I’m so grateful to BJU for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you how to Hate More and Kill Better. Sponsors play a key role in allowing this site to carry on.

(Yesterday on the blog: Facing the Last Enemy)
Putting down roots: a call to young people
Here’s a timely call to young people to consider really trying to put down roots in a local church.
Every Nightmare Starts As A Dream
“Over the last couple of decades of ministry, I’ve listened to people utter words like these as they suffer from the fresh and painful wounds of self-inflicted sin. Building a fulfilling life takes a million tiny decisions, but only one bad choice can wreck it.” Erik reflects on the way every nightmare begins as a dream.
‘O Lord, Let Our Community Flourish’
“I once heard Martyn Lloyd-Jones say that ‘the greatest enemy of the Christian faith has always been the Christian church.’ I was a little taken aback, but a few moments thought was enough to feel that he had a point.”
For the Mom Dropping Her Student Off at College
This is a couple of weeks too late for us, but still timely.
Overcoming Disagreement For God’s Glory
“Even our very best plans often meet with significant snags. Many variables can conspire to derail our plans, but one in particular often proves a great help or hindrance in our efforts: people. Planning would be so easy if it weren’t for other people with other opinions!”
Concealed and Then Revealed
“A Christian reading of Scripture affirms that the biblical authors do not tell us everything everywhere all at once. Things build, and that takes time. The doctrine of Scripture includes the teaching of progressive revelation.” That’s a key concept to understand.
Flashback: The Best Day You’ve Ever Had
The pleasures of this present world are pleasurable indeed. But the greatest of them must pale in comparison to the least pleasures of the world to come.

God’s Word is a light to guide us, and we must follow. It is water to wash us, and we must bathe. It is a mirror to show us our blemishes, and we must be honest…We don’t just look at the Word to learn the Word; we must live by the Word. —Warren Wiersbe

This week Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by BJU Seminary. They are giving away a bundle of books, authored by their faculty and others, on why we believe the Bible and how we live true to it today. BJU Seminary equips Christian leaders through an educational and ministry experience that is biblically shaped, theologically rich, historically significant, and evangelistically robust.

Beyond Chapter and Verse: The Theology and Practice of Biblical Application by Ken Casillas
Do you struggle to connect the dots between the Bible and your life? While Christians instinctively want to apply Scripture, we encounter difficulties that can discourage us and diminish our engagement with God’s Word. Indeed, biblical application has suffered in various ways in the church—everything from neglect to abuse to contempt.
Responding to such challenges, Beyond Chapter and Verse provides a biblically based rationale for the practice of application and then proposes a biblically consistent method for application. The book is substantive but accessible, relevant for believers generally as well as preachers. It begins by sketching the broad theological context of Bible application, relating it to the gospel generally and to sanctification specifically. The heart of the study then synthesizes key Old and New Testament passages relative to the process of application. Building on this foundation, the book sets forth a sensible approach for arriving at legitimate applications of Scripture. A rich assortment of positive and negative case studies illustrates the method, motivating believers to apply the Scriptures for themselves.

The Trustworthiness of God’s Words: Why the Reliability of Every Word from God Matters by Layton Talbert
This is a book about God’s jealousy for His integrity, His passion to be believed, on the basis of His words alone. Throughout Scripture God expresses His determination to be known as the God who keeps His words. He has resolved that every person and nation will see and confess that all His words are reliable down to every last syllable, jot, and tittle. Learning to trust a God who is sovereign and in control, especially in the ache and throb of life, means hanging on to the conviction that everything He says is utterly dependable.
Knowing that God’s words are trustworthy and living it out can be two different things though, so as well as laying out the theological foundations, Layton MacDonald Talbert explores the practical applications. What does trusting God’s words look like in real life, and how has it played out in the experience of God’s people? Let Talbert show you how in tracing the reliability of God through history we can learn to trust Him with the future.

Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity by Neil Shenvi
For centuries, skeptics have disputed the claims of Christianity―such as belief in an eternal God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ―arguing that they simply cannot be accepted by reasonable individuals. Furthermore, efforts to demonstrate the evidence and rational basis for Christianity through apologetics are often deemed too simplistic to be taken seriously in intellectual circles.
Apologist and theoretical chemist Neil Shenvi engages some of the best contemporary arguments against Christianity, presenting compelling evidence for the identity of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels, his death and resurrection, the existence of God, and the unique message of the gospel. Why Believe? calls readers from all backgrounds not only to accept Christianity as true, but also to entrust their lives to Christ and worship him alone.

