What the Bible Says About Periods

Comfort

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August 4, 2026

The female body is a beautiful part of God’s design. Many in the Church may not feel comfortable thinking about how the menstrual cycle demonstrates this and without taking a careful look at the whole of God’s word, we can miss what he has to teach us through the cycles of women.

To do that, we must look back to the ancient laws and cultural views that shaped how women — and their menstrual cycles — were perceived.

The Law and Our Bodies

The law of Moses states that women are unclean during their periods. Numbers 5:2 (NIV) says:

“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.”

The discharge would have included women on their periods.

As a woman and an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach specializing in hormonal health, I’ll be honest with you: reading this in Numbers or Leviticus 15, it can be hard to believe the design of the female body is a beautiful gift:

“When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.

“Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean.”
— Leviticus 15:19-20 (NIV)

Hard to read, isn’t it? Those considered unclean were separated from God’s presence and their community. They were sent to the outskirts of town and could return to fellowship with God’s people only after waiting their allotted time, undergoing a cleansing ritual, and offering a sacrifice.

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As I work with women, I have had to wrestle with this passage. I believe we are in fact being invited by the Lord to view the female body as a beautiful, God-given vessel that has been intentionally and wonderfully made (see Psalm 139:14), even during menstruation. But in looking at these passages, where is God in all of this? How could our periods possibly be worth celebrating? And even scarier, does he see women as gross and unclean?

Where It All Went Wrong

Within Genesis 3, we are presented with the consequences of Eve’s actions: pain and suffering. Every human faces this on a daily basis, but women specifically have a bodily consequence:

To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
— Genesis 3:16 (NIV)

I’d love to say, “Thanks, girl!” with an eye roll, but if I really think about it, I cannot say I would not have eaten that fruit either.

Many have called periods “the curse” as a result of this passage and how the monthly shedding of the uterine lining prepares a woman’s body to carry children in the cycle ahead.

There is a running theme in the Bible of women in pain, from Hagar in Genesis 16 and Naomi in the book of Ruth within the Old Testament to the woman with the issue of blood in Matthew 9 in the New. Emotional and physical pain are not foreign experiences for us. It seems unfair — but there’s a beautiful story here that points straight to Jesus and his redemption.

The Blood Shed for Us

Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice, and through his blood that was shed, he brought forth new life. Like our cycles, and much like birth, it was the shedding of blood for the bringing of new life. Who can better relate to us than the one who bled for you and me? God humbled himself to be born in a stable, screaming and covered in blood from a woman’s body. He would go on to heal women and girls, never afraid of becoming unclean by their touch, but healing them physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Hebrews 13:11–13 perfectly captures the beauty, awesomeness, and grace of Jesus:

“The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.”

Jesus not only saw our pain but took it upon himself and joined us in it — so when we retreat to the lonely corners, the isolated spaces, or the places we think no one else would ever follow, we find him already there, waiting to restore us.

Imaging the God Who Came to Make Us Clean Again

Here’s an invitation to see your menstrual cycle in a different light: as a representation of God’s selfless, redeeming love. In fact, God redefines the world’s perception of love and cleanliness. While the world defines our period as gross and unclean, God sees it as a sacred, divine reflection of his grace, power, and healing.

And let’s not forget that one of Jesus’ favorite things is rest. Though the ancient Israelite women were sent to the outskirts, they were invited to rest. They were given a space to be joined in community, encouraging and supporting one another in their discomfort. Would it not be such an encouragement to have downtime with your girlfriends when you are feeling vulnerable and in discomfort? At a time in the ancient Near East when women were not valued, God created space for them to rest and be supported and loved by one another.

And for us today, how kind of the Father not only to prepare a place for them to decompress but to be there with us, ministering to us in our most vulnerable moments too.

The God Who Sees You

My sisters in Jesus, the ways you’ve been neglected and the pain you feel are valid. There’s a lot we’re up against — from the unnecessary opinions of others, to toxic ideologies about women, to the lack of representation in the medical field. The road to change can feel like walking up a downward escalator.

