His People's Shepherd - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 8/12/2024 •

Monday of Proper 14

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 89; Judges 12:1-7; Acts 5:12-26; John 3:1-21

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2-6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)

“You like ‘to-MAY-to,’ I like ‘to-MAH-to,’” sings Fred Astaire to Ginger Rogers in the 1937 movie Shall We Dance. Romantic comedy that the film is, the newly, but secretly, married couple does not, despite the song’s title, “call the whole thing off.” 

You like ‘sibboleth,’ I like ‘shibboleth,’ isn’t so innocent. The difference in pronunciation means life and death in the blood feud between Ephraim, Manasseh, and Gilead—the descendants of Joseph (Judges 12:5-6). It’s a sad tag line for that tribe’s internecine war, and its resultant loss of its lead role in Israel. The Gileadites had reached out to the Ephraimites, their fellow offspring of Joseph, for help in the battle against a common enemy, the marauding Ammonites, but were rebuffed. After defeating the Ammonites on their own, the Gileadites use the difference in dialect to “out” Ephraimites, and make them pay with their lives. And then, as Psalm 78 was later to say: 

The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, turned back in the day of battle; They did not keep the covenant of God,and refused to walk in his law;…

[The Lord] rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;He chose instead the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he loved…He chose David his servant… (Psalm 78:9-10, 67, 68, 70a BCP).

Today’s reading in Judges lays the groundwork for the establishment of monarchy in Israel, and in particular of the establishment of the Davidic monarchy, as celebrated both in Psalm 78 (above) and in today’s Psalm 89: 

Your love, O Lord, forever will I sing; from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever;you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;I have sworn an oath to David my servant:‘I will establish your line for ever,and preserve your throne for all generations.’” (Psalm 89:1-4 BCP).

Then again, even David’s line proves faulty. The kingdom divides after Solomon, and falls into idolatry again and becomes subject to exile. No mere earthly king can rule as wisely and perfectly as Yahweh himself can rule. The prophet Ezekiel says that eventually Yahweh—the great I AM—will indeed come himself to shepherd his people: “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy” (Ezekiel 34:15-16).  

In John’s gospel, Jesus will reveal himself as that great I AM—as his people’s shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). With last Friday’s reading about Jesus’s “first sign” at the wedding at Cana, and with Saturday’s reading about Jesus’s cleansing of the Temple, we see the kickoff of the Good Shepherd’s campaign to bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak.

Image: Pixabay

Today Jesus comes for Nicodemus, “the teacher of Israel” (John 3:10—there’s a very important definite article in the Greek that the NRSV fails to render) who reveals his need for a lesson in what the Bible—and thus, Israel’s story—is really all about. Nicodemus is a “shepherd” who is, himself, a strayed sheep. Having come to quiz Jesus, he winds up sitting quietly, as his Good Shepherd opens up the Scriptures in a new way:  

• “You must be born again (or from above).” — John 3:7. We need a new, and heaven-sent birth: a new start, a life given by God’s very Spirit. Just as Adam was simply a lump of clay until God breathed life into him in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:7), so we have no spiritual life in us until God breathes his life-giving Spirit into us—until we are “born again” by the Spirit. This is exactly what Ezekiel had said must happen: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
  

• “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” — John 3:14-15. The new birth by the Spirit lies on the far side of Jesus’s substitutionary, atoning, death-destroying death on the cross. The Lamb of God will take away the sin of the world, by taking the soul-sickness of sin all the way into himself, and then all the way into the grave—indeed, all the way into the bowels of hell itself; so that he can emerge triumphant, as Christus Victor. As the Philip Bliss hymn puts it:
  
  Lifted up was He to die;
  “It is finished!” was His cry;
  Now in Heav’n exalted high.
  Hallelujah! What a Savior!
  

• “God so loved the world… — John 3:16. The Spirit will give life because the Son will be lifted up on the cross. And the Son has arrived because the Father loves. The Father loves! There is no greater summary of what the Bible is all about. Here is the ultimate lesson for Nicodemus, and for all the sheep that have strayed: “God so loved [insert your name here] that he gave his only begotten Son that [insert your name] should believe in him and not perish but have everlasting life.” 

I pray you know the Father’s love for you. I pray you believe the Son’s work for you. I pray you breathe deeply the new life of the Spirit. 

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+ 

"There Are Only Two Religions in the World" - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 8/9/2024 •

Friday of Proper 13

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 88; Judges 9:1-21; Acts 4:13-31; John 2:1-12 
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6-11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

Abimelech. Abimelech’s story stretches over two days of reading in the Daily Office. It is a sad tale of just retribution. Abandoning the redeeming, covenant-making God of grace, Yahweh, to worship a false god of covenant, Baal-berith, Israel is, consequently, at the mercy of the iron law of retribution. Gideon had seventy sons.  One of them, the son of a concubine, Abimelech, conspires with the leaders of his hometown Shechem to become Israel’s sole ruler. Following this, he murders all but one of his seventy half-brothers (who likely have a stronger claim to rule Israel). His half-brother Jotham hides and survives this massacre. Jotham tells a fable of faithless trees that select as their ruler a bramble that will rain down fire that will destroy both the faithless trees and the bramble itself. 

The fable, which is actually a curse, plays itself out (in tomorrow’s reading) in ruthless precision. “This happened so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be avenged and their blood be laid on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers” (Judges 9:24).  God sends an evil spirit which turns the lords of Shechem against Abimelech. This hostility results in the ruin of both Shechem and Abimelech. Abimelech burns the Shechemites’ stronghold by fire. As he is doing so, a woman throws down a mill stone crushing Abimelech’s head, recalling the fact that it had been on a certain stone that Abimelech had murdered his half-brothers (Judges 9:5, 53).

