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
St. Michael, Defender of God’s People
Amy Mantravadi
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?
Yardwork and the Antichrist
1517 Guest Contributor
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.

All Articles

Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/05/18

Unwrapping Four Hebrew Words Before Christmas

As the church gathers in worship, however, different words reverberate in readings, hymns, and homilies. These words beckon us to get dirty.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/08/18

A Cynic Walks into a Church

The more that we hear the law, the more we recognize others as those who, like us, are torn and tattered by the wounds of sin and brokenness.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/01/18

Waking Up as a Dragon

Thank God for heroes: they inspire us to be better, to help others, to live and work for the good of our race. And thank God for villains, too: they incarnate our shadow side, our nocturnal soul, the dragon within us that must incessantly have its throat slit on the altar of repentance.
Wade Johnston
Wade Johnston
10/18/18

Patience Under the Mercy of Christ

God has forgiven you. That is an objective fact. You can reject it, but it is nevertheless true.
John W. Hoyum
John W. Hoyum
10/08/18

The Law, Between Fear and Freedom

What we notice less often is that this same fear wonders about both the efficacy of the Gospel and the Law.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/25/18

Our Fingerprints Are All Over the Crimes of the World

The Christian sees himself or herself as one just as guilty as the rest of the world. But we see ourselves not just as what’s wrong with the world, but in the One by whom the world has been redeemed.
Kyle G. Jones
Kyle G. Jones
09/11/18

The Difference Between Belief and Ideology

When we Christians shoehorn Creedal Christianity into any of these ideological positions we obscure the Gospel mingling it with the Law and strip the Good News of its catholicity.
Zack James Cole
Zack James Cole
08/27/18

Turnt

When I hear the word “repentance” my mind quickly goes to those old terror inducing Chick Tracts.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
08/19/18

How to Become a Very Bad Person

Don’t say you’re beyond hope, for there is not one beyond God. Don’t say you’ve done too much evil, for there is no wrong bigger than God’s heart of forgiveness.
Ken Sundet Jones
Ken Sundet Jones
08/15/18

A Look at True Proclamation of the Gospel

The Confessions instead look forward and provide a critique of the world and of all my various religions and idolatries.
Craig Donofrio
Craig Donofrio
08/13/18

Can God Repent Us?

Too often, we equate “repent” as the final warning to stop a particular sin before God ceases to love you and sends you to hell for your evil deeds.
Scott Keith
Scott Keith
07/20/18

Confessionalism and Why It’s Important

Where once we confessed reliance only in ourselves and our own power, now we confess reliance on Christ alone. So, for our relationship before God, our confession of faith matters.
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