Over the years, I’ve received many messages from women expressing their deep frustration, hopelessness, and even grief over how their bodies have been misunderstood or dismissed. I’ve sat with women at the end of their rope and held their pain with them. Some have carried these wounds for decades, and others are just now finding the language to describe what they’ve been through.

But together, with Jesus at the center, we can be the ones to say enough is enough. Jesus’ love is the catalyst for change — the love of “the God who sees me,” as Hagar named the Lord in her deepest pain (Genesis 16:13 NIV). And he sees you, too.

In Holy and Hormonal: A Faith-Filled Guide to Understanding Your Body and the God Who Designed You, you’ll discover how you can go with the flow of your body’s monthly cycle through physical and spiritual practices that put Christ at the center of your health.

It’s time to get off the hormonal roller coaster and take back your life. Befriend your body — and the God who designed it — through this one-of-a-kind guide.

August 2026 Bible News Roundup

Bible Gateway

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August 3, 2026

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Here is your source for all the latest Bible-related and Bible-adjacent news from the month of August 2026 — from archaeological discoveries and academic research to cultural events and conversations, developments in the global church, and more. Click the link in each story to view the original source(s).

Updated throughout the month.

Week of August 2

Visual Commentary Pairs Scripture With Art Across the Ages — August 4: King’s College London’s online Visual Commentary on Scripture combines theology, art history, and biblical scholarship, pairing Scripture with high-resolution works from around the world and throughout Christian history, by everyone from famous artists like Rembrandt and Caravaggio to unknown craftsmen. Its new Bible and Art Daily newsletter delivers artwork and audio Scripture commentary. (Religion Unplugged)
Africa’s Children Called World’s Fastest-Growing Mission Field — August 4: Africa’s population is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, including vast numbers of children. Gen Alpha already represents 35.6% of Nigeria, while Africa’s overall Christian population has surpassed 700 million. Amid poverty, conflict, displacement, and limited biblical teaching, evangelism organizations see an extraordinary opportunity for local believers to share the gospel and provide discipleship. (Christian Daily)
New Approach to Deaf Bible Translation Launches With Book of Esther — August 3: Deaf translators from six countries are using the Book of Esther to test a shared visual “sign roots” template designed to accelerate Scripture translation across hundreds of sign languages. Because Deaf people can understand up to 80% of a sign-roots presentation, local teams can more efficiently adapt it without changing the biblical meaning. The method could help bring Scripture to many of the world’s roughly 80 million Deaf people. (Baptist Press)
Ancient Cypriot Coin Illuminates Biblical-Era Trade at Ashdod — August 3: A rare 2,500-year-old Cypriot coin found on an Ashdod beach offers fresh evidence of maritime trade between Cyprus and the land of Israel during the Persian period. The coin’s silver-plated siglos features rams and Cypriot symbols. It’s the first of its kind discovered in Israel, and adds historical context to Ashdod, the prominent Philistine city associated with the captured Ark of the Covenant in 1 Samuel 5. (Biblical Archaeology Society; Christianity Daily)
Near-Death Research Raises Questions Science Can’t Easily Answer — August 3: Scientists studying cardiac-arrest survivors have documented remarkably consistent reports of consciousness continuing after the body appears to shut down, including encounters with light, deceased loved ones, and feelings of peace. The findings do not “prove” heaven, but they offer intriguing scientific evidence consistent with biblical belief in an afterlife, even if Scripture, not near-death testimony, remains the foundation of that hope. (RELEVANT)

