speaker-0: counseling from the crook in the lot on this edition of Truth in Love. Daniel Johnson and you're listening to Truth in Love, a podcast of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors where we seek to provide biblical solutions to the problems that people face. This week I'm on the podcast with Tim Keeter and I'm delighted that he is here with us. He's been training counselors for over two decades and is certified by ACBC since 2001. Tim and his wife Carmen have five children, two by marriage and one grandson. Congratulations, brother, on that. He's retired aerospace engineer and serves at Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama. I love Tim. Tim, I'm grateful that you're with me today. Looking forward to our time together. Now we're going to talk about Thomas Boston. We had a really good time at our conference last year in 2025, and this was one of the breakouts that you shared with us. I thought it was exceptional and wanted to circle back to talk about it. And so we're talking about Peartons. We're talking about Thomas Boston.

speaker-1: Thanks, Dale. Same here.

speaker-0: And I want you to first just give us some introduction to this book that Thomas Boston wrote, and it's called The Crook and the Lot. Lots of people may have heard of it, but maybe they don't know some of the content. So talk a little bit about the book itself and then a little bit about what the title means.

speaker-1: It was such a blessing just to go back and revisit this book. And as counselors, think many of us will agree that there's so much applicability here, whether we use the book in counseling or whether we just share and leverage the insights that Boston gives us. The title, The Crook and the Lied, is not really the kind of language we use a lot today, but his subtitle, Like a Lot of Good Puritans, is very helpful. it's, What to Believe in Our Lot in Life is Not Health, Wealth, and Happiness. What I like is Boston doesn't dance around the hard questions here. He takes on what it's like to be stuck in a trial that may never go away in a lifetime. And he calls these trials a crook in our lot, where the lot is basically just the course of events that the Lord sets in each person's life through his providence. And a crook is when God, according to his will and good pleasure, introduces some kind of trial or circumstance that Boston describes as falling out crossways to us or against the grain of what we would like. And he's very familiar. with that type of thing in his own life and to those who he ministered. And I just love that this is a very pastoral book. He reminds us that all believers, everyone listening, everyone in our church families come with a crook. But because of God's mercy, nobody's lot is wholly crooked. And that's God's grace and kindness. So in our short time, I just kind of want to sort of tease out some excerpts from the amazing content of this book in hopes that you'll dig deeper.

speaker-0: Yeah, so I want to get into some of the highlights. But first, even based on the introduction that you just gave, I think what Boston is doing is he's helping us to set reality of the world that we live in after the fall. And we have a tendency to want to look for answers in our own crookedness and how we explain those. And you know what? In the modern sense, we're looking in all sorts of places. And the reason I love the content of what Boston is describing and what you're getting at here is He's resetting the reality of our experiences within the drama told from Scripture, within the setting of a God who is sovereign, within the setting of a God who oversees and has intimate providence with His creation. We're going to get into some of that, so I'm looking forward to this. How about some highlights relative to the book itself? And then where does Boston take us first? This is set from... a concept we see in the book of Ecclesiastes. So I want you to give a little backdrop here with some highlights.

speaker-1: Yeah, absolutely. He has three main chapters and each chapter exegetes a different passage. And I love that he starts in Ecclesiastes 7.13, which says, consider the work of God, for who can make straight what he has made crooked? And I think 14 is important too. He says, in the day of prosperity, be happy, but in the day of adversity, consider God has made the one as well the other. And that's a great place to begin and it's instructive for us. Boston, Texas, write to the Father. It's just a good example. And it's not some basic Christian platitude either. Like you said, he's examining the world of the fall and he is not apologizing or soft delivering what is a paramount important thing for us. If we can't resolve this in our hearts, then we won't get very far after that. Of course, we need to be sensitive to where counselors are starting from with their spiritual maturity, how weighty their circumstances, how long it's been going on, their condition. But we don't want to apologize like Boston for what is actually a source of great encouragement and peace for every believer, ⁓ God himself and his divine holy sovereignty. Cause when we acknowledge that along with the truths of his character, this is a very comforting step right out of the gate. And he says, for example, whatever is the crook in your lot, it is of God's making. And therefore you may look upon it kindly since it is your father who has made it for you. Question not that there's a favorable design. and it towards you. And so I think for us, it's helpful to not skip past this step and just state it and move on. We want them to regularly and continually get their eyes off themselves and on the Lord. God has done this, and everything He does is good and right.