Accessible without being simplistic: ideal for intellectuals and academics, as well as high school and college students
Well-researched: interacts with skeptical arguments against Christianity and God’s existence
Biblical: grounded in Scripture and centered on the claims of the gospel

Dangerous Affirmation: The Threat of “Gay Christianity” by M. D. Perkins
Since 1968, the LGBT movement has made significant inroads into the Christian church. The affirming church movement has become mainstream through the erosion of mainline denominations. Queer theology has taken hold in many academic settings. The emergence of “gay celibate theology” is causing confusion in evangelical churches through its appeal to modern psychology and LGBT-lived experience. How did we get here? What does the Bible say about all of this?
Dangerous Affirmation is an insightful analysis of the influence and spread of “gay Christianity.” Author M. D. Perkins exposes the way this movement handles theology, biblical interpretation, the church, personal and group identity, and political activism. While many Christians are being won over to this immoral cause, Dangerous Affirmation serves as a sober-minded call to faithfulness in the midst of cultural and religious chaos.
Enter Here

Though we fear it, we must all face it. Though we hate it, we must all meet it. Though we dread it, we cannot avoid it. It is, of course, death. In this broken and battered world, death always looms over life, death always stands hauntingly in the distance.

Death is the subject of a new book by Guy Prentiss Waters. Facing the Last Enemy is meant to acquaint Christians with death so they might think about it rightly and face it courageously. “We all have questions about death,” he says. “’What is death? Why do we die? Why do we all die? Why is death so scary? Why did Christ die? Why do Christians have to die? How can I face the death of someone I love? How can I prepare for death? How can I help others prepare for death? What happens after death?’” To gain compelling, truthful, and reliable answers to such questions we must turn to the Bible, to God’s revelation of himself, for here we will learn how death entered the world, why we must all face it, and how it will itself someday die.
The book is divided into three roughly equal sections. In the first section Waters defines death. He explains what it is, where it came from, and what happens when we die (whether we are Christians or non-Christians). He explains why Christ had to die and why Christians still need to die, even though Christ died on our behalf. This is, essentially, a brief theology of death and one that provides a solid foundation for what follows. He is careful not to make death more intimidating than it needs to be for the Christian, but also not to romanticize it, saying “while death is not good in itself, for those who are in Christ, death will be for our good. For His people, Christ brings an end not to the experience of death but to the fear of death. … As we approach death, we need to see it through the spectacles of the finished work of Christ. The gospel tells us that Christ has conquered and subdued death. That is the only way that we can face death with hope or confidence.”
In the second section he writes about encountering death. He provides counsel on facing the deaths of other people, on helping those who are dying or grieving, and on preparing ourselves for the inevitable end of our lives. Here it is clear that he writes as both a theologian and a pastor, as someone who knows doctrinal truths but who has also had to apply them in the most tragic and heartbreaking of circumstances. He gets quite practical here, going so far as to encourage Christians to show love to others by considering their estate planning and even planning their own death and burial. But primarily, of course, he encourages Christians to prepare themselves spiritually to meet their Maker.
The final section looks beyond death to the resurrection, the final judgment, and heaven and hell. He shows how each of these truths ought to compel us to live worthy lives on this side of the grave. For example, “Our bodies are precious because Christ bought them with His own blood. We will inhabit our bodies forever, and they have a glorious destiny. Our bodies are prized in God’s sight. We should not neglect our bodies but care for them. We should not allow our bodies to participate in sin but should ‘present [ourselves] to God as those who have been brought from death to life’ (Rom. 6:13a). How does the way that you treat and use your body reflect the truth of the resurrection?”
Death is inevitable in this world. It is inevitable that we will need to endure the deaths of people we love and inevitable that we ourselves will die. For that reason alone we ought to familiarize ourselves with death—to know what it is, why it exists, how we can face it well, and how we can have great hope beyond it. This book is an excellent resource that will help accomplish all of that. It is rich in its teaching, compassionate in its tone, and saturated with Scripture. I highly recommend it (and the optional video teaching series that accompanies it).
Buy from Amazon