Scriptures observes, “Thus God repaid Abimelech for the crime he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers; and God also made all the wickedness of the people of Shechem fall back on their heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal” (Judges 9:56-57).

During Midday Eucharist one day at the Cathedral Church of St Luke, Father Peter Tepper reminded us of U2 singer Bono’s remark that there are only two religions in the world, one of grace, and one of karma. Bono says, “the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma. You see, at the centre of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you … And yet, along comes the idea called Grace to upend all that… Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed….” 

Abimelech’s story is a perfect illustration of “what you put out com[ing] back to you.” It’s a picture of the whole age that Paul will much later describe as life “under the law.”

Image: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Wedding in Cana. With the coming of Christ, however, grace walks into the world. The wedding scene at Cana is one of the most beautiful demonstrations of the difference that God’s grace in Christ makes.

• Despite the fact that his “hour” has not yet come, Jesus graciously assents to the “first sign” of his “glory.” 

• Water set aside in jars for purification turns to wine that will fill goblets of celebration.  Because the Lamb of God has come to take away the sin of the world (as announced at Jesus’ baptism in the previous chapter of John), our baptism will not only purify, it will lead to the Eucharist of joy. 

• In John’s meta-narrative, Jesus’s blessing of this wedding in 1st century Galilee forecasts his invitation to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb at the end of time (Revelation 19).  

• The Lord of History shows himself as the ultimate host who has saved the best wine (his Son) for last (John 2:10). 

The Acts of the Apostles and the triumph of grace. In today’s passage in Acts, we find the ultimate transformation of Bono’s “karma” into “grace.” Actually, let’s put it in more biblical terms: “The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). After Peter and John are released from prison, their friends gather and raise their voices in worship and thanksgiving—they praise God for transforming the violence done to Christ into grace for the healing of the nations.  In a kind of mini-Pentecost, they are “filled with the Holy Spirit and [speak] the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). 

Citing Psalm 2, the community recalls the evil that had been brought against Christ, God’s Anointed: “Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel” taking the part of Psalm 2’s Gentiles raging, of peoples imagining vain things, of kings of the earth taking their stand, and of rulers gathering together “against the Lord and against his Messiah” (Acts 4:26-27, quoting Psalm 2:2). 

While the psalm addressed the revolt of earthly powers with God’s wrathful and derisive laughter (Psalm 2:4-5—which would be the legitimate response of pure justice), the church sees something different, by virtue of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The violence that Herod, et al., have perpetrated against the Lord’s anointed turns out to have been, instead, a boomerang—this is God’s predestined means to bring liberation from sin, and freedom from death’s power. If there is laughing now, it’s God’s laugh of victory, as he “stretch[es] out [his] hand to heal,” and his people’s laugh of joy. 

Grace has triumphed—may you walk in the knowledge and the confidence that His grace is for you!

Be blessed this day,

Reggie Kidd+

The Power of God's Re-Creative Life-Giving Spirit - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 8/8/2024 •

Thursday of Proper 13

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 83; Psalm 145; Judges 8:22-35; Acts 4:1-12; John 1:43-51
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)

We’ll wrap up Gideon’s story today, contrasting his experience of God’s Spirit with that of Peter in Acts. Then we’ll note the strong initiating love of Jesus in his approach to Nathaniel in John’s Gospel. 

Gideon’s end. After the victory over their enemies, the Israelites ask Gideon to establish a royal dynasty. Piously, he demurs: “The Lord will rule over you” (Judges 8:23). Despite the appearance of humility, however, Gideon takes on the trappings of a king. He demands tribute from his fellow Israelites: “let each of you give me an earring he has taken as booty.” He takes to himself many wives—exactly what Moses had warned the people a king would do (Deuteronomy 17:17). Perhaps the most revealing thing as to what’s going on deep in his heart is the fact that Gideon names the son of his concubine “Abimelech,” which means “My father is king.” 

Gideon is no longer the humble, overly timid man who initially responded to God’s call to be a “mighty warrior” with: “But, sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:12, 15). 

And yet, our friend Gideon is quite the mixed bag. The book of Judges does recognize “all the good that [Gideon] had done to Israel.” And in fact, Israel enjoys forty years of “rest … in the days of Gideon.” However, he does not keep the faith. Despite his protestations of loyalty to the Lord, and despite the fact that it was the Spirit of the Lord that had empowered his victories, Gideon forges an “ephod” from the gold of the earrings; in this context, an image or idol of some sort (Judges 8:27). When he sets it up in his town, in Ophrah, the ephod becomes an object of worship: “And all Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.” After his death, there is a widespread lapse of faith in Israel, and the people convert to the worship of Baal-berith, “Baal of the covenant” (Judges 8:33). And, as we will see in tomorrow’s reading, if you name a son “My father is king,” it’s altogether possible you are bequeathing a sense of entitlement with unfortunate consequences. 

Gideon’s life offers sober lessons about how easily external obedience and piety can mask ungodly motives and insecurities. His life also demonstrates how it’s possible for someone to yield to the work of the Spirit just enough to manifest God’s power in the world, without yielding to God’s power in one’s own life. It’s as though what Gideon opens himself to is more like a temporary possession by the Spirit, rather than a deep and personal indwelling. 

