Unworthy Prophets

  • May 13, 2021
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  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Number 22.6
6 Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”

Psalm 62.4
4 Surely they intend to topple me
    from my lofty place;
    they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
    but in their hearts they curse.

Reflection: Unworthy Prophets
By John Tillman

The prophets we have needed in recent times are those like Nathan, Daniel, and Jeremiah, who would not shirk their duty to speak the truth in order to stay in the good graces of kings. The kind of unworthy prophets we seem to have in abundance are Balaams and Pashhurs, (Jeremiah 19.14-20.6) who comfort and coddle kings to stay close to power.

Balaam was not concerned with the king’s morals. Balaam’s prophecies were for sale. Balaam intended to cash in by putting words in God’s mouth, but God put his words in Balaam’s mouth instead. (Numbers 23.16)

Balaam said what God commanded. This could be because he was overwhelmed by supernatural visions or because he obeyed out of fear of the angel who threatened him. Scripture does not tell us. Although God spoke through Balaam, there was no relationship of love or trust—no expectation of good faith.

We must remember that there will always be political leaders like Balak. They want prophets of God to identify with them, stand with them, and give blessing to their policies in exchange for favors. 

We must also remember that there will always be prophets like Balaam. These prophets claim to speak for God but, instead, tickle the ears of the powerful in exchange for assurances of influence and power. These modern Balaams do their best to put words in God’s mouth that are pleasing to the powerful.

Along their desert sojourn, the Israelites faced being hated by Balaks and cursed by Balaams. In our political realms, we will more likely be wooed by Balaks, and have our ears tickled by the Balaams doing their bidding.

As God’s people, we may feel powerless against the Balaams or the Balaks of the world. We can be assured that God is more than able to deal with them according to their sins. This world, ruled by Balaks and preached to by Balaams is not our home. It is the land of our sojourn.

May we keep serving our God and following him through this desert. As Balaam could not deny the beauty of the tents of Israel (Numbers 24.5), may the conspiring prophets and rulers of our culture not be able to deny the beauty of the love of God that works among us.

May a better class of prophets speak the truth to power and to God’s people.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
My eyes are upon the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me. — Psalm 101.6

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

Today’s Readings
Numbers 22 (Listen – 5:55)
Psalm 62-63 (Listen – 2:44)

Read more about Balaam’s Success
Balaam’s strategy of people-pleasing pandering to powerful politicians is still alive today. So are his methods of deceit and temptation.

Balaam’s Success

Read more about The Losers Who Write History
Not one of those glowingly positive, king-praising prophets’ writings are in our Bible. Instead we have the writings of the losers.

The Losers Who Write History

The Antivenom for Sin

  • May 12, 2021
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  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Numbers 21.7-9
7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 
8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

Psalm 60.1-5
1 You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us; 
you have been angry—now restore us! 
2 You have shaken the land and torn it open; 
mend its fractures, for it is quaking. 
3 You have shown your people desperate times; 
you have given us wine that makes us stagger. 
4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner 
to be unfurled against the bow. 
5 Save us and help us with your right hand, 
that those you love may be delivered.

Reflection: The Antivenom for Sin 
By John Tillman

With sin, as with serpents, it isn’t the size that kills you—it is the venom.

Venom is a specific kind of poison. Poison can be transmitted by touch or ingestion, like the poison on the skin of a poisonous frog or in a poisonous plant. Venom is a poison inflicted through a wounding attack, such as a bite or sting. 

Venoms can cause necrosis, killing the tissue it is injected into. Many cause vomiting, hemorrhaging, seizures, heart failure, and other deadly symptoms. Many venoms also cause blindness, paralysis, or disorientation, making victims easier to kill by other means.

Through the serpent in the Garden of Eden, humanity was stung by sin. Its venom necrotizes our spirit, disorients us, blinds us, and makes us easy victims to be toyed with or killed by our adversary, the devil. (1 Peter 5.8)

Contrary to popular belief, venom cannot be sucked out of a wound. In most cases, the surrounding tissue is flooded with venom and it is nearly instantly carried through the bloodstream. Antivenom must be taken. In some cases antivenom must begin to be administered within minutes of being bitten or the victim may not survive. 

We cannot save ourselves from the venom of sin. It inevitably will cause our death and many other harms in our lives. The venom that pained and even killed some of the Israelites was a direct consequence of sin and a realistic representation of how the venom of sin infects our bodies and communities.

When the Israelites looked to the sign of the serpent, they were looking in faith at God’s promise of an antivenom for sin. Every heel struck by a serpent in the Israelite camp was healed not by looking at the serpent but by the bruised heel of the one promised to Eve in the garden. (Genesis 3.15; Isaiah 53.4-5)

Jesus was struck by sin, stung with its venom, and raised up as a sign of God’s provision. Sin wounds us. He is the balm. Sin injects venom that necrotizes our souls. Jesus injects us with the antivenom of his indestructible life.

No matter what we have done, or what sin we are struck by, Jesus is lifted up for us to look to for salvation. (John 3.14-18) There is no sting of sin too grievous for him to heal.

