by Shannon Tillman | Jan 22, 2026 | Bible Study, Blog, Thoughts
I have a sister who can throw the best parties. She will ensure the food, the games, the decorations, and even the clothing all point to the theme. She takes a simple gathering to a whole new level of fun! Parties are meant to celebrate people, holidays, and special occasions. Yet, in the scripture, there is a miracle left uncelebrated due to religious tradition.
John 9:1-3, 6-7
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him… After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
A man born blind came home with sight. I believe this is a reason for a party! However, instead of a celebration, he received questions.
John 9:8-12
His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.
After the man was interrogated by his neighbors, he was taken by his neighbors to the religious leaders. The Pharisees were not planning on throwing out celebratory confetti but pointed accusations.
John 9:13-17
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
His first day with sight and he was thrust into a debate amongst the religious leaders! He was not allowed to marvel at the sky, flowers, the faces of people, or even the sight of the synagogue. Instead, he was used as a pawn of the Pharisees in attempts to justify their opinions against Jesus.
Even the parents of this formerly blind man were afraid to openly celebrate the miracle that had taken place.
John 9:18-23
They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
Out of fear of being forced out of the synagogue, his parents held back. They probably wanted to jump for joy, but instead they had to divert questions to stay within the religious community. However, their formerly blind son boldly spoke to the Pharisees, no matter the cost.
John 9: 32-34
Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
A man was born blind. Jesus healed the man. Neighbors questioned the healing. Pharisees mocked the Healer. A man declaring the miracle of sight was thrown out by religious leaders. What a confusing day: instead of a celebration, it turned into chaos.
John 9:35
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
Jesus searched for the man discarded by the religious leaders. The Pharisees had questioned the man’s beliefs and denied the power of his miracle. Jesus also asks a question but to bolster his faith because of this miracle. The man so desperately needed to know what to believe about what he had experienced.
John 9:36-37
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
I love this moment. Jesus is saying “you are seeing the Son of Man, you are seeing the Messiah.” Can you imagine that on your first day of sight you are able to see God in the flesh? Amazing! Jesus then goes further by reminding the former blind man of his voice. Hours earlier he had heard this same voice telling him to go and wash his blind eyes in the pool of Siloam. The voice is now connected to the Son of Man, the one who spoke earlier and was speaking at that moment.
John 9:38
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
It was a small celebration, not the community party as expected. But Jesus Himself showed up for this man. The miracle of physical sight led to the miracle of spiritual sight. The day started with a random Man putting mud on his blind eyes. His discussion with the Pharisees led to him thinking that Jesus was a prophet. However, the day ended with the healed man acknowledging Jesus as Lord!
Others may not appreciate your spiritual journey. There may be those who question you. Others may try to talk you out of your beliefs. You may experience the silence of so-called “supporters” and the rejection by those you thought were “religious”. I want you to know that Jesus celebrates you. All the heartaches may be leading you to a deeper relationship and understanding of Him. Even if only Jesus shows up at your party, the celebration is perfect!
by Shannon Tillman | Jan 15, 2026 | Bible Study, Blog, Thoughts
The kingdom had already been shaken by an attempted coup. Lives were lost. Women were assaulted. A king was shamed. Yet, the lesson was not learned. For David, the greatest king of Israel, whose son Absalom was killed in battle after his false attempt to take the throne, had to once again deal with another son’s treacherous revolt.
1 Kings 1:5-6
Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. (His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)
The question never asked was “why”. Why are you behaving this way? This would have helped uncover motivation. It may have changed the man’s heart. However, David did not directly challenge his son. This is the exact pattern we see with Adonijah’s older brother Absalom.
2 Samuel 15:1-4
In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.”
Absalom was publicly setting himself up as the leader of the land, but David never confronted his actions. This took place for over four years until Absalom declared himself as king and ran David and his officers out of Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 15:13-14
A messenger came and told David, “The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.” Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin on us and put the city to the sword.”
David knew that Absalom’s heart would be for murder. He knew what Absalom was capable of, yet had chosen not to confront him sooner. Over the course of time, Absalom manipulated the peoples’ hearts away from David and onto himself. The tragic ending was that Absalom was killed in battle against his father’s troops.
