom will not be destroyed
Rescue and save!
As in heaven, work your will on the earth.
From ravenous lions, save us, your servants.

Make the darkness light for the upright,
The gracious, compassionate, and righteous
who conduct their affairs with justice.
May hearts be steadfast
May the wicked be vexed,
May justice longed for roll like rivers over them.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm
Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, you have done great things; who is like you, O God?
You have showed me great troubles and adversities, but you will restore my life and bring me up again from the deep places of the earth,
You strengthen me more and more; you enfold and comfort me.
Therefore I will praise you upon the lyre for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing to you with the harp, O holy One of Israel.
My lips will sing with joy when I play to you, and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
My tongue will proclaim your righteousness all day long,for they are ashamed and disgraced who sought to do me harm. — Psalm 71.19-24

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Daniel 6 (Listen – 5:18)
Psalm 112-113 (Listen – 1:49)

Read more about A Generational Lament
Prayers of lament and complaint are a healthy and fulfilling spiritual practice that can be entered into by individuals and communities.

A Generational Lament

Read more about Peter’s Unfinished Work
As evidenced by both the murder of George Floyd and some of the broken and tragic responses to it, the church has much work left to do.

Peter’s Unfinished Work

October 20, 2020October 18, 2020

Weighed and Found Wanting

Scripture Focus: Daniel 5.17, 25-28
17 Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

25 “This is the inscription that was written:

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

26 “Here is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Psalm 110.5
The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.

Psalm 111.10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

Reflection: Weighed and Found Wanting
By John Tillman

The terms written on Belshazzar’s wall come from counting and weighing money made of precious metals and are filled with double meanings. Mene means “mina” and sounds like the word for “measured.” Tekel means shekels, a unit of weight measurement, and was also a play on the word numbered. Parsin means half-shekels, implying a kingdom divided, and sounded like Persian, which is who would take over the kingdom.

“Writing on the wall,” has become a worldwide idiom that shows up in countless cultural references. Many don’t know that it comes from the Bible. But there is more to the meaning of the phrase than an ominous warning. The writing on the wall is all about pride and gold.

The gold items Belshazzar was drinking from had an interesting history.

After humbling Egypt, God caused Egyptians to look favorably on the slaves as they left. God told the Israelites to ask for items of gold and jewelry, “so they plundered the Egyptians.” (Exodus 11.1-3; 12.31-36)

Later, the people gave of this gold to make implements of worship designed by God. (Exodus 35.20-29) A generation prior to the exile, Hezekiah showed off these golden items in the temple to visiting Babylonian officials, which seems to have sparked Babylon’s interest in conquering the land. (2 Kings 20.12-18)

So, Belshazzar held in his hand golden cups designed by God, made from gold taken by God by humbling Egypt at the height of its power. Belshazzar stood atop the empire of his father, called the “king of kings,” who at the height of his power suffered humiliation and exile because of his pride.

Belshazzar held God’s cup but did not honor the God who held his own life in his hands. (Daniel 5.23) Belshazzar “knew all this” but still chose to defy the God of Israel. Belshazzar did not measure up. He was found wanting.

Belshazzar should have known better and so should we. We also hold in our hands wealth and power that we think we gained for ourselves but which came from God.

We, like Belshazzar, “know all this,” but do we learn from the sins of our fathers before us? Do we continue in them or deny them?
We are responsible for what we know and what we do about it.
When we, and the rulers we have set over us, are weighed and measured, will God find humility or hubris? Kindness or callousness? Generosity or greed?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Show your goodness, O Lord, to those who are good and to those who are true of heart. — Psalm 125.4

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Daniel 5 (Listen – 5:47)
Psalm 110-111 (Listen – 1:57)

Read more about Humbling Nebuchadnezzar
Humility will save you and your nation. Pride will destroy you and your nation. If only kings had ears to hear.

https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/humbling-nebuchadnezzar/

Read more about Hearing the Groans of the Prisoners
He hears the cries of all those oppressed by their rulers. He judges all rulers and leaders who conduct themselves with pride and irresponsibility.