Jesus is the only antivenom for sin and we are commanded to lift him up so that the world can be freed from the sting of sin and death. (1 Corinthians 15.54-57; Isaiah 25.7-8; Hosea 13.14)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are they who trust in him! — Psalm 34.8
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Numbers 21 (Listen – 5:03)
Psalm 60-61 (Listen – 2:27)

Read more about The Cup
Christ’s death and resurrection is the assurance and archetype for our own hope: the greatest evil turned for the greatest good.

The Cup

Read more about Quotations from the Desert
Christ…locked eyes with the serpent upon whose head his heel would soon step down with infinite crushing weight.

Quotations from the Desert

Our Sins Ever Before Us

  • May 7, 2021
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  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Psalm 51.1-3
1 Have mercy on me, O God, 
according to your unfailing love; 
according to your great compassion 
blot out my transgressions. 
2 Wash away all my iniquity 
and cleanse me from my sin. 
3 For I know my transgressions, 
and my sin is always before me.

From John: Rewriting this post from 2019, I wonder if Davids of today would listen to Nathans confronting them with their sin? Sadly, I think we have often learned that they don’t. Confessions rarely come without confrontations. We must see our sins before us, before we can put them behind us in repentance.

Reflection: Our Sins Ever Before Us
By John Tillman

Psalm 51 echoes through the New and Old Testaments. Its phrasing, words, and sentiments are often repeated.

In Luke, Jesus puts its words in the mouth of the Tax Collector in his parable about prayer: “have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Jesus alludes to it again in the Prodigal Son’s rehearsed speech of repentance.
The Pharisees adapt its language in John, when condemning the man born blind.
Paul quotes it in the third chapter of Romans and repeats its themes in Romans seven.

Many see this Psalm as a beautiful picture of how we can come to God for forgiveness no matter what we have done, and it is a beautiful picture. But before David could write this song of confession, he had to be confronted with the truth. Before we sing the beautiful song of Psalm 51 we must hear the ugly parable of Nathan. The ugly truth is the reflection of our sins.
Like David, we must be forced to see our sin for what it is.

David was already a lustful man—taking a large number of wives and concubines. He was already a bloody man of war and vengeance, so much so that God would not let David build the Temple. These sins eventually led him to a breaking point.

He became an adulterer—purposely seeking out and sleeping with another man’s wife.
He became a liar—seeking to hide his crime and dodge his responsibility for the child.
He became a murderer—murdering Uriah, a friend who was more honorable than David himself.
He became a coward—farming out the murder to someone else.

Before we pray or listen to Psalm 51, we need first to pray that there will be a Nathan in our lives to reveal to us the sins that we are failing to see. The reason David’s sin is “always before him” is because Nathan was there to reveal it.

In our prayers today, may we echo this Psalm as Jesus and Paul did, but first, may we seek revelation from the Holy Spirit of the sins we do not see in ourselves. We can’t confess what we refuse to see.

Racism. Idolatry. Pride. Greed. Lust. Reveal them to us, Lord.
Have mercy on us, Oh God. According to your unfailing love!

Music: “Psalm 51” — Charlie Peacock, Westcoast Diaries Volume Two

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. — 2 Corinthians 4.6

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

Today’s Readings
Numbers 15 (Listen – 5:09) 
Psalm 51 (Listen – 2:19)

This Weekend’s Readings
Numbers 16 (Listen – 6:59), Psalm 52-54 (Listen – 3:18)
Numbers 17-18 (Listen – 6:58), Psalm 55 (Listen – 2:43)

Read more about You Are The Man — Embracing Prophetic Responsibility
When Christians speak truth to power, we are empowered with the same Holy Spirit that spoke to Nathan. Whether to a monarch, a magistrate, or a magnate, we represent the message of the Gospel.

You Are The Man — Embracing Prophetic Responsibility

Read more about Confession Destroys Denial
We confess we have been deaf to cries of the needy, cries for help, and cries of injustice…Never let us rely on earthly kings to carry out the tasks of the heavenly kingdom.

Confession Destroys Denial

God of all Nations—Worldwide Prayer

  • May 6, 2021
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  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Psalm 50.1-6
1 The Mighty One, God, the Lord, 
speaks and summons the earth 
from the rising of the sun to where it sets. 
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, 
God shines forth. 
3 Our God comes 
and will not be silent; 
a fire devours before him, 
and around him a tempest rages. 
4 He summons the heavens above, 
and the earth, that he may judge his people: 
5 “Gather to me this consecrated people, 
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” 
6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, 
for he is a God of justice.,

From John: Today, The United States observes a National Day of Prayer. Whatever country you are in, as you pray today, be reminded that you are praying in a priestly capacity. Through the Holy Spirit, we are able to bring before God the sins and concerns of our nations.

*At the time this post was scheduled, our brethren in India are suffering greatly with a massive surge of Covid cases and deaths. May God grant them mercy and his church the power to aid the suffering.