speaker-0: Yeah, the truths that you're expounding are so critical, but I love the way that you're encouraging us to do this with a slow roll, understanding the context of the individual, but not allowing that context to take such dominance that it redefines reality. Because honestly, Tim, I see that happening so much, but what Boston is doing is he's trying to always set our context within the greater context, as you mentioned, turning back to the Father and what the Father is doing, even in this know, crookedness, the situation that we find ourselves in. Now, I'm just going to read the rest of this passage because I want you to talk about it a little bit more from Ecclesiastes 7.13. And this is what the Scripture says, consider the work of God. Who can make straight what He has made crooked? Now, some people read that, think about that, and they're like, man, how do we get encouragement out of something like this? Because I'm wanting encouragement, especially when, you know, the concept of the crookedness is that things aren't going exactly the way maybe I had hoped or wanted or desired. How am I supposed to take encouragement, something like that? Talk about how Boston really instructs us to take encouragement from that truth in Ecclesiastes 7.13.

speaker-1: Yeah, of course. And that's a natural follow on to the first part of that verse, right? He sets out to help us see that striving against what God has decreed is foolishness. We want to align our efforts and align our responses to what God has lovingly and wisely and providentially put into our lives, not work against them. And so he says instead, we should busy ourselves by presuming faithful obedience in the trial. And the theology is obvious here. God's sovereignty and His power, if He's decreed it, you can't change it. So His counsel is very straightforward. Silence our sinful strivings, He says, our anxieties and our complaints. He says, God has... I just love that He goes here. He says, God has done us no wrong had He made the whole of our lives crooked all the time. We have no basis to complain, is what He's saying about it. But instead... be content, be satisfied with the Lord, even when relief has not come when we want it to. And what that does is drives us to the discipline of confidently waiting on the Lord. Boston says, God made it, surely He can mend it. There's nothing too hard for Him to do. So the follow on thought is if God can really mend it, readily mend it, and He has not done so, then Boston says, your crook is necessary for you. And I'm sort of quoting Luke Priolo here and how he addresses 1 Corinthians 10 13. says, for as long as God has you in that crook, your safest and happiest place is obedience in the trial. So we help them to ask, for example, you what is this trial or how I'm responding to it reveal about me as a worshiper? So we realign their efforts. How am I falling short? And I love the way he explains that every heart has a measure of corruption. And some of that lies kind of near the surface and it's readily exposed. And these are the easiest for me and those around me to notice. So For example, perhaps I'm too self-focused on my agendas, so the Lord gives me a short crook to bring quickly to the surface and maybe it looks like me being impatient with others or my family members. And that's a short one. But He says other areas lie very deep and they're wholly unnoticed by us. So a severe or lengthy trial is what's needed to slowly bring it to the surface and into the light. I like that perspective because we should be grateful for that. I have to ask, is becoming more like my Savior more important? than my relief. And God doesn't just have purpose in the trial, but even in the endurance and the time of that trial and how long it lasts. And just to have a heavenward perspective, Boston kind of wraps that up by saying, there are many now in heaven who are blessing God for the crooks they had in their lot here.

