Genesis 12:1 shows us what happens when God speaks to a man. Before God speaks, deadness and darkness; after God speaks, life abundant. Abram’s redemption—like every believer’s—began with God speaking. No one comes to saving faith apart from God’s effective call.

At 9:00 AM last Friday, I signed the closing papers on the house my wife and I owned for nearly eleven years. Immediately after, we signed the papers to purchase our next home.

It’s too easy for us to misunderstand the heart of God. From the beginning, the enemy has come with his damning question, “Did God really say…?” Since Adam and Eve answered, “No,” it’s been a disaster for the rest of us. When God comes, telling of his great love, we think, “Eh, maybe. Did he really say that, though?”

Why is suffering, like taxes, so ubiquitous? Joshua Chatraw and Mark Allen take up that question in their book Apologetics at the Cross: An Introduction for Christian Witness. They ask, “Does the Bible give an apologetic for our suffering?” Their simple answer is “Yes.”

At the end of the year, I look back with gratitude that God gave us the gift of language, the ability to write, and for all the writers who labored over every word to give the world a treasure.

Here’s what I read in 2018 in chronological order. First, the best. Then, the rest.

God moves in two directions: toward himself in holiness and toward his people in righteousness.

Jesus is not only the Sage we need; he’s the Savior we need. The wisdom of God is more than just right thinking; it’s the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love.

A wise community says so much about the person and work of God because a wise community shows this foolish world what shalom looks like, what true peace is.

The wisdom we need does not rise up from within us; it comes down from the wise God above as we seek him out. God offers his wisdom from his book for his people.