Links for today’s readings:
Apr 27 Read: Jonah 1 Listen: (2:29) Read: Psalms 75-76 Listen: (2:33)
Scripture Focus: Psalm 74.1, 7-9
1 O God, why have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
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.
Psalm 75
1 We praise you, God,
we praise you, for your Name is near;
people tell of your wonderful deeds.
2 You say, “I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge with equity.
3 When the earth and all its people quake,
it is I who hold its pillars firm.
4 To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.
5 Do not lift your horns against heaven;
do not speak so defiantly.’ ”
6 No one from the east or the west
or from the desert can exalt themselves.
7 It is God who judges:
He brings one down, he exalts another.
8 In the hand of the Lord is a cup
full of foaming wine mixed with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
drink it down to its very dregs.
9 As for me, I will declare this forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,
10 who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”
Reflection: Don’t Misrepresent God’s Name
By John Tillman
David wrote a trilogy of psalms using the tune “Do Not Destroy.” Psalm 75, written long after David, uses the same tune. Perhaps that is because this psalm responded to something precious being destroyed and something more precious surviving destruction.
Psalm 74 and 75 seem to be a pair. Psalm 74 laments. Psalm 75 comforts. Psalm 74 mourns the destruction of the temple, the place of God’s name. Psalm 75 discovers that God’s name is still near.
Why was the place of God’s name destroyed? One reason was misrepresenting the name of God.
The name of God, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3.14), is connected to the attributes of God: compassion, grace, being slow to anger, abounding in love and truth (Exodus 34.6). People, places, and communities can misuse God’s name (Exodus 20.7) by acting in ways that clash with God’s attributes.
When we slander compassion, withhold grace, rush to anger, refuse love, and reject truth, while claiming to represent God, we abuse God’s name and misrepresent God’s character. We are arrogantly exalting our horn (Psalm 75.4-5), our power, our judgment, our deeds. We are defying God’s kingdom from coming on earth as in Heaven. We are asserting our will and calling it by God’s name. (Matthew 6.10)
Because God is slow to anger, this may succeed for a time. It might look like blessing, but in truth God is allowing the arrogant to drink to the dregs a cup of judgment. (Psalm 75.8)
Will we be people to whom God’s name will remain near, even in times of judgment, destruction, and strife?
We may experience precious things that represented God’s name and presence to us being destroyed when God finds corruption in them. Our fruitless fig trees are cursed (Matthew 21.19-20). Our temple’s corrupt tables are flipped (Matthew 21.12). Our shepherds are exposed as ravening wolves (Eze 22.27; Matt 7.15; Acts 20.29).
Do not confuse the loss of places or people who represented God’s name with the loss of God’s presence. The place of God’s name, the temple, was destroyed. Yet, God’s name remained near those of the people who praised God and told of his deeds.
Nothing can, by its destruction, remove God’s name, his presence, from his faithful ones. Empires, cities, churches, and leaders can fall or be lost but Jesus will not lose one of those who trust in him. Represent God’s name as compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, loving, and truthful. He will be with us to the end of the age.
Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus said to us: “…Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.” — Matthew 10.26-27
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle
Read more: Do Not Destroy?
Leaders go morally bankrupt in the same way Hemingway described financial bankruptcy—gradually, then suddenly.
Read more: Responding in Kind
There’s an old saying that we don’t have to attend every fight we are invited to. God doesn’t need our defense but he does desire our devotion.