Reflection: God of all Nations—Worldwide Prayer
By John Tillman

To serious students of scripture, it seems ludicrous that we must keep repeating that the God of the Bible is not American, not White, and not partial to any race.

But repeat it, we must.

Poway asks us to repeat it. Pittsburgh asks us to repeat it. Christchurch asks us to repeat it. Charleston asks us to repeat it. Charlottesville asks us to repeat it.

God is not the god of the white man and he does not show favoritism to any race, any class, any people, any blood, or any nation. The God of the Bible is a god of justice for all people who calls to himself people from every nation and race.

No country ever opposed racism or slavery without the explicit influence of Christianity. May the church in every nation work to prevent racism in our countries, but most especially may we eliminate it from our churches.

We pray for all nations this week using words from brothers and sisters in Christ from India.

Prayer for my nation from India
Eternal God,

Thank you for my country. By your Holy Spirit help national leadership in my country to see and experience your great light. Please show my people the wonders of your divine grace that many may come from darkness into the light of Christ.

Lord, grant me the grace to be an instrument in your great design for my people. May my personal life so reflect the beauty of Jesus that people will see the difference that true faith can make.

You, O God, are the only God; Creator; Master; Savior. By your grace, I cry out to you for peace and for the salvation of my people. I offer this prayer in the matchless Name that is far above all other names.

*Prayer from Hallowed be Your Name: A collection of prayers from around the world, Dr. Tony Cupit, Editor.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord.
He rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; he sends forth his voice, his mighty voice.
Ascribe power to God; his majesty is over Israel; his strength is in the skies. — Psalm 68.33-35

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

Today’s Readings
Numbers 14 (Listen – 6:15) 
Psalm 50 (Listen – 2:26)

Read more about Racism Wears a Mask
The church was the first entity in history to directly attack racism and the Holy Spirit is the only way its burden can truly be put down.

Racism Wears a Mask

Read more about Peter’s Unfinished Work
Ending racism was a Christian idea from the beginning…

Peter’s Unfinished Work

The Promise of Justice

  • May 5, 2021
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  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Psalm 49.5-8; 15
5 Why should I fear when evil days come, 
when wicked deceivers surround me— 
6 those who trust in their wealth 
and boast of their great riches? 
7 No one can redeem the life of another 
or give to God a ransom for them— 
8 the ransom for a life is costly, 
no payment is ever enough— 

15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; 
he will surely take me to himself. 

Reflection: The Promise of Justice
By John Tillman

The Bible is the most grounded and realistic of holy texts. Scripture doesn’t blink when things go bad. It weeps. Biblical authors don’t shy from distressing realities. Cries for justice ring out in every book.

Modern people deceive ourselves that evil is only a disagreement about mutual benefits. The Bible knows that evil is real and people both cause and suffer from it.

Complaints and cries for justice come from an awareness of its lack. Deep down humans know a moral standard exists. Those who deny moral absolutes cannot show that they lack anything. Without a moral ideal, no complaint regarding justice can be made. Without some measure of wrongness there is no reason to expect goodness. How can a world with no absolutes be upset about evil? So you suffered or were harmed… Well, what did you expect? Who promised you something else?

Only amidst the Bible’s moral absolutes, do we find a promise of justice.

We know, soul deep and sinew deep, that sin exists. This is what it means to have partaken of the fruit. We KNOW evil. It looks good and tastes sweet but soon, it cramps us up, doubling us over. The knowledge of good and evil sickens our stomachs and rumbles through our guts. We soil ourselves with it and the runoff soils the earth, awakening Death.

The psalmist pulls no punches about death, the greatest evil of all. Death is the last enemy to be defeated. (Even though he has already lost.) Death treats rich and poor with perfect and efficient equity, yet every death is unjust to the Lord of life.

We work whatever justice we can on earth, but when death comes, human justice is insufficient. We cannot restore or repay, even with our lives, the loss of a victim of murder, cancer, starvation, Covid, or any other cause. But just as evil exists, righteousness does too. Whatever meager form of justice humans offer, Christ’s justice is incomparably greater.

Death’s victims need not stay in his grasp. Death’s grasping arms were broken in a wrestling match lost at the cross. Christ kicked in Death’s doors, opening the pathway to life for all who believe.

Like Old Testament sacrifices, human justice is not meaningless and we must enact it, but it is a mere shadow of the justice wrought by Christ. We do justice, as we do all else, in remembrance of His promise.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
For one day in your courts is better than a thousand in my own room, and to stand at the threshold of the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. — Psalm 84.9

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

Today’s Readings
Numbers 12-13 (Listen – 5:53) 
Psalm 49 (Listen – 2:10)

Read more about Justice Starts Within
Justice starts within. It doesn’t stop there. May we answer the call…shining a light of justice and truth.

Justice Starts Within

Read more about Christ the Enemy of Death
Death is God’s enemy because it harms and hurts his children..He has defeated them both on the cross…Christ is the deadly enemy of death.

Christ the Enemy of Death