Adonijah followed in his brother Absalom’s footsteps. Sadly, David followed his previous pattern of parenthood: there was no confrontation until the crisis of the attempted coup takes place. It could have cost more lives in the kingdom. This time David acted by setting Solomon on the throne. Adonijah was spared for the time being. But not long after, Adonijah did die after David’s death as he once again attempted to gain rights to the throne. King Solomon had him killed for his treachery.
Let’s return to the unasked question:
1 Kings 1:6
His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?”
What outcomes could have changed if David has asked Adonijah this question? What lives may have been spared including his own son’s life? What changes may have been made? What destiny could Adonijah have fulfilled even though he was not called to be king? How many others were hurt along the way?
We will never know the answers to these questions. However, we can look into our lives and those we know and ask the question of why we behave as we do. Maybe for ourselves, it can reveal hidden motivations, secret sins, unresolved trauma, ignored pain, or other depths of our soul. This opens the door for healing and change. It can set us up on a better path and help us with future decisions and relationship dynamics.
Resolving our own issues, may not be as difficult as confronting those around us. Too often we see the problem, but do not say anything to the person. We may gossip about it with others and even analyze the dynamic amongst the group, but never directly address the person who is doing the damage.
Years ago, when I served as a children’s minister, a family in the ministry had children who were labeled “out of control”. They were discussed by Bible study teachers to staff. A certain member made fun of this family (which was ironic for their children were discussed as well as “out of control” by others. So easy to look at others and miss ourselves). The “ministers” gave their opinions as to why the family acted in such and such way. Being newer on staff I simply asked, “Has anyone ever talked to the parents?” Silence was quickly followed by excuses. It was easy to talk about the problem, but not actually take the initiative to confront the situation in order to give this family an opportunity for change.
I did talk to the mother. She listened and appreciated the conversation, though sadly, changes were not made. Years later, I spoke to the mother again for she called me in crisis with her teenager. I think the trust was there from the previous, difficult but honest, conversation. I shared the same things I had spoken years earlier. I do not know if changes were made. I do not know if the outcome is different.
Maybe Adonijah would not have changed even if questioned by David. But he was never given the opportunity. Often, we excuse ourselves out of the conversation instead of pressing into the difficult confrontation. If we see blatant sin in the lives of others, we are not called to just watch them, gossip about them, or give our opinions as to why they are acting in that way. Instead, what is seen needs to be addressed. They can choose change or not. We are called to do our part in addressing what is wrong and encouraging what is right. Just maybe a life can be completely changed, fully restored, amazingly transformed. But we will never know until we ask the question:
1 Kings 1:6b
… “Why do you behave as you do?”
by Shannon Tillman | Jan 8, 2026 | Bible Study, Blog, Thoughts
When my grandmother progressed further into dementia, I noticed that she would change details of her life story to make herself sound better. It was almost as if she could not face mistakes from her past so she would twist the story with a new ending to feel better about previous choices.
It is not only dementia that causes these “changing stories”. Sometimes, we can look at situations and rewrite them to justify ourselves to not face the full weight of wrongs we have committed. Aaron experienced this first hand in dealing with the golden calf.
Exodus 32:1-4
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Aaron made an idol. He used a tool to create it. However, when Moses came down from the mountain, Aaron had a different story.
Exodus 32:21-24
He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
The calf somehow became magical when Aaron told the story. The little cow formed itself in the fire and jumped out when it was done. The fact that Aaron had fashioned it with a tool was conveniently left out in the retelling to Moses.
How often do we leave out parts of our story to make ourselves look better? When we are caught in sin, why do we justify ourselves and try to not make ourselves sound “so bad”? The truth is, we do not see our sin from God’s perspective. Aaron had no idea how the Lord felt about what He had done. Moses knew, for God had told him earlier on the mountain:
Exodus 32:9-10
“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Only the intercession of Moses kept Aaron and the nation from being destroyed. Aaron did not understand the seriousness of his crime, of his sin. The same is true with us. Often, we like Aaron, compare ourselves to the people as we read earlier in verse 22:
Exodus 32:22
“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil.
The people are prone to evil, but Aaron did not say how he was prone to sin as well. The people wanted an idol; Aaron wanted to please the people. Both sins were worthy of destruction. Aaron thought he had just left out the detail of a fashioning tool. In truth, he left out the fact that he had sinned against a holy God. Aaron looked at the people and thought he had done better than them. He did not look at the God who had the right to punish him for his sins.
