“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes” – Sherlock Holmes, in Hound of the Baskervilles
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” – Carl Sagan
“Even if you’re an atheist, you face…the problem of good…if the world is a chance assembly of accidental phenomena, why is there so much that we want to praise and celebrate?” – NT Wright
“A moment after they have admitted that good and evil are illusions, you will find them exhorting us to work for posterity, to educate, revolutionize, liquidate, live and die for the good of the human race” – CS Lewis, in Miracles
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8
Sometimes we fall into a pattern of trying to rely on our own merit to please God. We try our hardest to do everything we think He wants us to do in order to earn His love. We live like the classic hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” was changed to “Great is My Faithfulness.” We put our hope in our own efforts to earn our salvation.
Hebrews 10:23, which says “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” helps explain why we’d much rather have it be “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” This verse reminds us that He is faithful and is worth putting our hope in. In contrast we are often unfaithful and disappoint ourselves, falling short of the ideals we strive to achieve. But we can hold fast to our hope, because it’s based on His promises.
Earlier, Hebrews 6:19 says “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain” where “this” refers to the promises of God that were fulfilled by the life of Jesus and give us access to God’s presence. Counting on our own faithfulness is like being on a ship that attaches its anchor to itself, and the captain wonders why the ship keeps drifting uncontrollably. So, as the verse says, we must attach our anchor to something else (God’s promises), because an anchor is only as good as what it’s attached to. Something solid is needed, and God’s promises in Jesus are a solid, unchanging thing we can cling to at all times.
If we relied on our own faithfulness for salvation, every time we disappoint God, we would have to worry about losing our salvation, our place in God’s family. We would have no security, no way to avoid “wavering.” Our faithlessness discourages us, but His faithfulness gives us hope and strength.
God is faithful and worthy of our trust. As the hymn declares about Him:
“There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.”
We can “hold fast” to Him in all times and in all circumstances. All of the Old Testament testifies to God’s faithfulness toward His people, and the New Testament testifies to the fulfillment of God’s promises in the life and work of Jesus. Therefore, His faithfulness is backed up by centuries of history, and through His grace, He offers salvation to His people. As Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”. Even our faith is a gift from God, based on His faithfulness, not ours, and given in His grace. When our faith wavers, His does not.
Therefore, thank God that our hope is in His faithfulness, not in ours. Our faithfulness is far too uncertain, but through the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus we inherit Christ’s own merit in the eyes of God and couldn’t please Him anymore no matter what we do.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful”
For those looking for a Bible reading plan, each week I post 2 chapters to read per day as a main reading plan, and for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2026, I’ll post the extra chapters to read that week. The main readings will include nearly all of the New Testament, plus Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Prophets, and a few other Old Testament books.
Reading 3 chapters a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends almost exactly covers the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, so the “extra” readings will be about 9 chapters per week. These readings will cover the Pentateuch, the OT histories, a few other OT books, plus Jude and Revelation from the NT.
I hope this encourages others to read and study their Bible more, whatever parts they decide to read. Follow along (or not) any way you choose!
2 chapter a day plan:
Monday, April 20: Psalm 110, Job 22 Tuesday, April 21: Psalm 111, Job 23 Wednesday, April 22: Psalm 112, Job 24 Thursday, April 23: Psalm 113, Job 25 Friday, April 24: Psalm 114, Job 26 Saturday, April 25: Psalm 115, Job 27 Sunday, April 26: Psalm 116, Job 28
Extra chapters for those reading the whole Bible in 2026: Numbers 25 – 33
When comparing Genesis and Revelation, we find similarities between the Paradise man lost and the Paradise to come. Consider these verses about each:
Genesis 2:8-9: “And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.” Revelation 22:1-2: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
A stream in Llanberis, Wales.
In each description is the tree of life, and also a river. Rivers are greatly beneficial to the growth of cities and civilizations, providing benefits for agriculture, trade, travel, etc. Even today, most large cities that don’t border a large body of water have a navigable river nearby or flowing through it. A big city without one is rare: in the United States, Dallas, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina, may be the only major cities not located near a significant river.
Rivers are mentioned a lot in the Bible, including in this Psalm about God being our refuge and fortress. An unnamed river in the “city of God” is mentioned:
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.” (Psalm 46:4)
However, Jerusalem, the place Jews in the Old Testament period would have considered the “city of God” does not have a river. The Psalmist certainly knew this, so their point is about something else, that the “city of God” has, well, it has God, as described in the next verses:
“God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” (Psalm 46:5-7)
Jerusalem may not have a river, but it has God who provides all it needs and more. No river required. Even though the literal, ancient Jerusalem was eventually destroyed by the Babylonians, and later by the Romans, the eternal City of God will never be moved. All other nations “rage” and “totter,” but God’s kingdom is forever secured by the One whose voice melts the earth. Hebrews 1:10-12 (quoting from Psalm 102:25-27):
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
Do you worry that you lack things others have? Things that would provide benefits for your business, spare time, or other pursuits? With God as our fortress and refuge, we don’t need a river, but in Paradise He will provide one anyway.
The story of the Tower of Babel, recorded in just 9 verses in Genesis 11, has a lot more to say than its length might suggest. It’s not just the story of a tower being built, or a story about the origin of different languages. It is also a story of why the tower was built and what it meant about the builders’ relationship with God.
The Tower of Babel was mankind’s best effort at achieving salvation, a path to heaven, based on their own works. In the tower we see man declaring his independence from God, his lack of need for the God, or any god. This act of rebellion was similar to Adam and Eve’s sinful desire to know good and evil for themselves in the garden of Eden, because the builders of the tower were saying that they know better than God. “We’ll get to perfection on our own,” they thought. They were the progressives of their day, believing in the infinite potential of mankind.
Also, verse 4 tells us that part of the motivation for building the tower was to prevent man from being “dispersed over the face of the whole earth,” but God had told His people to “fill the earth,”[1] not to settle down in one spot. In the next chapter God would tell Abraham that he would become a nation, and that through that nation, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[2] God’s people are not meant to hide in their own dwellings, but to bless the world by telling it of God’s love and by living out that love to “all the families of the earth.” Babel’s builders had the wrong priorities.
Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash. The Tower of Babel may have been a ziggurat or a pyramid.
The story of the Tower also tells us that our best efforts will always fall short. In the story, note that “the LORD came down to see the city and the tower.” Mankind intended for this tower to reach heaven, but God had to “come down” to see it. Our best efforts fall way below God’s standards and intention for us. While we might achieve a lot and take pride in it, it’s never as good as what God can do for us, and we know that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”[3] Later in history, He would show us that only He, in Christ Jesus, could be the path that gets us to heaven. There is no other way no matter how hard we try.
Another subtle point from the story is that the materials we decide to work with are never better than what God has already given us. Babel’s builders “had brick for stone,” meaning the tower was built with manmade bricks, not stones. We might think of stones as “natural” but really, they’re what God created in the form He created it, and they’re much stronger than bricks. In the same way, if we follow God’s intention for our lives rather than inventing our own ways, we will find that His ways are better and stronger than anything else available.
Lastly, the tower’s very name, Babel, is a form of “Babylon,” which is a literal city, but also in Revelation 17-18 Babylon represents any society where man attempts to live independently of God. To seek perfection without Him and by His righteousness. Revelation also tells us that Babylon will be destroyed, and everything that Babylon represents.
God has given us everything we need to live and to glorify Him today. Will we use it, or try to go our own way?
[1] Genesis 1:28, Genesis 9:1 [2] Genesis 12:3 [3] James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 