What do you say to God when your life has collapsed and the answers are nowhere to be found? Job shows us that sometimes faith is not about clarity, but about refusing to walk away even when nothing makes sense.
Job 13:20–21 “Only two things do not do to me, Then I will not hide from Your face: Remove Your hand from me, And let not the dread of You terrify me.”
When suffering reaches its breaking point, the most courageous prayer may simply be the decision to keep speaking to God.
Job 13:20–21 lifts my eyes because it shows that prayer can survive even when life feels shattered. By this point in the story, Job has lost nearly everything that once gave him security. His children are gone, his possessions are gone, his body is failing, and even his closest relationships offer little comfort. Yet in the middle of that devastation, Job still turns toward God instead of away from Him.
What encourages me is how modest and relational Job’s request is. He does not demand answers or insist on immediate relief. He asks for only two things. He wants God’s hand lifted enough that he can endure the weight of suffering, and he wants God’s presence to be experienced without paralyzing fear. Job is not asking God to leave him alone. He is asking for enough mercy to stay engaged in the relationship.
This passage reminds me that faith does not always sound confident. Sometimes faith sounds like honesty mixed with hope. Job openly admits that God feels overwhelming, yet he still believes God is the one worth talking to. What Job fears most is not pain or death, but separation. He is afraid that God might abandon him, and just as afraid that he might abandon God. That tension reveals a deep and resilient trust.
I find great comfort in knowing that God receives this kind of prayer. Scripture does not silence Job’s words or correct his tone. Instead, it preserves his prayer as an example of devotion that endures under pressure. God allows room for prayers that ask for gentleness, space, and courage.
This humble posture reshapes the way I pray in hard seasons. I do not have to understand what God is doing in order to stay connected to Him. I can ask for relief without surrendering trust. Like Job, I can say, I do not understand where we are right now or where this is going, but I am choosing to stay with You. That choice, repeated day after day, becomes a quiet and hopeful act of worship.
From the earliest pages of Scripture, God’s covenant has always been described as leaving a mark, not etched into skin but borne in mind and carried out through the hands. In Deuteronomy and again in Joshua, Israel is told to place God’s word on the forehead and the hand, language that clearly points to thoughts shaped by loyalty and deeds formed by obedience. This imagery reappears in the New Testament when Jesus insists that a life is known by its fruit, and what governs the heart will inevitably express itself in action. With that biblical background in view, the language of Revelation becomes more difficult to interpret in isolation. When John speaks of a mark placed on the same two locations, the question naturally arises whether this is new imagery at all, or whether it is deliberately echoing and distorting a much older covenant sign.
In the Old Testament, the clearest passages are in Deuteronomy 6:6–8 and 11:18, and they are echoed narratively in Exodus 13:9, 16, and later in Joshua 22 by way of covenant loyalty. Israel is told to bind God’s words on the hand and between the eyes. In context, this is not about a physical marking but about internalized allegiance. The forehead indicates thought, loyalty, and the mind’s orientation. The hand points to action, labor, and obedience. God’s law is to govern both what Israel loves and thinks, and what Israel does.
Second Temple Judaism later literalized this imagery in the practice of tefillin (phylacteries), but even there, the physical sign served to reinforce the deeper symbolic reality. The covenant mark was visible in life, not inked into skin.
When you come to the New Testament, Jesus’ words about fruit and deeds are closely continuous with this idea. What governs the heart necessarily expresses itself in action. Thought and deed together reveal allegiance.
Revelation deliberately mirrors this earlier covenant language. The “mark of the beast” on the forehead and the hand is best understood as a counterfeit covenant sign. Just as God seals his people, the beast marks his own. Revelation itself reinforces this parallel by describing the seal of God on the foreheads of the faithful in Revelation 7 and 14. Two marks, two allegiances, two ways of life.
In apocalyptic literature, symbols are meant to be read theologically rather than mechanically. The mark of the beast represents a mindset shaped by idolatrous power and a pattern of behavior that conforms to it. It is the inversion of Deuteronomy’s call to love the Lord with heart, soul, and strength.
Revelation does not abandon the biblical grammar of covenant signs. It is intensifying it. The question remains the same throughout Scripture: who governs your thinking, and whose purposes are you carrying out with your hands?
Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
WONDERFUL COUNSELOR
Contrary to what Handel says, I think that this is one thing, not two… and it’s a BIGGIE.
Jesus is listed as our helper, our comforter, and our advocate… all tasks f a counselor.
In man-made religions, man works to appease and appeal to their gods.
In distinct contrast, Jesus helps us find Him…. and he came here to DIE so that we can come face to face with God the Father.
King Jesus works on our behalf, doing the things we CANNOT do.
Colossians 2:6,7 Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so WALK in Him, [7] having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith
Not a lot of subtlety here.
” You’re deeply rooted in Him.
well constructed upon Him.
You know your way around the faith.
Now quit studying the subject and start living (That’s from “The Message”)
I like the stark shock of it… Almost like a 2×4 across the head.
When John describes the Four Horsemen in Revelation 6, he gives the early church a vivid picture of conflict, suffering, and divine purpose. How we understand those figures depends significantly on the interpretive lens we use. A Progressive Dispensationalist sees the horsemen as future global judgments that also echoed the turmoil the first-century church already knew. A Partial Preterist sees them as symbols of the violent events leading to the fall of Jerusalem, with ongoing relevance as a pattern of how God deals with human rebellion. The Historicist approach treats the horsemen as unfolding eras of church history, recognized only gradually as centuries pass. The Idyllic or Idealist view sees them not as tied to one moment but as timeless images of the recurring forces that shape every age.