Exodus 32:35
And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
The Lord knew it was the calf Aaron had made. There was no magical cow jumping out of the fire. Instead, it was pieces of gold fashioned into an idol. The attempts to change the story between Aaron and Moses could not be rewritten between Aaron and the Lord.
It is time to stop excusing sin, or making ourselves feel better by twisting the story to justify ourselves. When we do wrong, we need to confess the sin to the Lord as well as to those we have harmed by what we have done. The Lord already knows the truth about the details we attempt to leave out or rewrite. But God can help us to write new stories with better endings when we choose to learn from what we have done instead of minimizing it. Aaron never made another idol for the people. Instead, he was chosen by God to be the High Priest for the nation. That is a much better story ending, with no need for a rewrite.
by Kevin Tillman | Jan 1, 2026 | Blog, Thoughts
Most days don’t begin with clarity. They begin with noise.
Notifications. Conversations. Responsibilities waiting in line before we’ve even taken a breath. And somewhere between waking up and getting moving, we quietly decide what kind of day this will be—often without realizing we’ve done it.
That’s usually how years start too.
Not with bold resolutions or confident faith, but with momentum. We carry last year straight into the next one. Same worries. Same expectations. Same internal limits we’ve learned to live with.
And yet, every now and then, God slows us down long enough to ask a better question.
Not, What do you want this year?
But, What are you actually expecting?
Most believers don’t struggle with whether God is able. We’ve seen His faithfulness before. We know the stories. We’ve experienced His help in hard seasons. The issue isn’t belief in God’s power, it’s how much room we leave for it to work.
Paul says “God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think”. That sounds encouraging until you realize where that power operates. Not around us. Not merely for us. But within us.
Which means the question isn’t whether God can do more. The question is whether we’re open to receiving it.
Life has a way of closing us off. Disappointment teaches caution. Delay teaches restraint. Fatigue teaches survival. And before long, we’re still praying, but with guarded expectations. Still believing, but only for what feels reasonable.
We don’t stop trusting God. We just put a lid on our faith.
God has never had trouble filling empty vessels. Scripture proves that again and again. What limits overflow isn’t emptiness, it’s closure. A heart that has quietly decided how much God will “probably” do.
Sometimes we ask God for more while clinging tightly to control, comfort, and conclusions we’ve already drawn. And God, in His mercy, waits. Not because He is unwilling, but because He will not force abundance into a closed life.
This year might not begin with God adding something new. It may begin with Him removing what has crowded your heart. Old fears. Old assumptions. Old expectations shaped by what didn’t happen before.
Because more doesn’t come from striving harder. It comes from opening wider.
Expecting greater isn’t hype. It’s trust. Believing bigger isn’t denial, it’s alignment. It’s choosing to let God be as big in your future as His Word says He already is.
You don’t need a new plan for this year.
You don’t need to carry pressure into it.
You don’t need to manufacture change.
God has never asked that of you.
He has only asked for room.
So don’t rush this year. Don’t seal it shut with fear or lowered expectations. Stay open. Stay surrendered. Stay available. Let God interrupt your pace and exceed your assumptions.
Because when hearts open, heaven moves.
And more begins the moment we stop closing what God wants to fill.
by Shannon Tillman | Dec 25, 2025 | Bible Study, Blog, Thoughts
Kevin bought me a small box in the shape of a golden crown. On the inside of the box is a tiny nativity with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in a manger. The box is a perfect reminder of the King of the Universe who was willing to lower Himself to become a baby clothed in flesh.
I wonder how the angels felt the first time they saw Jesus on earth. They had seen Him in all of His glory in heaven. Suddenly, He looked like an ordinary baby sleeping in a feeding trough. They could recall Him being more brilliant than the sun and more expansive than heaven’s throne room. In the manger, He needed a light to shine on Him to be seen and He was measured in inches. What did the angels think about such an event as this?
While the angels witnessed this phenomenon of glory being clothed in flesh at the birth of Jesus, the disciples saw the reversal during the ministry of Jesus over thirty years later.
