Discover the profound biblical mystery of why Jesus appeared in disguise to His followers after the resurrection and what this teaches us about His constant presence. Learn how to recognize and respond with gratitude to God's quiet presence, even in the midst of life's greatest challenges.

“Look how united America was!” “Good people around the world stood against tyranny.” “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” “That’s why they call it the greatest generation!” “Scientific innovation reached new and deadly heights.” “The military industrial complex was born.” World War II was such a vast and multifaceted historical phenomenon that modern people refer to it regularly. Some references are positive. Some are negative. The same is true of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. Yair Zakovitch isn’t exaggerating when he says, “No other event in the history of Israel is given so much attention by biblical writers as is the exodus—as many as one hundred and twenty references in a variety of literary genres.” The Psalter probably tops the leaderboard with dozens of allusions to Exodus across 23 psalms. These allusions occur for various reasons. Some positive. Some negative. Here are five reasons that Israel’s psalmists recollect or allude to the book of Exodus. Praising God’s Work Six psalms allude to events or words from Exodus in order to praise the Lord (Pss. 66; 103; 105; 135; 136; 145). For example, Psalm 105:24–43 retells Exodus 1–15 and ends like this: “He brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing” (105:43). Why retell the Exodus story? So that worshipers will follow suit: “Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” (v. 2). Other praise psalms reuse the Lord’s self-description from Exodus 34:6–7 to extol his character. For example, David proclaims in Psalm 103:8, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (see also 145:8). Challenging God’s People Five psalms use Exodus to challenge worshipers to faithfulness (Pss. 15; 32; 81; 95; 114). Sometimes this involves legal material, like when Psalm 15:5 uses keywords from Exodus 22:25 and 23:7–8 to describe an ideal worshiper “who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.” Sometimes this involves recounting events in Exodus like Psalm 95’s reference to the “test” at Meribah (vv. 8–9; Ex.17:7). Psalmists recognized that Exodus conveys not only a record of the Lord’s deliverance (Ex. 1–15) but also the covenantal way of life into which he delivers the redeemed (Ex. 16–40). Seeking God’s Intervention Five psalms of lament employ Exodus material as they wrestle with God in their suffering (Pss. 10; 17; 77; 80; 86). Lament psalms usually contain five components visualized in the acronym GRIEF: God’s name is called on Reasons for suffering are listed Innocence or confession of sin is asserted Escape from suffering is sought Faith is expressed (usually at the end) Sometimes psalmists refer to Exodus in the fourth section (Escape) as if to say, Lord, you delivered then . . . so please do it again (Pss. 17; 80). Psalm 17:7 does this when it uses the keywords “wonder,” “steadfast love,” and “right hand” from Exodus 15:11–13 to plead, “Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.” Other times, the concluding section of the laments (Faith) uses words from Exodus (Pss. 10; 77). For example, Psalm 10:16’s confession of faith mimics the end of the Song of the Sea (Ex. 15:18) when it proclaims, “The LORD is king forever and ever.” Comforting God’s People Three psalms teach worshipers how God protects his people by alluding to his sovereign care displayed in Exodus (Pss. 18; 91; 118). Psalm 91:11 famously says, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways,” and uses the keywords “keep” and “angel” from Exodus 23:20’s promise of protection for redeemed Israel. Psalm 118 recounts how the psalmist was “falling” (v. 13) but then the Lord helped him: “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (v. 14). The keywords “strength,” “song,” and “salvation” come from Exodus 15:2, where the Israelites nearly fell and then the Lord intervened. The psalmists wanted believing worshipers to take comfort that the God of Exodus is with them. Responding to God’s Correction Four psalms explore the “shadow side” of the events of the exodus (Pss. 42; 78; 88; 106). Two are known as historical psalms (78; 106) because they retell large swaths of Israel’s history. Unlike the other positive historical psalms (105; 135–136), Psalms 78 and 106 remember Israel’s sinful responses to God’s mighty acts (78:17; 106:13). The psalmists wanted believing worshipers to take comfort that the God of Exodus is with them. Psalm 78 recollects these dark memories so God’s people will remember his mercy in the present and