Hearing the Groans of the Prisoners

October 9, 2020October 7, 2020

Abandon Human Vengeance

Scripture Focus: Psalm 94.1-7
The Lord is a God who avenges.
O God who avenges, shine forth.
Rise up, Judge of the earth;
pay back to the proud what they deserve.
How long, Lord, will the wicked,
how long will the wicked be jubilant?
They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers are full of boasting.
They crush your people, Lord;
they oppress your inheritance.
They slay the widow and the foreigner;
they murder the fatherless.
They say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob takes no notice.”

From John: Christ told us that, spiritually, thoughts are as condemnable as actions and insulting language is as condemnable as physical violence. 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. With this post from 2018, we pray that Christians will abandon our culture’s model of unrestrained vengeance and violence.

Reflection: Abandon Human Vengeance
By John Tillman

The tactics of human vengeance are escalatory. We always hit back harder than we were struck.

This is why God specifically limited the punishment that could be legally sought for damages. “An eye for an eye” was never intended to instigate a god-ordained, eye-gouging, free-for-all. It is a limit designed for selfish, angry, vengeful people. In other words, for us.

The psalmist understands that when it comes to vengeance, our role is non-participatory. We cry for it. We give it over to God. We, as Paul writes, “leave room” for the Lord’s just vengeance.

As much as our culture shrinks from biblical descriptions of divine vengeance and wrath, we call for revenge frequently and celebrate those who carry it out. At times it seems like every area of our culture is vociferously demanding vengeance.

Politics is the area in which it is easiest to see it at the moment.

For decades (maybe centuries) political strategists have justified questionable tactics by pointing at the behavior of the other side, childishly saying, “They hit me first.” Politicians are also fond of the mantra of abusers, “look what they made me do.” And every strategic maneuver provides more fuel for hatred and sets up precedent to justify the next retaliation.

Vengeance breeds hatred, and hatred fuels vengeance. This pattern is not new, but it is accelerating.

In their book, Prius or Pickup, Marc Hetherington and Jonathan Weiler discuss how the percentage of Democrats who hate Republicans and Republicans who hate Democrats skyrocketed over the past 18 years. It remained below 20% from 1980 through the 1990s. But in 2016 it was at 50% and trending up. As Hetherington and Weiler say, “hating the opposite political party is no longer a fringe thing.”

As Christians, we must identify ourselves as part of a new fringe that will not submit to the normalcy of hatred.

We must be a fringe that will not be intimidated by those who demand revenge. A fringe that works for justice but will not tolerate the vigilantification of retribution. A fringe that will maintain civility without allowing it to be a synonym for complicity.

Those who continue to stoop to hatred, fear, and exaggeration are worshipers of results, not the Redeemer. As Christians, we have an opportunity to differentiate ourselves from culture every time vitriol spews.

We must be the first to break the chain of retaliatory and violent rhetoric.
We must abandon human vengeance before we can see divine justice.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Let your loving-kindness be my comfort, as you have promised to your servant.
Let your compassion come to me, that I may live, for your law is my delight. — Psalm 119.76-77

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 42 (Listen – 3:12)
Psalm 94 (Listen – 2:08)

This Weekend’s Readings
Ezekiel 43 (Listen – 5:15), Psalm 95-96 (Listen – 2:37
Ezekiel 44 (Listen – 5:32), Psalm 97-98 (Listen – 2:19)

Read more about Praying for Divine Vengeance
The prayer for the vengeance of God is the prayer for the carrying out of God’s righteousness in the judgment of sin.

Praying for Divine Vengeance

Read more about Responding to Political Violence
For Christians to fail to condemn, or worse, to directly endorse this type of violence is a great moral and theological failing.

Responding to Political Violence

October 8, 2020October 6, 2020

Destiny of Grass vs Cedars

Scripture Focus: Psalm 92.4-7, 12-13
For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
How great are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
Senseless people do not know,
fools do not understand,
that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed forever.

12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.

Reflection: Destiny of Grass vs Cedars
By John Tillman

There are purposes for the flourishing of the wicked and one of them is that one day the world will see them fall.

The success of the wicked is like grass that will spring up and then be destroyed. There are purposes for suffering and lowliness and one of them is that one day the world will see the humble exalted. The righteous are not likened to grass but to a “cedar of Lebanon” planted in God’s house. The cedar and the grass may seem a similar height when they sprout, but the cedar’s growth and longevity are much different.

The psalmist recognizes that wickedness will often flourish in this world. So should we. The writer sees through the illusion that worldly power and success indicate heavenly endorsement. So should we. Whether prospering or suffering, thriving or failing, surviving or dying, gains in this world are meaningless.