Three Common Mistakes in Reading Religion Data, From Ryan Burge — August 1: First, public opinion changes much less quickly than headlines suggest, typically about 2.6 points annually. Second, personal experience can exaggerate the influence of specialized theological debates like dispensationalism. And third, Americans wildly overestimate small religious groups, guessing that Jews and Muslims constitute 25% and 20% of the population when the actual shares are about 1.5% and 1%, respectively. (Religion Unplugged)
Hundreds Commit to Long-Term Mission at Arise Asia — August 1: Arise Asia 2026 closed in Manila, Philippines, with 341 young leaders committing to long-term cross-cultural mission among unreached peoples. The five-day congress drew 4,278 participants from 64 countries under the theme “For the Joy,” from Hebrews 12:2. Organizers also launched a multilingual platform offering over 30 training, prayer, ministry, and mission opportunities to help turn the congress’s emotional momentum into sustained service. (Christian Daily)
Young UK Christians Sharing Faith With Confidence — August 1: A survey of 611 British Christians ages 18–34 found 85% had discussed Jesus with a non-Christian during the previous six months, while 74% believed people around them were receptive to faith conversations. The respondents were highly active in church: 93% attended at least weekly, 30% went several times a week, and more than half served on ministry or volunteer teams. (Christian Today)
Catch Up on July’s Bible News Stories — August 1: Don’t forget to catch up on all the biggest, strangest, and most inspiring Bible news stories of July 2026!

View news archives here.

Reading news about the Bible is great — but reading the Good News of the Bible is better! Bible Gateway Plus offers Study Bibles, commentaries, encyclopedias, and tons more resources to help you get more from God’s Word. Start your free trial today!

Why God Rests — and You Should, Too

Discipleship

Brett McCracken

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August 3, 2026

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Stillness makes many of us uncomfortable. To the optimization-minded, the pause of sleep can feel intrusive. We don’t like to be forced to stop. Yet God — who certainly had no need to stop — stopped. He had limitless capacity to keep going, doing, and creating, endlessly tinkering like an artist with an infinite canvas and infinite ideas. But he did stop. Genesis 2:2–3 makes this clear by mentioning no less than three times that God did not work on the seventh day.

Clearly this is an important idea. But why? What does it mean that God rested from his work? God doesn’t sleep or grow weary (Isa. 40:28). He doesn’t need anything, including rest. And yet Genesis 2 is clear. God chooses rest. How are we to understand the meaning of this divine seventh-day rest?

Rest Isn’t Just Good — It’s Holy

We can’t think of God’s rest as a powering down prompted by exhaustion. Nor can we think of it as an anticlimactic coda after the rollicking symphony of a six-day explosion of creativity. If anything God’s rest on the seventh day is the climax of the creation sequence described in Genesis 1, not an afterthought.

The first five days of creation God sees as good.

The sixth day’s creation of Adam and Eve he sees as very good.

The seventh day he blesses and makes holy.

The sequence goes from good to very good to holy. Here at the beginning of Scripture, at the beginning of human history, God elevates rest to the highest place, and this elevation persists as the biblical narrative progresses. He creates the day of rest for all humans “in order to point to the goal of human existence, namely, eschatological life with God.”¹

This hallowed seventh-day rest is not a postscript ending as much as a true commencement. Construction is complete, and creation can now be enjoyed in the presence of the Creator. Communion can commence. And even though it marks the seventh of seven days in a sequence, God’s rest here is more a beginning than an ending. It’s a thesis statement that sheds light on everything that follows in redemptive history.

On this first seventh day, God is enthroned and present with God’s people in God’s place. Eden is a place of perfect shalom — peace. All is well.

Rest and Restoration

Paradise is lost after the fall, however. The God-people-place harmony is broken. When Adam and Eve are banished from the garden (Gen. 3:23–24), human access to God’s rest is revoked.

Yet the story of Scripture is one of a gracious God pursuing his people by providing progressively richer foretastes and glimpses of his divine rest: deliverance from Egyptian captivity, the institution of the Sabbath, taking up residence in the promised land, and ultimately the victory of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, who is the solution for our restlessness and secures an eternal Sabbath rest for the people of God (Heb. 4:1–11).