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

What many people regard as the best gospel tract has now been expanded out to a small book that Westminster Books has put on sale. It’s well worth a look.
Ten Criticisms of John Piper’s Preaching
John Piper shares ten criticisms of his own preaching. That’s a bit odd, I suppose, but I quite enjoyed it.
The time when Canada’s elite wanted to sterilize ‘insane’ and disabled people
Articles like this show why it’s so important to be attuned to history—it should warn us how “elites” can so easily buy into the absolute worst ideas. “In 1936 some of Canada’s most prominent citizens convened to hear how their country faced ‘extinction’ unless they were willing to sterilize the ‘feeble-minded,’ the ‘indigent’ and the ‘degenerate.’” It doesn’t take a lot of thought to consider how similar things are happening in our day.
Women and the Genderless Jesus — A Review of ‘Women and the Gender of God’ by Amy Peeler
Anne Kennedy has a really solid review of Women and the Gender of God. It’s the kind of review that is good to read, even if you don’t intend to read the actual book.
Songs for the Sojourn
Kenwood Baptist Church has just released an EP of some modern hymns.
The Backstory to Spurgeon’s “If Sinners Be Damned…”
“You’ve likely heard this popular quote from Spurgeon: ‘Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves.’” Mike Leake provides the crucial context to this quote.
On the Crushing Guilt of Failing at Quiet Time
Kevin DeYoung: “I am not anti–quiet time or anti–daily devotions or anti–family worship. All of these disciplines serve God’s people well and have been around for a long time. What does not serve God’s people well is the unstated (and sometimes stated) assumption—put upon us by others or by ourselves—that Christianity is only for super-disciplined neatniks who get up before dawn, redeem every minute of the day, and have very organized sock drawers.”
Flashback: We Are Never Without Beauty
We are never without beauty in this world—never without displays of splendor. We are never without beauty because God’s divine fingerprints are impressed on all he has made.

Your hope as a parent is not found in your power, your wisdom, your character, your experience, or your success, but in this one thing alone: the presence of your Lord. The Creator, Savior, Almighty, Sovereign King is with you. Let your heart rest. —Paul David Tripp

If you’re in or near Tasmania, I’d love to see you at the Grace and Truth Conference in October.

Today’s Kindle deals include a number of excellent books.
(Yesterday on the blog: God of Every Grace – The Story Behind the Song)
Thinking and Emotions in the Christian Life
“Human beings are people of extremes. The pages of history give testimony to our ability to diagnose a problem and then overcorrect to an opposite error. Children raised under the pressures of legalism often gravitate toward licentiousness. Reacting against an overemphasis in logic, some have gone to the opposite error of relative truth. The church is not immune to such pendulum swings.”
Give Humble Counsel
“Isn’t it interesting that the less you know, the more willing you are to give counsel?” Yes, it’s interesting. And it’s not commendable.
When to seek justice or bear injustice
Stephen Kneale considers when to seek justice and when to bear injustice. “What do we do about injustice? Options range from setting up campaigns and waging unrelenting war against it right the way through to actively encouraging it ourselves. But what should be our response as believers? I think there is a time to pus back against injustice and there is a time to wear it. The big question is, how do we know when to do either?”
God Made Sabbath an Equipping Tool for Suffering
“I was eight years into a rocky marriage. I didn’t know it, but I was living the last months with my husband still sleeping in our home. By the end of that summer, he would be gone. One and a half years later, the divorce papers would be signed. As I sat waiting for the winner to be announced, God was planning to continue what he had started in me. He knew I would need him in the months and years ahead. He knew the way I was living was not sustainable, and he intended to change it. He was about to provide all the grace I needed for the suffering ahead, with the primary equipping tool being sabbath.”
With Cheerfulness
“There’s an idea out there that good works hardly even count if you enjoy them. That the enjoyment tarnishes the purity of the deed by bringing an immediate personal benefit to the one who does it.” But does the Bible support this?
All About Jesus: Tim Keller’s Memorial Service
Here’s a little report from TGC on the recent memorial service in honor of Tim Keller.
Flashback: It’s Only Money
Just like we can care too little about money and spend it too freely, we can care too much about money and hold it too tightly. As usual, there is peril on both sides.