speaker-0: Even the way that you frame that last part, Tim, I think is so counter-cultural to us. We want the easy relief. And listen, I'm a fan of relief. I think you're probably a fan of relief. But the reality is, do we treasure that more than what God is doing in our life? And are we willing to run to something superficial for relief rather than seeing what God is doing in the straightening of us? Because that is the glorious thing when we behold Him face to face and we see ourselves change from one degree of glory to another. And really, if that's Boston's aim, which it is, that's why he's doubling down on this providence of the Lord and what the Lord is doing, what you're trying to describe here that I think is so critical. And it is very unnatural to us in our human disposition, but I think this is the biblical teaching and right, and I think Boston helps us to think through this. Now, as I mentioned before, you did a conference message on this. You did a breakout and I want to encourage you guys to go to our website, find that breakout, you can listen to the whole thing. And Boston has a lot to say on this topic. We're just touching a few of these things, and I'm hoping that this will encourage you not just to go listen to Tim's talk, but also to read Boston. think reading things like this is such an encouragement, so helpful to hear the Scriptures expounded in this way that's so countercultural to us. But in that talk, your breakout, Tim, you talk about a lot of things that exceed Ecclesiastes 7.13, talk about a lot more points that Boston tries to make. Maybe in the few minutes we have left, talk about a couple more of those, even one passage or one concept to give us a little bit more insight there.

speaker-1: Absolutely. So he finishes the book with 1 Peter 5-6 and it doesn't disappoint. saves the big one for the end, in my opinion, after he's already set up the rest. And 1 Peter 5, the apostle is addressing the duties of elders toward the flock and the duties of the flock toward the elders and towards one another. And to accomplish this, he writes, all of you clothe yourself with humility towards one another for God as opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. And really, if you zoom out, This theme of humility just oozes throughout the entire book. And then verse six comes, says, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may lift you or exalt you at the proper time. Now it might be just because this is the final chapter, but this imagery weighed heaviest on me after I finished the book, pun intended. It has the biggest impact on my own thinking and response to trouble in my life. And just a couple brief points that he does a masterful job explaining in more detail. He says, we find ourselves in a low state, we are to pursue humility. And there's a second person in this. says, humble yourselves. And this is necessary so that we get the maximum benefit out of what God has designed for us. And it's not just God's hand, he points out, it's God's mighty hand that holds us there. So we have no better choice than to humble ourselves, to wait for the Lord's perfect timing, to lean on our brothers, sisters in Christ, and pursue faithful obedience. And it comes with a promise. He will exalt or lift us in due time. And we don't know how much humility we need in each trial, perhaps a little bit, perhaps a lot over a long period of time, perhaps for the remainder of our lives here on earth, but God knows. And if not in this life, we know that in eternity, everyone is lifted forever out of their trials. what comes next? Verse seven, your father loves you. And he says, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. He may lift you at the proper time. casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

speaker-0: Yeah, what a great way to end that concept is one of the things that I see consistently is where are we trusting or where are we placing our dependence? And I think what Boston is saying is like, biblically, this is very uncomfortable place, but this is a really good place to entrust ourselves fully to the Lord. And this is what distinguishes biblical counseling, honestly. This is what distinguishes biblical care, biblical shepherding, biblical discipleship is when we're dealing with life's issues, We're not trying to find ways to empower the self or to dismiss the crookedness that we see in our life. We're trying to address it head on, humbling ourselves, and then making ourselves as dependent upon the Lord as possible. And sometimes that's waiting in what the Lord might do. Sometimes we don't see that fully realized in this life. We have a future hope where the Lord says, Revelation 21.5, He will make all things new. But that's the reality is we're getting to a place where we find ourselves at the mercy of Christ, most dependent upon Him, which really is, as Boston would describe, our safest, best place. Tim, thanks for introducing us to Boston, this concept of crook in the lot, and how he expounds on some of that. So thanks for being with us today.

speaker-1: Thank you, Dale, my pleasure.

speaker-0: You're listening to Truth in Love, a podcast of ACBC. As a certifying organization, we would love for you to join us and become a certified member. So pastor, church member, I would encourage you to consider becoming a certified member of ACBC going through that three-phase process, which is dedicated to equipping believers in the practice of intensive discipleship with others. Phase one consists of fundamentals training, reading, and some counseling observation. Phase two then provides an opportunity to apply those things that you've learned through written theology and counseling exam. And then phase three begins a process of exercising the knowledge that you've gained by counseling under the supervision of one of our own ACBC fellows. And honestly, this is my favorite part of the process where we get one-on-one discipleship with somebody who's been doing counseling for a long time. This process is set up to where you can go at your own pace within with in-person and online options. So if you're interested, please visit us for all those options at biblicalcounseling.com.