On this first seventh day, God’s rest is the pinnacle of perfection: peace, security, beauty, joy. And in the “seventh day” of eternity described in the Bible’s closing book, God’s rest is once again the pinnacle of perfection: no more tears, pain, death, sadness; only communion with the creator God, who, as ever, is making all things new (Rev. 21:5).

God, once again and forevermore, will be enthroned and present with God’s people in God’s place. Eden is restored. A seventh-day rest that will never end, for all who are in him.

Rest as Holy Time

Redemptive history is, in many ways, a history of God’s rest and our relationship to it. In the fall, we lost access to God’s rest. And in the gospel, we gain eternal access to God’s rest.

In The Holiness of God, R. C. Sproul says, “The whole scope of redemptive history, from start to finish, is made sacred in the observance of the Sabbath,”² which points us back to God’s work of creation and redemption and forward to the inheritance achieved by that redemption: our future Sabbath rest in heaven. Another biblical scholar calls Sabbath “a microcosm of human history — creation, redemption, and consummation.”³ Every Sabbath in this life is a temporal glimpse of the permanent, eternal rest to come.

When God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, he introduced a sort of sacred time set apart from all other time. Abraham Heschel points out that nothing else in the creation account — no object or space — was deemed holy in the first chapter of Genesis. Only time was hallowed, the seventh day: “When history began, there was only one holiness in the world, holiness in time.”⁴

Heschel describes our keeping the Sabbath day as “a paraphrase of His sanctification of the seventh day.”⁵ Our observance of a holy Sabbath day is only the faintest glimpse of God’s holy rest, but it is still potent. It regularly reorients our lives around God and eternity, breaking the hold of temporal, passing things and stirring our hearts to long for home in him.

Echoes of the Rest Our Souls Desire

I think about the deep peace and rest I feel sitting on the sand watching the ocean waves near our home in Southern California. The comforting rhythms of unending waves — coming from an unfathomably vast, powerful ocean — provide me with a sublime assurance that one day I’ll be on heaven’s bright shore, enjoying the awesome power and ceaseless love of God up close, forever: wave after wave after wave — times infinity. I think about those Sundays of my childhood when, after singing “Wonderful Grace of Jesus” (or other classics from our Baptist hymnal), we’d enjoy a post-church potluck in the fellowship hall. In spite of imperfect singing and very imperfect casseroles, these moments unmistakably pointed me to the perfect to come.

So it goes with the holy moments in life, both on Sabbath and in every little gift of bountiful rest and precious peace, including a good sleep. These are echoes and paraphrases of the rest our restless souls so deeply desire.

Enter Into His Perfect Rest

To enter God’s rest is to enter the hallowed seventh-day place of security under God’s perfect rule; it is to be free of all that makes us rest-less. And what is it that makes us most restless? Our sin. Think of Adam and Eve in Eden. They had everything, including access to God’s rest. But their sin made them squirmy: ungrateful, untrusting, unsatisfied with God’s rule in God’s perfect place. They wanted more.

Sin is placing ourselves on the throne, assuming we can rule our lives better than God can. This is not only deadly, it’s exhausting. By contrast, living joyfully under God’s rule — being content with him on the throne — is where we find life and rest.

Rest is holy, ordered, and content in stark contrast to restlessness, which is often a product of unholiness, disorder, and discontentment. To trust God with all our hearts rather than leaning on our own understanding makes it easier to be both holy and rested. If we truly believe God is on the throne, sovereign and in control, having “overcome the world” (John 16:33) in spite of persisting troubles, we can rest easier.

Entering God’s perfect rest always goes hand in hand with acknowledging his perfect rule.

Adapted from The Wisdom of Sleep: How Rest Reveals God’s Truth and Revives Weary Souls by Brett McCracken (Zondervan, 2026).

In our age of hurry, productivity, and constant distraction, sleep is often treated as an inconvenient pause or means of self-optimization. We’ve forgotten the deeper, theological meaning of rest and the profound spiritual lessons we can learn from our God-given need for sleep.

