Hello Reader,

I just finished reading through the final, final, final draft of Sinews of Scripture and uploaded all the files today. I am so thrilled that it will be going to print soon and available for sale on August 20. If you have ever felt confused about a genealogy in the Bible and wondered how you could learn to understand them, Sinews is the book for you. It comes from years of preaching and teaching these passages and I am excited for you to get your hands on it. So excited, in fact, that we are making the e-book version available immediately on our store, almost a month before the general public.

This issue also gets a bit more personal as I reflect about how I have tried to walk with God through a heavy season of leadership. I hope it blesses you wherever you find yourself today. Thank you for reading and if someone shared this issue with you and you would like to receive it in your own inbox, you can sign up by clicking here.

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The Blessing of Strength

It has been a difficult six weeks for me on the back of a difficult couple years. Everything in my local church is good, but the burdens of leadership in other areas (school & denomination) have been very heavy. I have faced not only disagreement, but personal attacks on my character and integrity. The details matter for me and the places where I lead, but for you reading this, just know that it has been confusing, disorienting, and disheartening.

I am guessing I am not the only one who has been in this sort of season. Perhaps you are there right now. While I do know that it is well with my soul and that this season will not last forever, the hard things are still hard.

In the midst of this heavy season, I have been coming back to two biblical passages. First, I have been praying daily through Ephesians 6:10-20. I have been asking for God to clothe me in the full armor of God, but I have also been drawn to the posture called for in this passage. Repeatedly, Paul calls for us to "stand" and "stand firm." In the fight against principalities and powers, it is not a posture of aggression or war, but of faithfully standing in the gap that is called for. I don't have to fight and win the battle, all I have to do is stand and stand firm. The battle belongs to the Lord. The same is true for you.

You might be facing all sorts of challenges in your life right now. It is not your job to fix everything. It may not be your job even to try and "win" (whatever that may look like). Sometimes, all God calls you and I to do is stand and stand firm in the full armor of God. I hope this passage is as encouraging to you as it has been to me.

Second, I have been thinking long and hard about what it looks like to know that I am blessed by God in the midst of this season. My own words in my chapter on Genesis 48-49 in The Sinews of Scripture have been ministering to me. I wanted to share them with you, in the hopes that they minister to you and help you see God's blessing in a new way.

Sometimes blessing is the gift of strength. Sometimes that strength is unexpected blessing. Ephraim receives the right hand of blessing – the greater blessing – even though he is the younger of his brothers (Gen. 48:14). God has a beautiful habit of surprising us in who he chooses to bless. Yet, the strength God promises often comes in the midst of trials and hardship. We see this in both Judah and Joseph. The blessings on these two sons are longer and look more obviously like blessings. Judah will be praised by his brothers, he will have rule and power, tribute and obedience (Gen. 49:8-10). Joseph is a fruitful bough whose branches run over the wall. He will have blessing from God – from heaven, from the deep, from the breast, from the womb (Gen. 49:22-26).

Yet, when Jacob gives these blessings, he also promises trials. God’s blessing will be strength in the midst of these trials. Judah will have his hand on the neck of his enemies (49:8), but that means that Judah will have enemies. God’s blessing does not mean life will be easy, that there will be no struggle, that life is all smooth sailing and calm seas. Instead, God promises him strength in the midst of the fight. Joseph will be attacked:

“The archers fiercely attacked him; they shot at him and pressed him hard. Yet his bow remained taut, and his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob.” (49:23- 24)

Being blessed by God doesn’t exclude being shot at, being attacked, being pressed hard. This was Joseph’s life as the blessed of God. Yet, God’s promise through Jacob was that God’s hand would strengthen his arms in the struggle. Though he is weary from the fight, his strength will not give way.

"Being blessed by God doesn’t exclude being shot at, being attacked, being pressed hard."

Stephen C. Shaffer

This is the blessing of God — strength in the midst of trial. This is good news for all of us whose life does not look blessed right now. For families that are feeling empty and dry, for when the struggle never seems to end and you feel like you are just taking one arrow after another. For those of us who wake up every day wondering if our arms will finally give out under this load. The promise of God is not that there will be no trials, but that God will be with you in them.

"The archers fiercely attacked him; they shot at him and pressed him hard. Yet his bow remained taut, and his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, by the God of your father, who will be with you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb." (49:23-25)

In Judah and Joseph, we see God promising strength, not to avoid trials and hardship, but in the midst of them. For those of us walking in the way of Jesus, God’s blessing may often look like the gift of strength.

Writing Updates

My goal this year was to write 100,000 words and I am closing in on the goal.

Current: 96,581

Goal: 100,000 (Status: 96.5%)

The Sinews of Scripture: Done! You can already get the e-books from us, but physical copies and worldwide distribution will arrive on August 20 at all major online retailers. If you live in southwest Ontario, you can contact me to reserve a signed copy.

The Body of Doctrine: This is my main project right now. I am currently in Lord's Day 6 of translating Ursinus' commentary on the Catechism and my Latin continues to improve. I am working on several different avenues of sharing this process with you.

Brantford Theology Conference: We announced a while back that we were planning to put on a theology conference in our city for the purpose of theological discipleship for the church. Now that Sinews is done, we will be putting more energy into planning, branding, and recruiting speakers. Look for more updates sometime in September or October.

Thank You

We appreciate your prayers for the work we are doing in providing theological resources for the church. One of the best ways to support us to buy our books and tell your friends to do the same. However, if you'd like to contribute in other ways, you can always buy me a coffee.

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