I’m keeping today’s list intentionally short. We’re bombarded with so much information each day. I don’t want to add to the noise. However, I do think the resources listed below are worth exploring.
The Book of Job. A video teaching series from Ligonier Ministries. It’s free to stream right now. Why does God permit suffering? It’s a question all of us have asked, and the life of Job points us toward the answer. In The Book of Job, Derek Thomas walks us through the book of Job and considers what the Bible says about our darkest moments and how we can learn to trust God in every trial.
10 Key Verses on God’s Sovereignty by Crossway. A brief article with helpful comments from the ESV Study Bible. When life feels out of control, it can be comforting to remember that we’re never out of the sight of our Creator—and he never loses control.
When Kids Won’t Bow to Your Idols by Jennifer Phillips at The Gospel Coalition’s website. The most profound parenting quote I’ve ever heard is from Dan Allender:
One of the biggest sources of conflict between you and your kids is when they refuse to bow down to your idols.
I dare you to cross-stitch that and give it to a friend at her baby shower.
Bible Design Blog. This one is for my fellow geeks. Bible Design Blog focuses on the physical form of the Bible. J. Mark Bertrand discusses good design with an emphasis on reader-friendly formats, which means elegant layout, opaque paper, and sewn bindings that open flat. The Bible is more than a reference work. It’s meant to be read. Choices made by designers, printers, and bookbinders all influence readability — though their sway usually goes unremarked. Not here.
Mark doesn’t write as frequently as he used to, but his site is still worth exploring. Read his reviews (with lots of pictures) of various high-quality editions of the English Bible to get a better of understanding of why the form in which Scripture is presented matters.
Finally, I’ve been meditating on two questions and answers from the Heidelberg Catechism about God’s providence. I encourage you to make them matters for thought and prayer during these trying times.
Q. 27. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty — all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.
Q. 28. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?
A. We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.
Ryan Wentzel