Image: Byzantine Institute staff, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Peter as Gideon’s opposite. Post-Pentecost Peter is a man in process of experiencing the deep, transformative work of God’s re-creative, life-giving Spirit. In today’s reading from Acts, Peter is given courage by the Holy Spirit to stand before the resurrection-denying leadership of the Temple and insist not only that the Jesus whom they crucified had risen from the dead, but that his name is the only one “under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Pentecost is remaking the coward who wouldn’t even admit to knowing Jesus around the fire in the temple courtyard the night of Jesus’s arrest. 

The word becomes flesh and grabs a non-seeker. Some of us are seekers. Some are not. Andrew (from yesterday’s reading in John) is a seeker. Nathaniel (in today’s reading) is not—at least he’s not looking for anything from Jesus. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” is his retort to claims that Jesus might be the Messiah. (Jesus and Nathaniel are from different towns in Galilee.) Reluctantly, though, Nathaniel agrees to go with his brother Philip to check things out. 

Jesus seizes the initiative. And what an initiative it is: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile” (John 1:47 RSV). Nathaniel is surprised: “How do you know me?” Surely with the most generous laugh, Jesus responds: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:48). As enigmatic as that sounds, it has to mean something like: “Look, I know you’ve simply been trying to be a faithful Israelite—learning your Torah, saying your prayers, going to synagogue, giving alms. All that time, I’ve had my eye on you.” (Now, we, the readers, have already been told that it’s the Eternal Word who has said to Nathaniel, “When you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” We may be forgiven for wondering if this isn’t a “seeing” that extends back into eternity.)

It’s enough for Nathaniel. The lights come on. Here’s God’s Son, he realizes, Israel’s King. Quite a leap, but just because Nathaniel has been living in as much of the light as has been available to him, he “gets it.” And Jesus promises (I paraphrase): “You figured all that out on the basis of how little I showed I already know about you? Just wait” (see John 1:50-51). 

I’m struck, first, by how “from out of nowhere” it is that Jesus shows up in Nathaniel’s life, second, by how affirming Jesus’s expressed purposes are, and third by how much Nathaniel’s future has been prepared for simply by his staying “under the fig tree.” 

Be blessed this day

Reggie Kidd+

More Than He Dared Ask For - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 8/7/2024 •

Wednesday of Proper 13

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:97-120; Judges 7:19–8:12; Acts 3:12-26; John 1:29-42
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)

For the Lord and for Gideon! Gideon wins—well, the Lord wins—a glorious victory over the Midianites. Gideon participates in a mopping up exercise. He proves to be sage and conciliatory with the Ephraimites, but petty and vengeful with the residents of Succoth. 

Peter and the man lame from birth. In yesterday’s reading from Acts, Peter had healed “a man lame from birth” in the Temple precincts. What the man had hoped for was “alms” (Gk = eleēmosynē), but what he received was God’s saving “mercy” (Gk = eleēmosunē). Not “silver and gold,” but, as the prophet Isaiah had put it: “So he [the Lord] defended them with his own arm, and with his mercy (eleēmosunē) he upheld them” — Isaiah 59:16 LXX, my translation). The man got so much more than he had dared to ask for. Praise be. 

Image: Wally Gobetz, https://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/ 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/70323761@N00/5091018688

In today’s reading from Acts, Peter explains to the crowd what has just happened. 

…why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? — Acts 3:12. Can you imagine Peter shouting, in Gideon-like fashion: “I did this for Jesus … and for Peter!”? No, you can’t. In fact, I think Peter and the other apostles with him in heaven are embarrassed to this day that the church named this book the Acts of the Apostles. This book is the Acts of Jesus by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles—it’s the continuation, says its writer, of what Jesus “began” to do in Luke’s Gospel: “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach…” (Acts 1:1 RSV). 

To make it clear that it is not the dazzling spirituality of the apostles that has accomplished this miracle, Peter lists Jesus’s qualifications to be the actual healer:

• God’s Servant (3:13, 26) 

• The Holy and Righteous One (3:14)

• The Author of Life (3:15)

• The Messiah (3:18, 20)

• The Lord (3:19)

• The Prophet (3:22)

The response called for is twofold.  The first part of that response is repentance: turning from the wrong path of rejection of Jesus as Messiah, so that his cross can work its sin-forgiving and life-giving power in their lives: “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19-20). 

The second part of the response is faith: “And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you” (Acts 3:16). In brief compass, Peter notes three remarkable features of faith:

• It is faith in Jesus. 

• It is faith that comes from Jesus. 

• In this case, it is faith that has come with healing power. 

Jesus and Andrew. “What are you looking for?” — John 1:38. One of the Bible’s most beautiful pictures of faith—if maybe its simplest—is the account of Andrew’s coming to Jesus, in today’s reading from John. When Jesus senses that Andrew and a friend are following him, he turns, and asks point-blank: “What are you looking for?” (John 1:38). 

What a profound question. What a probing question. Jesus wants to know our agenda, what aspirations we’re projecting onto him. Surely John the Baptist’s teaching about Jesus being “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” had prompted a myriad of questions for Andrew. So, Jesus puts the question to the seeker, and the seeker has to decide whether it’s a “what” or a “who” that he is after. 

Instead of pulling out a list of questions, Andrew simply asks in return, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” In other words, “I don’t know the answers to all my questions. But I realize I need to know the One who has those answers. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.”

Time and again, I sense Jesus putting the same question to me: “Just what is it you are looking for in me?”, all the while waiting for me to set aside my “next topic for discussion,” and to be satisfied simply to be where he is.  

I love this story—I love (and am challenged by) imagining Jesus asking: “What are you looking for?”

