An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 123 and Psalm 136

By Chad Bird

09/30/25

8mins

An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 123 and Psalm 136

The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335

Amy Mantravadi

09/29/25

St. Michael, Defender of God’s People

Why did the church dedicate a day to St. Michael anyway? Who is he, and what does he do?

1517 Guest Contributor

09/26/25

Yardwork and the Antichrist

The Antichrist offers another continual presence. It is every whisper that tempts us toward autonomy, that tells us to carry it alone, that insists suffering is meaningless.

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Bruce Hillman

01/27/22

Happily Waiting for My Faith to Die

You might not know it, but every Christian hopes for the day when their faith will die. Really. I promise. Faith’s death is our celebration.

Chad Bird

01/27/22

The Mountain that Israel Moved

In Israel, once a year, a priestly climber would reach the peak of a very different kind of mountain. Here's his story.

Bradley Gray

01/25/22

The Gods We Make vs. the God We Need

Even for idolatrous sellouts like you and me, God’s position has not changed. Even though we may have forgotten him, he never forgets us.

John Bombaro

01/24/22

Jesus' Transfiguration and Disfiguration

If we think God’s power, love and beauty are reserved merely for the glories of Transfiguration, then we have not understood the Father; we have not understood divine revelation.

Dan Weber

01/23/22

Gospel: Luke 4:31-44 (Epiphany 4: Series C)

The same Christ we proclaim to the people in our pews is the same Christ who is for those not in our pews.

Martin Luther

01/21/22

Grace and Peace for Stubborn Sins

Grace remits sin, and peace quiets the conscience. Sin and conscience torment us, but Christ has overcome these fiends now and forever.

Wade Johnston

01/18/22

Our Weekly Epiphany: Boring?

Here, robed in Word and Sacrament, is your King, infant though He be, come out of eternity into time to bring you out of time and into eternity.

Dan Weber

01/16/22

Gospel: Luke 4:16-30 (Epiphany 3: Series C)

During this season of Epiphany, we experience more than the revelation of who Jesus is. We also celebrate how Jesus makes God fully known.

Bradley Gray

01/13/22

The Words That Fill the Halls of Our Churches

I write this as someone who’s genuinely concerned that American congregants are getting bamboozled by preachers who are giving them less than what they need Sunday after Sunday.

Ryan Stevenson-Cosgrove

01/12/22

Death and Rebirth in James McBride's Deacon King Kong

At its heart, this is what Deacon King Kong is all about: the paradox of Jesus carving his victory out of the last thing we expect, not our triumphs but our defeats.

Brad Soenksen

01/11/22

Losers Not Choosers

Our only claim to fame is that we have been claimed by a God who is consistently drawn to losers!

Wade Johnston

01/10/22

Jesus' Baptism

You are not in debt to sin. You don’t owe it anything. There’s no reason for you to serve it.

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