Prayer is knowing work, believing work, thanking work, searching work, humbling work, and nothing worth if heart and hand do not join in it. —Thomas Adam

I do not share many guest articles but do like to do so occasionally, especially when the circumstances warrant it. This is one of those times. This article was written by Kristyn Getty as a means of explaining the context of a new hymn, “God of Every Grace.” I trust you’ll enjoy the hymn even more as you learn when and why it was written.

Sixteen years ago we were invited to sing “In Christ Alone” at the opening of the Dove Awards. We had recently moved to the US, and although we were very honored to participate, our hearts were heavy. My beautiful cousin Lindsay had just passed away from cancer. We were very much singing for our family. I struggled to sing.
Earlier that day I remember turning to 1 Corinthians 15 and reading of the hope of the resurrection. I was struck by Paul’s concluding charge: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).
There are many things we experience in this life that will only find their resolution, their answer, their ultimate comfort when we are home with the Lord. What do we do when we have to continue to walk with the question, with the ache, with the limp? We know the Lord will “work all things to the good of those who love him,” but what if that good is not known in this lifetime? There are some pains I don’t yet know and can’t imagine.
The new hymn “God of Every Grace” began with a melody and some lyrics from our friend Bryan Fowler. The song spoke of walking through struggle with faith. It spoke of God as the God of every grace, calling us to see even our trials as somehow, mysteriously, serving God’s good purposes according to his good plans. It resonated with us.
Shortly after the school shooting in Nashville in March 2023, I was sitting outside with my daughters while they were playing, wrestling with this tragedy and the ongoing weight of it. I also pondered the memory of my cousin and the pain her family continues to carry. Many of the ideas and lyrics for this hymn began to form in my head that day.
Alongside Bryan and Matt Boswell, we continued to shape the verses and add the chorus over a couple of months. We felt strongly about keeping the lyric directed to the Lord, personal and honest. The line “all your children home together” was a very moving thought for me as a mother—that desire for a family to be all together again. Only in Christ is this possible.
We are all tempted at different times to give up, to give in, to let our circumstances steal our hope. This hymn is a prayer for his daily strength, for regular recalling of our hope, for faith to keep following, for rest in the truth that he knows, he sees, he counts the tears. We hope you can sing this prayer with us.
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” -1 Peter 5:10-11
[embedded content]
Here are the lyrics:
O let not this world of sorrowsSteal my only hope awayFor the power of Your gospelShines within this jar of clayIn affliction You bring wisdomThat my comforts can displaceHow my true and greatest treasureIs in You, the God of grace
Now to the God of every graceWho counts my tears, who holds my daysI sing through sorrows, sing with faithO praise the God of every grace
Weary with the weight I carryGive me wings of faith to riseFor You know each grief that lingersThrough the watches of the nightSurely You have borne our sufferingsAt the cross took up our painAnd You lead us on to gloryAs we trust You, God of grace
Now to the God of every graceWho counts my tears, who holds my daysI sing through sorrows, sing with faithO praise the God of every grace
There’s a dawning hope before usThat I know is soon to breakAs I wait upon Your mercyWhich will swallow every acheCries of joy and songs of victoryWhen we enter heaven’s gatesAll Your children home togetherAll with You, the God of grace
Now to the God of every graceWho counts my tears, who holds my daysI sing through sorrows, sing with faithO praise the God of every grace
Now to the God of every graceWho counts my tears, who holds my daysI sing through sorrows, sing with faithO praise the God of every graceO praise the God of every graceO praise the God of every grace
© 2023 Getty Music Publishing (BMI) / Messenger Hymns (BMI) – adm. at MusicServices.com // Be Essential Songs (BMI) / BryanFowlerSongs (BMI) – adm. at EssentialMusicPublishing.com

Good morning from beautiful, chilly New Zealand.