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

He is There Now, Just as Much as in the Past - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 8/6/2024 •

Tuesday of Proper 13

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 78:1-39; Judges 7:1-18; Acts 3:1-11; John 1:19-28
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

One of the “historical” Psalms, today’s Psalm, 78, reviews Israel’s history, emphasizing that Israel continually forgot Yahweh’s achievements. God’s people became oblivious to his saving hand time and again: “They had forgotten his achievements, the marvels he had shown them” (Psalm 78:11 Jerusalem Bible). Yahweh is aware. In today’s passage from Judges, Yahweh makes it clear that the glory for a victory in battle over Israel’s enemies, the Midianites, is to belong to him alone.

The troops with you are too many … Israel would only take the credit away from me. — Judges 7:2. To press home the point that the Lord himself is the only ruler and protector his people need, the Lord trims Gideon’s army from over 30,000 to a meager 300. These are Israelites who have been living and hiding in the mountains from the Midianites. These are not—the 300 included—some sort of highly trained elite fighting force. After Gideon sends home the 22,000 who admit that they are “fearful and trembling,” God instructs Gideon to have the remaining 10,000 drink water from the spring where they are camped. While they drink, nine thousand, seven hundred men remain on the alert, kneeling down and “putting their hands to their mouths.” Three-hundred are less cautious, “lap[ping] the water with their tongues, as a dog laps.” The Lord tells Gideon to send the larger group home, leaving a small force of 300 men.  With the 300, the Lord says, I will deliver you. 

Whenever we feel under-resourced, it’s good to be reminded, “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6). 

… and afterwards your hands shall be strengthened to attack the camp. — Judges 7:11. The Lord knows Gideon well, and his graciousness is on abundant display when he anticipates Gideon’s fear: the Midianites are so numerous they fill the valley “like locusts.” Yahweh calls for a nighttime attack. However, in advance, he provides a sign, unasked for, that Gideon and his forces will be successful. Gideon and his servant make a secret foray into the Midianite camps and hear a man recounting a fearful dream of a Midianite tent being rolled over by an Israelite loaf of bread. The man’s comrade declares the dream is a portent of an Israelite victory. 

Image: Hult, Adolf, 1869-1943; Augustana synod. [from old catalog], No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

“For the Lord and for Gideon!” — Judges 7:18. Confident, Gideon arms his company with horns and torches hidden in pitchers. Perhaps a bit … overconfident? arrogant?... Gideon tells them that during the attack they are to shout that they are fighting, not just for the Lord, but for Gideon. To this point, Gideon has been timid, but humble. Assurance of victory, however, has affected Gideon profoundly. The moment he displays courage, he also betrays pride. 

One reason we have historical Psalms, like the 78th, is to remind Israel (and also our forgetful selves) of God’s power to save. They are there to keep us mindful of his redeeming love: “…so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation…” (Psalm 78:7-8 NRSV). We have in the Psalms, Israel’s songs, the stories of the failure of his people to appreciate him, thank him, and praise him for delivering them multiple times from enemies, famine, death, and destruction. We ourselves are not unlike the Israelites, which is why we have our own reminders through our worship, tradition, and rituals. Someone (I wish I could remember who!) once said, “Good rituals…condition all of us to take the proper attitude toward different aspects of our lives.” 

My prayer for you today is that God reminds you of his saving hand in your own personal past: healings, deliverances, answers to prayers—whatever it may be that reminds you he is there and that he cares about YOU as much now as he has in the past.

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

About Trusting God - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 8/5/2024 •

Monday of Proper 13

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 80; Judges 6:25-40; Acts 2:37-47; John 1:1-18
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2-6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)

Today we draw lessons from Judges on trusting God and from Acts on caring for one another. In addition, we’ll take a quick look at the themes and perspectives that lie before us as we begin reading John’s amazing account of Jesus’s life. 

Judges. Leading up to today’s Old Testament passage we learn that because of disobedience, Israel was being oppressed by the Midianites. Nevertheless, Yahweh mercifully determines to rescue them through his appointed “valiant warrior,” Gideon. He sends an angel to break this news to Gideon.

It’s instructive at this point to consider how different people in the Bible respond to angels sent from God, and what it reveals about character. When the angel tells Gideon he will rescue Israel from the Midianites, he asks, “How can I do this?” When an angel approaches Mary and tells her she will bear a child, she asks, “How can this be?” Gideon requests proof, “Give me a sign that it is you.” Mary’s response is, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.”

Image: Maerten van Heemskerck , CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Thus, we are not surprised, in today’s passage, that, when he obeys a command from God to destroy the Israel’s sacred Baal worship altar, cowardly Gideon does this furtively, under cover of night. When his deed is discovered anyway, it is Gideon’s father who must defend him from the townspeople, who want to put him to death. We see that God’s “valiant warrior” has much to learn about trusting God. In fact, following this incident, Gideon again asks for proof that he is to lead Israel against the Midianites. He asks for a sign, involving placing a fleece on the ground and having it remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew. When God provides the sign he asks for, Gideon changes up the terms and asks for the same sign, but with the results reversed. God again confirms the truth of his word to Gideon (we can imagine God doing this with a kind of celestial, but somewhat patient, eye-roll). 

Acts: Today’s Acts reading follows Peter’s eloquent proclamation of Jesus as the One foretold in Scripture, most specifically recounting his resurrection in Psalm 16. Peter declares that David knew when he composed the Psalm, that he was writing, not about himself, but of a promised descendant who would be enthroned forever (Psalm 132). Peter concludes that his listeners can be certain that “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (v. 36).

Peter’s listeners, believing, ask how they might properly respond (Acts 2:37). They are told to repent and be baptized, and we see the beginnings of Christian worship and community taking shape. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” There developed a communal life—believers meeting together daily, worshipping, praying, and generous sharing with those in need.