Matthew 17:1-2
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
Peter, James, and John are the first humans to see the outward flesh of Jesus being transformed into light. They witnessed the inward deity of Jesus impacting the physical realm of Jesus. The glory was so powerful that His skin was changed to such a brilliant light that it was compared to the sun. The impact, whatever may have been taking place even at a cellular level, was so powerful that the garments on His body transformed as well into what could only be described as white light.
The gospel of Luke compared the transformation to a powerful force in the sky.
Luke 9:28-29
About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.
A flash of lightning holds over a billion watts of energy! His brilliance would have been so spectacular! I think it could only be seen in short glimpses for it would actually hurt physical eyes, just as direct viewing of the sun and lightning do to us today.
What the angels had witnessed of Jesus before He came to earth, the disciples experienced in reverse. The angels viewed glory clothed in flesh; the disciples saw flesh give way to glory.
Luke 9:34-36
While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.
The brilliant light was veiled again in flesh. The disciples now had gone through what the angels had felt decades before. Glory was dimmed by being contained in skin. However, what they had briefly seen, they would never forget. Later, they would share the experience with others as witnesses of when His flesh gave way to His inner light.
This Christmas may we be reminded of the gift of God, the glory of God, wrapped in human flesh. The disciples saw the gift unwrapped on a mountain. The angels saw the gift wrapped in a manger. Jesus is truly the gift of God, the glory of God, to us.
by Shannon Tillman | Dec 18, 2025 | Bible Study, Blog, Thoughts
A promise given during the threat of war surprisingly became a beacon of eternal hope. The promise was originally given to an evil king of Israel. However, his descendant Joseph saw the fulfillment of the promise seven hundred years after it had been spoken. The original promise seemed out of context at the time but only made sense hundreds of years later with the birth of Jesus. I wonder if Joseph understood that the word given to his great, great, great, great, and many more greats grandfather was being fulfilled in his day. Matthew, the gospel writer, knew. He put the pieces together that were hundreds of years apart. One stemmed from unbelief, the other chose to believe. Joseph, unlike his ancestor Ahaz, acted in faith and experienced the answer to the promise.
Matthew 1:18-24
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “THE VIRGIN WILL CONCEIVE AND GIVE BIRTH TO A SON” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. (emphasis mine)
The promise fulfilled was about Immanuel. This promise was given to the ancestor of Joseph, a king of Israel named Ahaz. The hopeful promise came during an unlikely time in the midst of potential war. King Ahaz was afraid.
Isaiah 7:1-2
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
War was on the horizon. The people and the king were shaking with fear. The Lord told the prophet Isaiah to go and deliver a message to Ahaz.
Isaiah 7:4, 7, 9b
Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah…Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘It will not take place,
it will not happen…
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.’”
Isaiah assured King Ahaz that the enemy would not overtake them. And the Lord encouraged Ahaz to stand in faith, to believe what God had told him. The Lord even went on to give a further opportunity to build up faith in Ahaz for what He had already promised to do.
Isaiah 7:10-12
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”
But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”
It sounded spiritual but the truth was that Ahaz was defying the Lord. God commanded the king to ask for a sign. This sign was to be a visible reminder of the promise to come. Ahaz, however, was a wicked king. Isaiah saw through his spiritual pretense to his evil heart.
Isaiah 7:13-17
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: THE VIRGIN WILL CONCEIVE AND GIVE BIRTH TO A SON, AND WILL CALL HIM IMMANUEL. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.” (emphasis mine)
In the context of impending war, this promise made little sense. However, in the scope of time and history, God was declaring the time of the Messiah. It would be after the fall of these other nations as well as devastations of war from Assyria. It was a promise for a distant future. Yet, the Lord had Isaiah declare this promise to Ahaz because it would be his descendant, Joseph, who would finally receive the fulfillment of this word.
A promise given by the Lord is a promise kept. A wicked king could not stop a promise of God. Evil nations rose and fell, but God’s word took place just as He had said. Time passed by but the promise came exactly on time. What He says He will do, He WILL do. He promised that Immanuel would be with us and Immanuel was given to us. His promise is a guarantee. We can trust the words the Lord speaks into our lives because Immanuel, God with us, came just as promised, so we know all the promises He has spoken will be fulfilled.