future (vv. 6–8). Psalm 106 recalls the sinful past to plead with God to do what he did in Exodus: deliver his people even when they don’t deserve it (vv. 44–47). In two other psalms, the psalmists characterize themselves as recipients of God’s discipline in ways that remind them of how God treated his enemies in Exodus (Ps. 42; 88). For example, the psalmist says tears, not daily bread (Ex. 16), are his “food” (literally, “bread”) all day, every day (Ps. 42:3). Instead of God’s enemies being covered with the deep waters (Ex. 15:5), God’s enemies are taunting the psalmist (Ps. 42:10) while he tumbles in the deep waters (v. 7). Delight in Christ’s Person and Work Unsurprisingly, the New Testament portrays Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection as what Greg Lanier calls “a new Exodus event” (see Luke 9:31). The psalmists beheld the first exodus, and now believers can follow their gaze from the first exodus to the new exodus it foreshadowed. Therefore, cross-shaped believers can relate to God in praise, worship, and lament in all five ways outlined above. According to Psalm 118, we cling to the work of Christ in the cross and resurrection as our ongoing strength, song, and salvation. Following the gaze of Psalm 105, we praise God for his unparalleled saving work through the cross and resurrection. Following the gaze of Psalm 15, we see the cross and resurrection as fuel for a new, ethical way of life by the Holy Spirit. Following the gaze of Psalm 17, we weave the message of the cross into our laments as we identify with Jesus’s suffering and take heart that our greatest enemy was defeated through his suffering. According to Psalm 118, we cling to the work of Christ in the cross and resurrection as our ongoing strength, song, and salvation. Psalm 106 teaches us that we should acknowledge when we don’t remember the cross rightly, even as, following the gaze of Psalm 42, we trust that the floodwaters of God’s wrath engulfed the Lord Jesus in our stead.

“I understand that this is an awkward time in the semester to tell you this, and quite frankly, I feel ashamed writing this email.” I typed this sentence in a convenience-store parking lot as I sat next to one of my spiritual mentors. These words were a confession to my sophomore physics professor. The paragraphs that followed detailed how I’d grown convicted of copying assignments and shortcutting work all semester (just like most of my peers). Further, I shared that I had dishonored Christ, I would accept any disciplinary consequences, and I would seek to redeem myself in the spring. Pretty normal Thursday, right? Unfortunately not. In the age of AI, students are increasingly turning to cheating to coast through school. Even at a prestigious university like the one I attended, it’s common to see classmates in lecture halls citing points produced by ChatGPT or retrieving article summaries from Copilot. Others produce full-length essays in Gemini that are modified by “humanizers” to avoid plagiarism detection. Students can even outsource their exams using automated test-taking software. Amid this generational transformation in information technology, Gen Zers struggle to choose integrity. The virus is widespread. Students in every academic setting face the temptation of sidestepping the mundanity of learning. As a result, schooling becomes less about embracing failure and growth and more about how well you can prompt Claude. Perhaps worst of all, students’ seared consciences accept academic cheating as the new normal. Everyone’s doing it, we say to ourselves, so why feel bad? Fellow students, we need to wake up. Culturally acceptable cheating is a sin that must be dealt with. As a recent graduate and fellow cheater in desperate need of redeeming grace, I want to share some hard-learned lessons that can set you free from guilt and the temptation to cheat. Count the Cost The trial quickly became an inflection point of costly Christian obedience in my life. If I received a disciplinary mark on my transcript, I’d be disqualified from the career I’d spent many sleepless nights studying to attain. Sure, I could repent of the sin, but risking my future? Unrealistic. But as my mentor and I prayed in the car, I realized that Jesus was worth more than all my efforts, reputation, and career aspirations combined. I was reminded of Jesus’s commands and his promises: Whoever doesn’t hate his own life and bear his cross cannot be Jesus’s disciple (Luke 14:26); anyone who leaves house or lands for Jesus’s sake and the gospel will receive a hundredfold in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life (Mark 10:29–30); and Jesus is the treasure worth selling everything to gain (Matt. 13:44–46; Phil. 3:8). Repentance may be costly if you’ve been cheating. You