Drawing from Scripture, science, cultural commentary, and personal reflections, Brett McCracken shows how sleep, rest, and Sabbath are not just necessary downtimes or missed opportunities to be productive–they are sacred practices that deepen our relationship with God, nurture our love for others, and bear witness to his grace.

The Wisdom of Sleep calls you to a higher view of this essential and holy part of our lives.

Footnotes

Guy Prentiss Waters, The Sabbath Rest and Hope for the People of God, Short Studies in Biblical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2022), 28. ↩︎
R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 1985), 261. ↩︎
Waters, Sabbath Rest, 31. ↩︎
Abraham Heschel, The Sabbath (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1951), 9. ↩︎
Heschel, Sabbath, 16. ↩︎

August 2026 Bible Verse Calendar

Bible Gateway

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July 31, 2026

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Here’s your Bible Gateway verse-of-the-day calendar for the month of August. Click each link below to read the verse in your preferred translation — or scroll to the bottom to download the image (or PDF) of all verse references.

You can also subscribe to get Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day right in your inbox every day — in your preferred translation (or multiple translations)!

Bible Gateway’s Verses of the Day for August

Day	Verse
1	Psalm 119:114
2	James 1:22
3	1 Samuel 16:7
4	Jeremiah 33:2–3
5	Psalm 119:130
6	Psalm 119:160
7	Isaiah 33:22
8	Psalm 149:4
9	Luke 12:6–7
10	Psalm 46:1
11	Psalm 119:14
12	1 Corinthians 6:19–20
13	Ephesians 2:10
14	Revelation 3:14, 20
15	Romans 14:8
16	2 Corinthians 7:1
17	2 Corinthians 10:17–18
18	Philippians 1:21
19	1 John 5:12
20	Psalm 16:8
21	Psalm 42:8
22	Romans 8:32
23	Psalm 94:18–19
24	Psalm 116:1–2
25	Psalm 119:165
26	Romans 12:4–5
27	Isaiah 26:3
28	John 6:29
29	Galatians 3:28
30	Ephesians 2:19
31	Psalm 95:6–7

Light for the Rest of Us: A Reflection on Psalm 119:130

Many of us carry a quiet assumption about Bible study: that real understanding belongs to other people. Pastors. Seminary graduates. People with shelves full of commentaries and years of training. We read, we try, and when a passage doesn’t open up, we conclude the problem is us.

Psalm 119:130 says otherwise:

“The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” (NKJV)

Notice who receives understanding in this verse. Not the scholar. Not the expert. The “simple.”

The Believer’s Bible Commentary — a trusted resource available with Bible Gateway Plus — draws out what that word really means:

“The entrance of the Word gives light, whether to nations, families, or individuals. We little realize the sanctifying influence it has had throughout the world. It gives understanding to those who acknowledge themselves to be simple and therefore in need of help.”

That’s an important distinction. “The simple” isn’t a label for the unintelligent — it describes those humble enough to admit they need help. In God’s economy, that admission isn’t a disqualification. It’s the doorway. The light doesn’t go to the ones who already know; it goes to the ones who ask.

Which means the quiet assumption — the one so many of us have about Bible study — has it backward. If you’ve ever felt underqualified to study Scripture deeply, this verse was written for you. The requirement was never expertise. It was openness.

With Bible Gateway Plus, study Bibles and commentaries like the Believer’s Bible Commentary — and many more — appear alongside the verses you’re reading, helping you understand not just what Scripture says, but what it means in context.

Start your free trial today to get access to dozens of study Bibles, dictionaries, commentaries, and other resources to go deeper into every aspect of God’s Word.

