When Deliverance Seems Too Good to Be True

The Psalmist declares, "The LORD hath done great things for us," celebrating Israel's return from Babylonian captivity. Their liberation was so extraordinary that the people scarcely believed it themselves—they felt as men awakening from a dream, uncertain whether their deliverance was real or mere imagination. Thomas Taylor, the Puritan scholar, identified four reasons their joy overwhelmed their faith: First, the bondage had been so prolonged and severe that escape seemed impossible.…