Despite their differences, each view agrees on two core ideas. First, the original readers needed assurance that God was in control of the chaos around them. Second, believers today can still find hope in the truth that Christ is the one who opens the seals and guides history, even when the world feels dominated by conquest, conflict, scarcity, and death.
1. Progressive Dispensationalist View
First century meaning: This view sees Revelation as speaking to both the first century and the future end times. A Progressive Dispensationalist usually believes the Four Horsemen symbolize real judgments that will occur during a future tribulation, but they also acknowledge that the original audience would have understood these images through the lens of political instability, famine, persecution, and imperial violence they already lived with. The symbols had relevance then because they showed that God was aware of their suffering and had a plan to bring justice.
For today: The horsemen are taken as prophetic previews of future global events tied to the unfolding of God’s ultimate plan for history. At the same time the imagery remains morally instructive. The horsemen reveal the ongoing brokenness of the world and remind believers that God’s judgment is real, that His timing is purposeful, and that Christ will ultimately bring peace to a world filled with conflict and death.
2. Partial Preterist View
First century meaning: Partial Preterists view most of Revelation’s judgments as referring to events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. In this view the Four Horsemen symbolize real historical forces at work in the first century: political turmoil, war, famine, and death surrounding the Jewish War. John’s readers would have recognized these signs as descriptions of the upheaval happening around them.
For today: The emphasis is not on future prediction but on the pattern. God has acted in judgment before and will act again when necessary. The horsemen show how human rebellion produces chaos, and they encourage believers to remain faithful even when their own cultures experience moral or political decline.
3. Historicist View
First century meaning: Historicists view Revelation as a panoramic timeline of church history from the first century to the return of Christ. For a Historicist, the Four Horsemen represent long ranges of historical eras that the church would pass through. The original audience would have understood the imagery in general terms, recognizing the reality of persecution and upheaval, but the full meaning would unfold gradually over the centuries.
For today: Believers look back and identify the horsemen with actual historical periods such as the fall of the Roman Empire, widespread famine, and plague. The horsemen are therefore markers on a timeline that shows God directing history toward its final fulfillment.
4. Idyllic (or Idealist) View
First century meaning: The Idyllic view sees Revelation as a symbolic portrayal of the ongoing struggle between good and evil rather than a prediction of specific events. First-century readers faced pressure from Rome, persecution, and uncertainty. They would have read the horsemen as vivid pictures of the kinds of forces that characterize life in a fallen world. The message for them was that Christ remains sovereign over all human history even when chaos rises.
For today: The horsemen symbolize recurring realities that appear in every age: conquest, war, famine, and death. These forces do not point to a single period but to the repeating cycle of brokenness in the world. The comfort lies in knowing that Christ opens the seals and ultimately brings hope beyond these cycles.
Bringing the Views Together
Despite their differences, all four interpretive perspectives share two essential convictions. The first century church needed to know that the suffering, chaos, and injustice surrounding them were not spinning out of control. They needed assurance that the frightening forces symbolized by the horsemen were still subject to the authority of Christ. In the same way, believers today also need the reminder that whether these images point to specific past events, future judgment, or recurring patterns of human history, it is Christ who holds the scroll. He is the one who guides history toward its final redemption.
This truth offers a deeper comfort than any timeline or chart can provide. The early Christians lived under the weight of persecution and uncertainty. Yet John’s vision reminded them that every seal was opened by the Lamb and not by blind fate. That same reassurance is offered to us. We live in a world shaped by conflict, scarcity, upheaval, and loss. These realities can feel overwhelming, but Revelation lifts our perspective and anchors us in a greater hope. The horsemen do not ride on their own authority. They move only at the command of Christ, who remains sovereign even in seasons of turmoil. Revelation 6 calls us to trust that the story is still in His hands and that His purpose will lead creation toward restoration and renewal.
Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
Joseph is talking to his brothers who:
first planned to kill him,
then sold Him into slavery,
Now, he is the ruler of Egypt and about to save his whole family.
Great story (Genesis 37-50 – Careful, it is a page-turner!)
The takeaway is this: No matter how dark or scary the moment, God can redeem it.
Slaves become kings
Shepherd boys slay giants
Scraps feed multitudes
Whatever you’ve got going in your life, in His hands,
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
The fear here is “reverence”… but fear is a big part of reverence.
The essence of fear is being OUT OF CONTROL.
Whether we’re talking rollercoasters, or stuff jumping out at us, or things that go bump in the night, it is the lack of control that raises our hackles.
Put that into this verse.
WISDOM begins with realizing I am NOT in control of anything. He is.
THAT’S where wisdom begins. … and yes, it is scary.
I need to let go, and let Him be the Sovereign of my life.
I need to give up the control that gives me comfort. Because that comfort is false, and I am setting myself up for failure.
Psalm 1:1-2 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
The two Paths. This Psalm is an old friend.
It begins with THE SECRET of HAPPINESS… Meditating on the Will of the Father.
It seems like the world’s greatest goal is to find happiness. You’d think they’d be better at it.
Yet it seems we are more anxious, more fractious, angrier than ever.
That’s because the world looks in the wrong place.
The first word, normally rendered “How Blessed” in English, of this verse (as well as the first word of the Sermon on the Mount) could be translated “How Happy”… How happy is the man…
Two steps:
Watch whom you hang out with (You start to look and think like them)
Pay attention to the manufacturer’s handbook. (He made you/He knows how you work)
Striving to avoid the world and meditate on God’s will… because that is where Happy is found.
Between the Garden and the Garden City 