This week Westminster Books has a deal on the new CSB Life Counsel Bible.
Today’s Kindle deals include another pretty good little list of titles.
My Heavenly Father Taught Me Not to Hate My Earthly One
Dudu Mkhize explains her troubled relationship with her father and then tells what healed it.
When Puzzles Drive Me Mad
Chris Thomas: “I’m the kind of guy that likes to have stuff figured out, to have it all squared away and packaged neatly (preferable alphabetised). Not knowing, or seeing the gaps, mean that puzzles are prone to driving me mad. I need to solve the mystery. This makes me a tenacious problem solver: 1. Define the mystery 2. Figure out the steps 3. Win! Easy.”
Victoria’s Anti-Conversion Legislation Promotional Is A Soothing Bed-Time Story
Australia’s state of Victoria has passed what is probably the world’s strongest law against so-called conversion therapy. They released a video to explain it and Stephen McAlpine gave it a look. “So soothing. So seductive. Its narrated in the most calm, wonderful sleepy-bye-byes bedtime story voice one could ever hope for. Before reading any further on this blog post, have a watch. A watch, and a listen. Especially a listen.”
100 Bible Trivia Questions
If you’re in the mood for some Bible trivia, Logos has got you covered.
When the Fireworks of Marriage Stop
”If you’re married, can you recall the fireworks from your wedding day? What about the months following? Was the world teeming with possibilities—the cup of adventure overflowing with magic? Did you believe anything was possible, and nothing could stand in the way of your dreams, goals, desires, love? Did you feel weightless, like a feather floating on a summer breeze?”
Can Preventative Medicine Become the Fountain of Youth?
“The fountain of youth. The elixir of life. The golden apple. For centuries, such myths have reflected humankind’s obsession with immortality. With the right magic, the stories proclaim, we can unnaturally lengthen our lives. With enough bravery and smarts, we can evade the cruel grasp of death. Such promises tantalize the imagination, luring us into the false belief that we can escape the wages of sin by our own efforts.”
Flashback: Success Beyond What We Can Handle
Those who pray for no more than they can handle will find joy and comfort in even modest achievements, for they will know and trust that God has given them what is for their best and withheld from them what would be to their harm.

The motion of our praise must be like the motion of our pulse, which beats as long as life lasts. —Thomas Watson

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

The whole ZECNT series of excellent commentaries is on sale in today’s Kindle deals.
(Yesterday on the blog: When We Follow God’s Plan)
The Internet and Christian Catholicity
Samuel James makes lots of helpful points here as he considers the challenges of Christian catholicity in the age of the internet.
Do Christians Really Suffer in America?
Do Christians actually suffer in present day America? John Piper answers the question here.
Blind To The Glory of Home
“On setting out on our first journey into a new country, we were filled with grand expectations of all the things we hoped to see and experience. Little did we know that God was actually leading us on the greatest adventure of all – a journey to glorify him.”
Finding Home
Also on the subject of home, here’s Kristin on finding home. “Earthly times and dwellings are part of God’s good design– a shadowy likeness of the true Christian’s forever home. God is near to us, such frail creatures of dust and rib, designed in his image and pining for home.”
A Biblical Counselor’s Treatment Room
Andy Farmer considers the importance of the physical space a counselor uses to counsel people.
Uninvited fears
“Uninvited fears press against the window. And slip in through the cracks. Seeping into the throng of thoughts populating our minds. Hitching themselves to ‘what if’s’ and ‘why’s’ and ‘how’s.’”
Flashback: What Can a Heart Do?
Did you know that the New Testament uses the word “heart” well over a hundred times, but never once to refer to the organ in your chest? It only ever uses it as a metaphor, as a word picture. So what can the heart do according to the Bible?

We don’t love our neighbors to convert them; we love our neighbors because we are converted. —Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon

Today’s post is sponsored by BJU Seminary and written by Renton Rathbun, who directs BJU’s Center for Biblical Worldview, contributes to the Seminary’s apologetics program, and speaks across the country on biblical worldview and apologetics. BJU Seminary equips Christian leaders through an educational and ministry experience that is biblically shaped, theologically rich, historically significant, and evangelistically robust.

