“Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” Psalm 31:5
I want to tell you about my dear friend Stephen Troell. Stephen was passionate about the gospel and eventually moved his family to Baghdad, Iraq, where he taught English and served the people he had grown to love. He lived there for years with his wife and children, building relationships, learning the culture, and living out the gospel through the ordinary rhythms of daily life. On November 7, 2022, Stephen’s life was taken by evil men while driving home from work. His wife was beside him. If you want to read a tribute to the kind of man Stephen was, I would encourage you to visit Scott Pauley’s memorial at enjoyingthejourney.org.
Stephen’s life and death have stayed with me as I’ve studied this week’s scriptures. Each passage asks the same question from a different perspective: Where do God’s people belong? The Psalm says God is our fortress. Jesus says he is preparing rooms. In Acts, Stephen sees heaven standing open. And Peter says we are being built into something together, right now. For a dear friend like Stephen Troell, who lived far from home for the sake of the gospel, these passages carried a weight that goes beyond the surface. They describe the place where every believer already belongs, whether comfortable or in danger, whether at home or six thousand miles from it.
Psalm 31:1–5, 15–16
God as Refuge
“In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.” (v. 1)
David writes as a man under threat. He uses the language of architecture: rock, fortress, refuge. These are places you go when you are exposed and vulnerable. David goes to God. The most striking line in this passage is verse 5: “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” Jesus spoke these very words from the cross (Luke 23:46). David wrote them as a prayer for survival. Jesus prayed them as he entered death. The same sentence, spoken in two different moments, shows us how the gospel fills old words with new meaning. David trusted God’s hand to hold him through danger. Jesus trusted the Father’s hand to hold him through death itself and out the other side. The dwelling place here is still metaphorical, still a hiding spot in a storm. But the words David chose turned out to be bigger than he could have imagined.
John 14:1–14
The Father’s House
“In my Father’s house are many mansions (rooms). If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (v. 2)
Jesus speaks to his disciples on the night before his crucifixion. Their hearts are troubled. He tells them something specific: the Father has a house, the house has rooms, and he is going to prepare a place for them. The refuge David described in Psalm 31 was a hiding place in time of trouble. Jesus reveals that the refuge has a permanent address. And Jesus himself is the way to get there: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (v. 6). When Philip asks to see the Father, Jesus answers with a claim that redefines how God is known: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (v. 9). The psalmist asked for God’s face to shine on his servant. In Jesus, that face has a name. The dwelling place has moved from metaphor to promise, and the promise comes with a Person attached to it.
Acts 7:55–60
Heaven Opened
“But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” (v. 55)
Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin and sees heaven opened. He sees the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. The place Jesus promised in John 14 is visible to him at the moment of his death. And Stephen, like Jesus, commits his spirit. Like Jesus, he prays for the forgiveness of his killers. What Jesus promised, Stephen received. What Jesus modeled, Stephen practiced. There is a straight line from David’s prayer (“into your hand I commit my spirit”), to Jesus’ use of that prayer on the cross, to Stephen’s prayer at his stoning (“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”). Each generation of faith picks up the same words and speaks them into a new situation, trusting the same God who has been revealed with increasing clarity. Stephen is the first person in the narrative of Acts to walk through the door Jesus described. The prepared place is receiving its first guest.
1 Peter 2:2–10
Living Stones
“You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (v. 5)
Peter writes to scattered believers and tells them they are being built into a spiritual house. Christ is the living stone the builders rejected. Believers are living stones being assembled around him. The refuge of Psalm 31, the prepared rooms of John 14, and the opened heaven of Acts 7 all converge here in the present tense. The church, right now, is the dwelling place of God. And the people who make up this house were once outsiders: “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (v. 10). This is where the theme lands for us on a Sunday morning. We belong to this house. We have a role in it: a royal priesthood. And the cornerstone of the whole structure is the risen Christ, the same one David trusted, the same one who promised rooms in God’s house, the same one Stephen saw standing in glory.
Living Like We Belong
Stephen Troell committed his life to serving people in a place most of us would find too dangerous to consider. He did so because he believed the gospel was worth that kind of risk. His favorite quote was that of the Moravian missionaries who gave their lives centuries earlier: “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering.”
This week’s Scriptures trace a line from trust to promise to sight to identity. David trusted God as his fortress. Jesus promised rooms in the Father’s house. Stephen saw heaven opened as he died and entered into the promised dwelling place. Peter tells us we are already being built into that house as living stones. The practical question for each of us is direct: Are we living like people who belong to this household? Are we willing to take the risks that come with believing the risen Christ holds our days in his hand?
Stephen Troell and Stephen the martyr faced situations most of us will only read about. But the same Christ who held them holds us. The same house they entered is the house we are being built into today. The gospel calls us to commit our spirits into the hand of God each morning and to live the rest of the day as though we meant it. That looks different for every person. For some, it means stepping into a hard conversation. For others, it means serving in an overlooked role at church. For still others, it may mean going somewhere uncomfortable because that is where God’s people are needed. Whatever it looks like for you, the foundation is the same: Christ the cornerstone, the way to the Father, the one who stands ready to receive every spirit committed to his care.
Points to Ponder
1. Psalm 31:15 says “My times are in your hand.” What would it look like for you to live this week as though you believed that?
2. Jesus told his disciples he was going to prepare a place. How does the certainty of a future home shape the way you handle uncertainty today?
3. Stephen saw heaven opened at the moment of his death. How does his example challenge the way you think about faithfulness under pressure?
4. Peter says believers are “living stones” being built into a spiritual house. What is your specific role in the community of faith God has placed you in right now?
5. Stephen Troell often quoted the Moravian missionaries: “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering.” What would it mean for your daily life to be oriented around the reward of Christ rather than your own comfort?
A Prayer
Father, we thank you that you are our rock and our fortress. We thank you that your Son Jesus has prepared a place for us in your house and that he himself is the way to get there. We ask you to give us the courage of Stephen, who saw heaven opened and trusted you with his final breath. Build us together as living stones into a house that honors your name. Teach us to commit our spirits into your hand each day, knowing that our times belong to you. We pray for the families of those who have given their lives in the service of your gospel. Sustain them with the steadfast love that has held your people from the beginning. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone. Amen.
Concluding Verse
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
Josh Cehulik 