John. We begin the study of the book of John with an eye to John’s purpose in writing, themes he discloses, and his declaration that he is an authentic and trustworthy eyewitness to the events he describes. 

John makes his purpose clear at the outset of his gospel, and he will reiterate his purpose at its conclusion. Thus, today’s reading in John 1 begins with the first words of the book of Genesis, “In the beginning….” John wants us to know that Jesus is God: “the Word was with God and the word was God.” Not only that, but John tells us that Jesus was present, and participated in, the creation of the world (v.2-3). Jesus became a human being, and John attests to having personally seen him, and to having seen him in his transfigured state “we saw his glory” (v.14). John further wants us to believe: “that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

The Gospel of John has themes to watch for as we study this book. One of the main themes is the concept of light and dark, which we observe even in these first poetic verses: 

in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.                                                     

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

Keep an eye out for “light and dark,” “day and night,” as we read further.

John also wants us to understand that the miracles Jesus performed were much more than amazing incidents. John calls them “signs,” that is, they signal something greater than the events themselves. They point to Jesus’s identity and mission, and to his control over the created world, from healing the lame to raising dead people to life. (Who is able to do this but God?)

John directs us to observe that there exists a preordained time for the accomplishment of God’s plans. “An hour is coming,” Jesus says at various times (John 4, 5, 16). Further, there will be occasions when John tells us that Jesus’s “hour had not yet come,” and later, that “his hour had come.” 

And of course, look for the wonderful “I am” sayings contained in this beautifully written book: 

• “I am the bread of life … the bread which came down from heaven” — 6:35,41,48

• “I am the light of the world” — 8:12; 9:5

• “I am the door of the sheep” — 10:7

• “I am the good shepherd” — 10:11,14

• “I am the resurrection and the life” — 11:25

• “I am the way, the truth, and the life” — 14:6

• “I am the true vine” — 15:1,5

In these early verses in chapter 1, the eyewitness John states: “and the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory…” John will conclude his book with this attestation:  “This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” That John is not only an eyewitness, but likely a member of a Jesus’s closest circle—Peter, James, and John—gives his gospel a unique and pricelessly “up close and personal” perspective. 

In sum. When we read of Gideon’s lack of trust in God, and when we note God’s kind patience with him, we can, with confidence, ask God for his own patience with us. The early church in Acts developed an identity and a communal life that may be difficult for us to imitate in exactly the same way. However, I pray we may be able to find ways to express a similar glad and greathearted love and care for one another despite the distance and any difficulties.  Finally, in these opening verses of John’s gospel I pray you may find assurance of God’s gracious love through Jesus Christ. John shows us Jesus, bringing light and life to the world, come to make the Father known to us, willing to go to hell, and back, for us.

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

A Song for Deliverance - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 8/2/2024 •

Friday of Proper 12

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 69; Judges 5:1-18; Acts 2:1-21; Matthew 28:1-10
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6-11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

Psalm 69 & a song for deliverance from drowning waters. With raw honesty in Psalm 69, David confesses his sinfulness, while asking that the Lord’s honor nonetheless not be besmirched at the hands of those who are endangering his life. Despite his own faults, he protests the injustice of the accusations of his enemies, and he laments the shame of his abandonment by friends and family. In doing all this, he anticipates specific features of Christ’s experience 1,000 years later: zeal for his Father’s house (Psalm 69:9; John 2:15), the bearing of insult on God’s behalf (Psalm 69:9; Romans 15:3), and being offered sour wine for his thirst (Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34, 48). 

In all of this, David thinks of himself being threatened by drowning waters:

1 Save me, O God, *for the waters have risen up to my neck.2 I am sinking in deep mire, *and there is no firm ground for my feet.3 I have come into deep waters, *and the torrent washes over me.

16 Save me from the mire; do not let me sink; *let me be rescued from those who hate meand out of the deep waters.17 Let not the torrent of waters wash over me,neither let the deep swallow me up; *do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me.

It’s hard to imagine a better setup to Jesus’s dramatic question, in anticipation of the Cross: “Are you able to … be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38). 

Judges 5 & a song of celebration for rescuing waters. Deborah’s song in Judges 5 recalls the way God enabled Israel’s victory over the Canaanite chariots (per yesterday’s narrative in Joshua 4) by a tremendous storm: 

…the heavens poured,the clouds indeed poured water. …

The torrent Kishon swept them away,    the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon (Judges 5:4 ,21).

It would appear that one of the reasons that the Canaanites’ mighty chariots of iron were so easily defeated by Deborah and Barak’s infantry was that Yahweh sent a mighty storm that so swelled the banks of the Kishon that the chariots had to be abandoned. As it had at the Red Sea, water proved to be a means by which the Lord brought deliverance to his people. 

Thus, Deborah’s song anticipates the other half of Jesus’s baptism on the Cross: his rising to life and victory. In the waters of the River Jordan, Jesus had identified with his people’s sins, so that in his rising from those waters he could receive power from on high to minister life and healing to them. That’s why the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove. That’s why he immediately journeys into the wilderness for his victorious contest with Satan. 

Image: pcstratman, OT0704.Deborah, Bible drawings by Otto Semler and others, many based on the engravings by Carolsfeld, all in the public domain.

Baptism portrays both dying and rising. The deluge drowns evil and empowers life. The (metaphorical) waters of (literal) death that swept over Jesus were simultaneously waters that washed away the power of evil and Satan and sin and death. Drowning waters prove simultaneously to be delivering waters, for Jesus rises to restore life. Just so, Jesus’s baptism of death destroys sin, and his rising from death confers life. 