may lose reputation, opportunities, and future success. Rest in knowing that Jesus holds all things––even your life––in his hand. And on the other side of repentance, you get more of him. Ruthlessly Pursue Integrity Following my email, I went through several weeks of an academic trial with my university’s honor council. The repeated question asked of me was “Why turn yourself in?” The answer I’d often give is that our standard for holiness is Jesus Christ, not what the world calls “normal.” Because Christ protected his integrity to the point of shedding blood (Heb. 12:4), I’m free to imitate him in my work. That meant putting to death anything in me that desired to shortcut my academics. I’m not saying all AI usage is bad—I use AI regularly to organize, schedule, answer random questions, and even brainstorm. But in wisdom, we must aim at what’s honorable before God and our professors (2 Cor. 8:21) and work honestly instead of maintaining the mere image of godliness (2 Tim. 3:5). Above all, we should seek to work diligently at the tasks God has given to us, even if they’re difficult (Col. 3:23). You cannot keep your integrity in your own strength. When I was on trial, I couldn’t naturally crucify my pride in my academic image. I couldn’t resist the continued temptation to cheat by mere willpower. You cannot do this apart from Jesus. So allow Christ, not ChatGPT, to shoulder the burden of your work. He’ll give you all the strength you need. Train for Life AI is reshaping our souls before we even realize it. It begins with the constant stream of reels and brain-rot memes that erode our attention spans and exacerbate mental health issues. This addiction to ease makes the temptation of AI nearly irresistible; in the coming years, it’ll only become easier to offload our effort to an algorithm. Repentance may be costly if you’ve been cheating. But on the other side of repentance, you get more of Christ. However, each time we cheat the process, we aren’t just saving time; we’re training our neural highways to bypass toil rather than endure it. By avoiding the struggle, we lose the capacity for trial and error, conflict resolution, and failure. On the university campus where I serve, I see students increasingly wrecked by anything that cracks the polished image they hold up for the world. In a comfort-saturated culture, we must push back. We’re called to discipline our bodies and train ourselves for lifelong godliness (1 Tim. 4:7; 1 Cor. 9:27). As Christian students, you’re free to wield AI as a tool, but your hearts must be tuned to the sacred work of failing and persevering by faith. The way you honor Jesus in your classwork now will set you up for all of life. Be Loved by the Church The week of my confession, my pastor invited me to confess my sin to our congregation at an evening service. I was terrified of being perceived as the sinner I pretended not to be. But God gave me strength, and afterward, I was approached by a girl at a nearby university who was also struggling with cheating in her physics class. After her, a woman in her 70s came up to me and reminded me of God’s love and told me this was once her story too. And a young couple shared their struggle with financial integrity, saying my confession encouraged them to bring their sin into the light. The way you honor Jesus in your classwork now will set you up for all of life. What that night revealed to me is that in my lowest moment, not only did I need Christ, but I also needed the church. And friend, you need the church too. We need to see other people’s repentance and to encourage them with our own. We need to invite others to speak into our struggles, whether AI usage or something else. Your brothers and sisters in Christ will not see you as the world does—instead, they’ll help you toward heaven. Be known and loved by the young, old, married, single, widowed, sick, joyful, and sorrowful. We cannot handle AI––or any other temptation––otherwise. Find Joy in Obedience After a few months of trial, the honor council delivered its verdict. It came as a private letter and was destroyed at graduation. The transcript possessed a simple reflection: “Zach became a Christian more or less a year ago . . . and admitted his errors because he wanted to honor Christ.” Joyfully cross-bearing for Jesus displays his worth before a comfort-loving culture that mocks costly obedience. Let your light shine boldly before others, so that even when they speak against you, they may see your good deeds and glorify God (1 Pet. 2:12; Matt. 5:16).

New Year’s Day is a day of resetting hearts.

Waiting on God’s promises can feel long and lonely. This prayer encourages you to hold on when hope is wearing thin—trusting that God is faithful to fulfill what He has spoken, even in the waiting.