The psalmist testifies that senseless people, fools, do not understand this. So we should ask God for wisdom, and he will answer us with understanding.

We should cry out to God to deal with the wicked according to his justice, but let us not wish for a tit-for-tat God. If we got what we deserved, all would be destroyed.

We should praise God for what he has done, but not only for seeing the wicked brought low. We should praise him that despite our wickedness we can be raised up in the righteousness of Christ.

It is only in emptying ourselves in confession that we can be filled with his righteousness. There is joy and love that God has for us in Christ Jesus.

The wicked will fall because they will not kneel before Christ. When we fall to our knees in repentance, there is strength to lift us up, carrying us to sanctification. Our arms are too short to grasp what we need but Christ is the arm of the Lord. This powerful arm, bared before the nations, is never too short to save.

With the psalmist, may we sing for joy at what his hands have done, working righteousness, showing mercy, and being with us in suffering.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
You are my hiding place…you surround me with shoults of deliverance. — Psalm 32.8

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 41 (Listen – 4:40)
Psalm 92-93 (Listen – 2:09)

Read more about Emptiness Filled by Love :: Worldwide Prayer
Compassionate God, we are sinners in need of forgiveness. The emptiness within us can only be filled by your love.

Emptiness Filled by Love :: Worldwide Prayer

Read more about The Thriving Tree
Our path to salvation and restoration follows the steps of the suffering, crucified servant, Jesus.

The Thriving Tree

October 5, 2020October 3, 2020

A Prayer for Crisis—Guided Prayer

Scripture Focus: Psalm 89.46-49
46 How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how fleeting is my life.
For what futility you have created all humanity!
48 Who can live and not see death,
or who can escape the power of the grave?
49 Lord, where is your former great love,
which in your faithfulness you swore to David?

Reflection: A Prayer for Crisis—Guided Prayer
By John Tillman

Scholars are divided on whether Psalm 89 was written by the same “Ethan the Ezrahite” who was a contemporary of David or whether it was written later by a contemporary of Ezekiel and other exiles. Regardless of when it was written, it shows us a helpful and repeatable pattern of prayer for those in suffering, doubt, frustration, or crisis.

The psalm contains three distinct movements of thought. In the first section, the psalmist praises the power of God over the cosmos. From the highest court of the heavens, he rules over things seen and unseen.

In the second movement, the writer describes God’s vision and purpose for humanity. The Lord promises an intimate, fatherly, guiding relationship. David stands in as a symbol for both the nation of Israel and for the role of Jesus who will be the “Son of David” to whom those longing for deliverance will call. (Mark 10.46-52)

In the third, the writer laments the sin of his people and that God seems to be abandoning them to suffering and allowing his purposes for them to fail. Despite this lament, or perhaps because of it, the writer ends with a challenging view of hope. The psalmist trusts that God will save, that wrongs will be forgiven, and justice will be done.

A Prayer for Crisis — Guided Prayer
Praise God for who he is and acknowledge him as the king and creator of all. He is more than just the source of all life but the source of all joy, love, and justice.

Review for yourself the assurances we have in his promises to us. That we will be made like him. That we will suffer, but with him and in his power. That we will be forgiven. That we will be his images, his sons and daughters, representing him.

Express to him your doubts and fears. Tell him what you don’t believe and ask him to help you believe. (Mark 9.23-24) Tell him how you feel without fear of rejection. Tell him what you fear without being shamed.

Praise him that he is the Lord, forever. Eternal life is not just in the future. It is now. Abundant life is not just pie in the sky. He is with us now. Praise him that he is with us forever.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
The heaven of heavens is the Lord’s, but he entrusted the earth to its peoples. — Psalm 115.16

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

Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 38 (Listen – 4:23)
Psalm 89 (Listen – 5:29)

Read more about Forgiveness to Soften the Hardened—Worldwide Prayer
There is no level of spiritual achievement or growth at which one is not susceptible to hardening of the heart and the spirit.

Forgiveness to Soften the Hardened :: Worldwide Prayer

Read more about Meditation in Spiritual Rhythm
A few hundred years ago, meditation was not considered radical or strange, but simply a prudent, practical, and effective Christian discipline.

Meditation in Spiritual Rhythm :: Throwback Thursday