Matthew 28 and Jesus’s resurrection as baptism unto life. Here is the far side of “the baptism with which I am to be baptized”—Jesus rises unto life and strength and authority and healing presence.  With the triumphant angel at the tomb, and Matthew’s brief resurrection account, the stage is set for Jesus’s final instructions to his disciples.  Jesus announces that “all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to me,” and he commissions his followers to bring good news to all the nations of the earth. And he promises to be with them “to the end of the age.” 

Acts 2 & the baptism of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the church receives its own version of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus: indeed, the Holy Spirit as Jesus’s very presence and power. Just as Jesus received the Spirit from heaven for his ministry at his baptism, so now the church receives the Spirit from heaven for her ministry at Pentecost: that “their sons and daughters may prophesy” (Acts 2:17). Now, by virtue of Jesus’s real and authoritative presence in the Holy Spirit, the nations (represented in the gathering of people from Parthia to Rome, and parts in between, in Jerusalem at Pentecost) may be discipled and baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:20). 

Prayers at Baptism (Book of Common Prayer, pp. 305-306):

Deliver us, O Lord, from the way of sin and death. Lord, hear our prayer. 

Open our hearts to your grace and truth. Lord, hear our prayer.

Fill us with your holy and life-giving Spirit. Lord, hear our prayer.

Keep us in the faith and communion of your holy Church. Lord, hear our prayer. 

Teach us to love others in the power of the Spirit. Lord, hear our prayer. 

Send us into the world in witness to your love. Lord, hear our prayer. 

Bring us to the fullness of your peace and glory. Lord, hear our prayer. … Amen.

Be blessed this day,

Reggie Kidd+

God Will Bring His Redemptive Purposes to Fruition - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 08/01/2024 •

Thursday of Proper 12

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 71; Judges 4:4-23; Acts 1:15-26; Matthew 27:55-66
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)

Taken together, today’s readings illustrate God’s unyielding intention to accomplish his purposes despite all opposition, and through the most surprising of means.

Notes from Judges. Judges highlights the heroism of two women who act, undeterred by timid leadership within Israel or by military oppression from outside Israel. 

Once again, doing “what was evil in the sight of the Lord” has led to Israel’s subjugation, this time under the despotic rule of King Jabin of Canaan. And once again, Israel “cried out to the Lord for help” (Judges 4:1-3). This time help comes from a remarkable woman, Deborah. She is a prophetess who receives revelation from Yahweh, a judge who arbitrates disputes, and an unexpected leader who calls Israel to arms. 

Israel’s general, Barak, pushes back against Deborah’s initial instructions (from the Lord!) for battle against the Canaanites. He refuses to go unless she does. Deborah understands Barak wants her to put her life on the line to prove the truth of her message from Yahweh. She agrees to lead the Israelite forces and informs him, somewhat derisively, that the glory of the coming victory will go to a woman, not to him. As Yahweh promised, the Israelites successfully rout the Canaanites, thanks to Deborah’s brilliant leadership and tactics. 

Image: Léon Cogniet , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Canaanites’ greatest strength is their iron chariots. Deborah lures them close enough to the banks of the River Kishon that the chariots provide no advantage in the fight. The Canaanites are pursued back to their base and all except their leader, Sisera, perish under the sword of the Israelites. Sisera has fled in a different direction, to the home of a family who is on friendly terms with Jabin, the king of Canaan. 

The surprise in the narrative is that the woman who ultimately steals Barak’s glory and seals this victory is not Deborah, but someone else. When Sisera arrives at her home, the woman Jael pretends to offer aid and comfort to him. When she has lulled him to sleep, she drives a tent peg through his head. After this resounding defeat and the death of Sisera, the Israelites were able to destroy the rule of Jabin, king of Canaan. 

Notes from Matthew. In our Matthew reading of the death and burial of Jesus, three women—each with her own story of Jesus’s ministration to her, and each with her own role in supporting his ministry—bear witness to Jesus’s death on Golgotha. Mary Magdalene had been delivered of seven demons (Luke 8:2). The other Mary is his mother (and also of his brothers James and Joseph). And there is the unnamed mother of the sons of Zebedee, recently rebuked for ambitiously pushing for the advancement of her sons (Matthew 20:20-28), but clearly unfazed in her devotion to Jesus. 

And there’s also Joseph of Arimathea, an (up until now, at least) secret disciple of Jesus who happened to belong to the very Sanhedrin that had turned Jesus over to the Romans (see also John 19:38). We are not told what Joseph may have said or done during those proceedings, only that he “had not consented to their purpose and deed, but he was looking for the kingdom of God” (Luke 23:51). Now Joseph offers what he can: a resting place for Jesus’s body. (We know Jesus won’t need it for very long.)

Opposing God’s cause before, during, and after the crucifixion are the chief priests and Pharisees who persuade Pilate to let them have a guard of soldiers to make sure that Jesus’s body stays in the tomb. Refusing to believe Jesus is actually God, they foolishly believe Jesus’s disciples will conspire to steal the body and deceive the people into thinking there has been a resurrection.

Notes from Acts. The book of Acts provides a most revealing perspective on the way God uses evil intentions, noting that Judas’s betrayal fulfilled Scripture, and that his suicide could not thwart God’s plan for a full number of twelve in “position of overseer” (Acts 1:20; see Psalm 109:7). Even before experiencing the life-giving and wisdom-conferring bestowal of the Holy Spirit, the apostles know to seek the Lord’s guidance, expecting that he will work his plan, and that it will be undeterred by any kind of human resistance. 

