John Mark Hicks

Psalm 26 is a plea for grace and a thanksgiving for God’s response. The heart that trusts God rather than the heart that devises evil is heard, and the people who meditate on the works of God rather than those who pursue their own evil works are heard. God is not silent. God responds, evil […]

The fool lives as if God is uninvolved or disinterested in life on earth, and so they seek their own way by devouring the poor as easily as they eat bread and fail to call upon the Lord. But the Lord is present among the generation of the righteous and a refuge for the poor […]

Humanity, according to Psalm 12, is filled with people who live with a “double heart,” flatter others for power, and boast of their exploits while asking, “Who is Adonai to us?” They are predators who seek their own prestige and power. “Help” is the only imperative in the Psalm, and it is the first word. […]

When we pray against evil (as Psalm 140 does), Psalm 141 reminds us that our lips (words), heart, and actions must be aligned with God’s way or agenda. Before we pray against evil, we must first orient ourselves to the way of God and seek it. Psalm 141 prays for God’s protection and guidance as […]

Do you feel the need to pray against evil and violence? How do you pray? What do you say? What commitments are entailed in such prayers? Psalm 140, which is quoted in the New Testament, offers a way of praying against evil and violence. Be careful, however. These words cannot be prayed unless our hearts […]

Living in evil times, we walk wisely as we discern the will of God and seek to be filled with the Spirit. We choose wisdom rather than foolishness and drunkenness. Filled with the Spirit, we gather as people who sing and make melody to the Lord through speaking the Psalms to each other, giving thanks […]

On Friday, February 6, I traveled with our Vienna Study Abroad group to the Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen, and then we visited the Benedictine monastery in Melk. Geographically, the distance is not so great (about an hour bus ride), but the emotional distance is huge if not traumatic. Mauthausen was the first concentration camp […]

The College Hills Church of Christ in Lebanon, TN, invited me to teach a class on “Yet Will I Trust Him: Trusting God in the Storms of Life” throughout January and February 2014.  It was a good experience for me, though whether it was for everyone else is something I cannot judge. I am grateful […]

Ever since the emergence of open theism on the evangelical scene in the 1990s, there have been several attempts to saddle Arminianism with the theological interests of open theism. On the one hand, Reformed theologians find it to their advantage to identify Arminianism and open theism, if for no other reason than the slippery slope […]

Joshua, my son, you would have been 30 today.  I miss you, and yearn to hold you again.  One day….yes, one day.  Till then, rest peacefully. [I have republished this in honor of the anniversary of his birth on Feb. 17.] Joshua died  at the age of sixteen. I offer this chapter out of my […]