We live in a world where 62% of American pastors have a syncretistic worldview. It was pastors who enabled the success of the Revoice movement, which is responsible for grooming young men and women into embracing a gay identity within Christianity. And currently, there is a dwindling confidence in pastors’ spiritual credibility.
Now more than ever, the American church is in desperate need of pastors who are ready to address a simple fact: the Church has come to despise holiness. Yes, the Church at large seems fond of God’s love and goodness, but holiness leaves a bitter taste in her mouth.
Many fear pursuing holiness will make us unrelatable, robotic, and judgy. Yet, the most sobering statement of 1 John 2:1–6 is that the first and primary exhortation is to stop sinning. Yes, if we do sin, we have an Advocate. But John wrote his epistle principally so that his people “may not sin.”
When we do speak of practical matters of holiness, we often explain our way into retaining at least some sin. When 1 Timothy 2:12 forbids women “to exercise authority over a man” in the church, we roll out our feminists to help us see that “authority” is misunderstood by conservatives. When Romans 1:26–27 speaks of the sin of homosexuality and its “vile affections,” we roll out our same-sex-attracted pastors to help us see that only the act of sodomy is a sin, not the attraction part.
The Church is losing the skill of hating and killing. We do not hate sin as God does, so we do not kill it. We might condemn parts of it—but hating and killing it goes too far. Yet, God says He hates the work of those who sin (Ps. 101:3; 119:104). He hates abominations (Prov. 6:16–19; Jer. 44:4). He hates the planning of evil (Zach. 8:17). And God has instructed us to hate evil (Ps. 97:10), even abhor it (Rom. 12:9).
Our worldview is confused, so our compassion has become confused. In attempting to show compassion for those who are tangled up in sin, we have begun showing compassion for sin itself. As my pastor once stated, “When we forget the sinfulness of sin and God’s own hatred for it, we forget the cost of sin for the Son of God.”
How can we kill what we have become accustomed to? How can we assassinate that which we have been pining after? We need a biblical worldview of holiness. The puritan John Owen confronts us, “Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you!”
Pastors, do not give up. Do not give in. Do not go gently into the night. Fight for holiness in your own heart (1 Pet. 3:15) and in the hearts of your congregations (1 Pet. 1:15–16). Fight because you love God. Fight because you love your people. Turn your people into killers of sin, or it will be killing them.
For more articles from BJU Seminary faculty members, or more information about BJU Seminary, visit our website.

When I was a child, the maps in my Bible got me through many a sermon. I was rarely interested in listening to the preacher, so I would flip to the back pages of the Bible to study the maps there. I would gaze at the contours of the lands of the Middle East. I would observe how Abraham had obeyed God and left his country and his kindred and his father’s house to journey to the land that God would show him. I would study the ancient world as the Patriarchs knew it. Best of all, I would see how God had miraculously delivered his people from their long captivity in Egypt.

Like just about every Bible, mine had a map that traced the route the Israelites followed after they escaped from Egypt and began to make their way toward the Promised Land. The map had a line in blue that began in Egypt and then traveled south for a time toward the bottom of the Sinai Peninsula. Eventually, it bulged north for a short while before dipping south again. Then finally it turned permanently northward and led the way to Jericho before it terminated on the banks of the Jordan.
The route the Israelites followed is far from straight and hardly looks efficient. Instead of taking a direct approach leading straight from Egypt to Canaan, the route appears to wander and meander, to turn this way and then that, to progress for a time and then bog down. It would be easy enough to look at a map like that and assume that it shows confusion or indecision, a lack of planning, and a lack of strong leadership.
Yet we know that all the while the people were following the Lord’s directives. He is the one who would tell them when to pick up and when to settle down, when to go straight, and when to turn to the left or the right. It was under his direction that they forded this river or turned away from that sea, in obedience to his command that they approached this mountain or avoided that plain. And if that’s the case, then the map does not truly wander and meander at all and does not truly show the least confusion or indecision. To the contrary, the map at the back of our Bibles shows the considered and well-thought-out plan of God, the route that existed in his mind long before he called his people to follow it. Their every step was deliberate and their every move was meaningful, for it was all the fulfillment of God’s good and perfect will.
There are times when it does us good to think back to our own lives and to picture them almost like a map—a map that traces our journey from birth to where we are today. And as we look at our lives so far, we can see how we passed through certain kinds of difficulties and avoided many more, how we scaled some mountains of joy but bypassed others. We can see how we turned this way toward success and that way toward failure. Our path through this life has been winding and twisting, rarely perfectly straight and rarely avoiding every hindrance and every stretch of wilderness.
And just like God was leading the Israelites on their journey, we can have every confidence that he has been leading us on ours. Just like every twist and every turn they took was within the wise providence of God, so too every step we’ve taken forward and every step we’ve taken back. He planned that we would approach mountains and valleys, rivers and seas, and he has used them all for his good purposes. And, just like he promised that his people would safely reach the end of their journey, he has promised we will reach ours. For like them, he is leading us to the Promised Land, the land of peace, the land of rest, the land where we most truly long to be.