Whether it is the military might of King Jabin and Sisera, the impiety of the Sanhedrin, the cowardice of Pilate, or the treachery of Judas, a sovereign God resolutely works his unstoppable plan. In his own time and in his own way, the True and Living God puts down godlessness and frustrates foolishness. In his own time and in his own way, the Lord of heaven and earth manifests his power and goodness, and he brings his redemptive purposes to fruition. 

I pray that no matter what goes on around you, you hold on to this promise: “‘I know the plans that I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT).  

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

A Most Unlikely Hero - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 7/31/2024 •

Wednesday of Proper 12

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 72; Judges 3:12-30; Acts 1:1-14; Matthew 27:45-54
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)

The book of Judges chronicles an entire phase of Israel’s history that is marked by a certain kind of accommodation that the Lord makes to the persistence of Israel’s sin. In yesterday’s reading we saw the framework of this era. Israel has refused to carry out God’s ban against idols in the land—and so Yahweh says, “I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died” (Judges 2:21). 

Israel remains, for now, a federation of tribes that is often subject to political domination and spiritual pollution. What we will see in the book of Judges is a “testing”: Israel’s pattern of idolatry and rebellion, leading to pillaging and subjugation by enemies, after which Israel would cry for deliverance. This would lead Yahweh to raise up a judge to “deliver them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge” (Judges 2:18). Israel’s history becomes a cycle of rebellion, domination, repentance, relief. Wash, rinse, repeat. 

Image: Image: Bridgeman Images UK

Today we read about Ehud the Left-Handed. Under (the morbidly obese) King Eglon, Moab had invaded Israel from the southeast of Israel and established domination in the area surrounding Jericho (“the city of palms” — Judges 3:13). For eighteen years, Moab has required from the Israelites the payment of a tribute, the price of being under subjection. (Interestingly, this term comes from the word “tribe”; and we also get the word “contribute” from this.) 

After an outcry for relief from the Israelites, Yahweh raises up a man to free them from Moabite domination. An unlikely hero, the Israelite Ehud, from the tribe of Benjamin, is responsible for delivering the tribute to the king. Ironically, and key to this story, he is left-handed: the name Benjamin means “son of the right hand.” And in Hebrew culture, a left-handed man gets no respect: the Hebrew phrase describing left-handedness is a scornful “man restricted in his right hand.” Planning to assassinate the Moabite king, Ehud fashions for himself a two-edged dagger, ideal for stabbing and easily concealed. His left-handedness provides the advantage he needs. It allows him to hide his dagger on the side of his body where a weapon would not be expected or detected. 

After he delivers the tribute, Ehud shares that Yahweh has a private message for King Eglon. Courtiers are excused from the king’s chamber, the doors are locked, and Ehud stabs him with his homemade dagger. King Eglon is so obese that when Ehud stabs him, the fat closes completely over the weapon, hilt and all, and the king’s “bowels discharged.” Ehud has time to escape because the king’s attendants are reluctant to enter the chamber, thinking the king might be having intestinal issues. There follows the account of Israel’s military victory under Ehud, and the eighty years of peace he is able to establish. 

God’s “left-handedness.” With today’s account of Christ’s death in Matthew, I can’t help but reflect on the contrast between the way Christ’s being pierced on the cross ushered a new and different kind of deliverance—not a mere eighty years, but an eternity, of rest. Nor can I help but reflect on the comparison between Ehud’s left-handedness and the scorned “left-handedness” of God’s plan to conquer sin and death through a most unlikely hero: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him … a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:2-3). A hero who conquers through the most unlikely of means: the nakedness, the humiliation, the scandal of a Roman cross: “’Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani’? that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Psalm 22:1 and Matthew 27:46). And this question gets answered in the most unlikely of ways: First, Christ’s own “you have done it,” and second, the anticipation of Christ’s own resurrection, confirmed in the rising of “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep” (Matthew 27:52). 

“You will receive power…” There is an end to the cycle of rebellion, domination, repentance, and relief.  At last, a new “wash, rinse, repeat” emerges in the book of Acts (the reading of which we begin today). “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). There will be power from on high, proclamation, repentance & faith, baptism, discipleship. And there will be a new type of relationship, deep and intimate, between God and each one of his children—those of us who know and love our Savior, Jesus Christ. Stay tuned. 

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

More Than Conquerors - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 7/30/2024 •

Tuesday of Proper 12

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalms 61 & 62; Judges 2:1-5, 11-23; Romans 16:17-27; Matthew 27:32-44
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

Paul closes his magisterial letter to the Romans with four flourishes:

Living in the tension. … keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned … — Romans 16:17. From Romans 14 & 15 we find that Paul is willing to allow dissent within the community over some things — in fact, his refusal to provide definitive answers on them indicates that he thinks “love” is truer than pedantic precision. However, when it comes to denial of the foundational, core truths of Christianity (“the teaching that you have learned”), Paul brooks no compromise. He presupposes the Romans’ basic grasp of these truths (“your obedience is known to all” — see also v. 26). It’s worth an in-one-seating read through Romans with this question in mind: what’s negotiable for Paul? what’s not? how does that affect my living and thinking? 

Image: Caravaggio , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Blessing One: More than conquerors, revisited. The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. — Romans 16:20. Paul offers an intriguing blessing that recalls God’s promise in the Garden of Eden that Eve’s seed would bruise Satan’s head. The final fulfillment of that promise will be even stronger, the crushing of Satan himself under the feet of the redeemed. It is profitable to meditate on the ways that Paul thinks about our situation as a “new creation” in Christ:

• We are beneficiaries of the Last Adam’s obedience (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15)

• We, like Eve, are susceptible to deception (2 Corinthians 11:3), and must be on our guard against the one who disguises himself as “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14)

• Despite the danger around us (and within us?), God will make us ultimately victorious (remember 5:17; 8:37-39) — Jesus will return, and we will judge even angels (1 Corinthians 6:3)

Keeping good company. Timothy, my co-worker, greets you… — Romans 16:21. Paul was no maverick outlier, aloofly pontificating from on high. Writing from Corinth, he shares how he surrounds himself with proteges like Timothy whom he is training for ministry, and with confidants like his amanuensis/secretary Tertius whom he trusts to capture and convey his thoughts accurately in this letter. Paul’s ministry includes people like Phoebe, as well, whose patronage he had enjoyed while in the environs of Corinth (of which Cenchrea was a suburb) and whose service as deacon has won for her his trust to carry the letter to the Romans and to help in its implement by the Roman Christians (Romans 16:1-2). And, of course, Paul expresses his gratitude for his host in Corinth, Erastus, who also happens to be the city treasurer (Romans 16:23). 

In an earlier letter, Paul warned the Corinthians that “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33). His own life proves the converse—the power of the gospel is amplified in the koinonia—the sense of “partnership” or “friendship”—it creates (see, incidentally, Galatians 2:9; Philippians 1:5). I pray that each of us knows those relationships where there is mutual building up, support, and friendship in Christ. 

Blessing Two: Now to God who is able to strengthen you… — Romans 16:25. Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that Paul’s last wish for us in this letter is that we know God’s strength. Paul has just reminded us that God will finally vanquish all that is evil. In the meantime, we live here as forerunners and heralds of that victory. We are armed chiefly with the knowledge that the gospel is the culmination of God’s work from before time. And we understand that this message holds promise for life, through “the obedience of faith,” for each of us and for all of us. I pray that you will find God granting, in his mighty Son, all the strength and courage that you need for this day. 

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

Our Tears - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 7/29/2024 •

Monday of Proper 12

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalms 56, 57, & 58; Joshua 24:16-33; Romans 16:1-16; Matthew 27:24-31 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2-6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)

Sometimes in the Daily Office a single verse stops you in your tracks. Today, a single thought from Psalm 58 invites reflection: that of God bottling my tears:  

You have noted my lamentation;[you have] put my tears into your bottle; *are they not recorded in your book? — Psalm 56:8

On the run from the current King Saul, the future King David seeks refuge in a surprising place: “David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath,” of Philistia (1 Kings 21:10). David had to be pretty desperate to decide that, of all places, the safest place for him to seek refuge would be the home of Goliath. Gath had been the home of the Philistine champion Goliath, whom David had killed, bringing humiliating defeat to Philistia. Perhaps the fact that David now carries Goliath’s sword (see 1 Samuel 21:8-9) makes David think Gath’s king will honor him and provide him sanctuary. It turns out to have been as bad an idea as one might expect. “The officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. ‘Isn’t this David, the king of the land?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing, Saul has killed his 1,000s, and David his 10,000s’?” (1 Samuel 21:10-11). 

David, according to 1 Samuel 21:12-13, realizes his peril and plays a humiliating role: “he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard.” The psalm’s superscription—Of David. A Miktam, when the Philistines seized him in Gath—gives us the physical setting of the psalm. David writes while under custody, as King Achish weighs his fate. The “lamentation” (an alternative translation of the Hebrew is “wanderings”) and the “tears” receive their setting as well: fear, anxiety, failure, disappointment, rejection. Ultimately, David is banished from Gath: “Finally, King Achish said to his men, ‘Must you bring me a madman? We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?” (1 Samuel 21:14-15). 

David is the remarkable figure he is because of the way he processes his “stuff” with such honesty, and comes out with such faith in the end. Who can’t relate at some level to David’s tears? Who isn’t in need of such faith?

…you have put my tears in a bottle… — Psalm 56:8. Despite his situation, despite being hounded, attacked, and betrayed; despite his own fears and heartbrokenness in his circumstances; David holds fast to the truth that he is not alone in his distress. Yahweh has such care for him that David envisions each of his tears being acknowledged, treasured, and preserved by his Heavenly Father, his Counselor, Friend, and Advocate. The God who sees every sparrow that falls has numbered every hair on our heads; and he knows each and every tear we have shed (and will shed). He cares very much about the sorrow or fear or suffering we have endured, or are enduring, or will endure. He will give it meaning. He will make everything right one day.

An aside: Brilliant poet that he is, David uses a wordplay to communicate the tightness of the emotional connection between Yahweh and himself. It is David’s tears over his nōḏ (“lamentation” or “wanderings”) that God puts into his own nōʾḏ (“bottle” or “skin”). David can’t help but create something beautiful and elegant out of a situation that is anything but beautiful and elegant. Think of David as the original singer of “the blues.” 

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God whose word I praise… — Psalm 56:4; and this is repeated and expanded in verses 10-11: This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am not afraid. What rescues David from getting lost in despair is his trust in God who makes and keeps promises. What sustains David is the trustworthiness of the God who speaks order in the midst of chaos, peace in the midst of strife, hope in the midst of despair.  I pray we hear that voice in the midst of the chaos, strife, and despair all around us. 

This I know: that God is on my side. — Psalm 56:9. And I pray that you and I can hold on to this thought, as David did in his day. May we cling to this thought even more firmly with the apostle Paul, who having seen its truth confirmed and transcended in the dying, rising, and ascending of Jesus, amplified it for us: “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?”

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+