Calendar of daily Bible verses for August 2026

So, Who Crushes the Dragon-Snake?: Weird Stuff in the Bible, Part 3

Jeff Voth

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July 30, 2026

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So, Who Crushes the Dragon-Snake?: Weird Stuff in the Bible, Part 3

In my last article, I introduced a character that appears in the biblical narrative whom I described as the “Dragon-snake”. You may want to review it and get some of the background as to why I described him as such.

As you may have guessed, the Dragon-snake is in fact the crafty one — Satan, himself. And while he certainly steals the storyline from Adam, Eve, and potentially God in the first portion of Genesis 3 (vv. 1-13), he doesn’t get the last word — God does. In Genesis 3:15b, He states: “… he will crush your head …”. The “he” in 3:15b is none other than the One whom the Apostle John calls in John 1:1-5 (NIV), “The Word”:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Thankfully, Jesus is that Word, and John lets his readers know that He was there in the beginning, with God, for He was, is, and ever will be God Himself. There He is, the incarnation of the God of all the omnis, come to earth — all of His omni-power incarnated and physically present on the planet. That means that He is eternal and that no one, or no thing, can be before or after Him, or ever get the last word pertaining to Him. The Bible is His story, He is the Thesis of the entire narrative, and the reader must never forget that.

However, There Is the Dragon-Snake Problem

We can’t forget that in Genesis 3, although God has spoken, the Dragon-snake seems to have won the day — temporarily at least. The Maker of Days, the Ancient One Himself, cannot ever be outdone, for the Bible is His story and will be written and played out only as He decides. One cannot forget that in Genesis 3:15, He set things in order for the rest of the story by stating His thesis directly to the Dragon-snake’s face, while Adam and Eve are hiding shamefully in the bushes.

Weird Stuff in the Bible - Stream Now on Study Gateway - 7 Days Free

All of the great stories have a thesis, which simply put, is a central claim or argument that an author puts forward in an essay, paper, or story, then attempts to prove it throughout the body of his work. I believe that, in the greatest of all stories, the Bible, God has done this emphatically:

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring(seed) and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”
— Genesis 3:14–15 (NIV, my emphases)

There it is! The Dragon-snake will be cursed to crawl on his belly, not walking or flying anymore. There would also be “enmity,” or a murderous battle between the Dragon-snake and the woman. His head, now slithering in the dust, would be repeatedly crushed and ultimately obliterated by the Seed of the Woman. Yes, there would be an epic and bloody battle for thousands of years, but the Dragon-snake had been cursed and put on notice. He would not steal the storyline anymore, for the Author Himself had another plan and had prophesied a Heavenly end to the temporarily hellish story.

So, note that we will now be calling him the Serpent, not the Dragon-Snake, since dragons can fly, walk, and talk, and this one cannot do those things anymore. He has been cursed to be a lowly serpent. His fate would be to remain a slithering, dust-eating snake. Thus, we speak of and remember him merely as the Serpent.

The Rest of the Serpent-Crushing Story

The rest of the Bible is the playing out of this epic, serpent-crushing tale. It’s a tale that will consistently remind the Serpent and the reader that there is One who will ultimately come and eternally crush the dust eater. The Serpent-Crusher would be Jesus — the Thesis. He is the Seed of the Woman spoken of in Genesis 3, as well as the Light who outshines the darkness in John 1:1.

Yes, the Serpent, who is darkness incarnate, would attempt to drown out the Light throughout the annals of time, but he would never get the last word, for God had spoken and the slitherer was cursed to be crushed time and time again. Jesus, the Thesis, shows up to crush him in every book of the Bible, in every way imaginable, sometimes obvious and sometimes hidden, yet always reminding the readers of yesterday, today, and tomorrow that God has an ever-living plan to see His Thesis be proven over and over, again and again, for all eternity.

Serpent Crushing Highlights in the Old Testament

Scripture is filled with the stories of men and women who exercised their faith in the Serpent Crusher and would crush the Serpent in their own unique times and places, pointing to an ultimate, eternal crushing and life in a “country” where the faithful would live in a Serpent-free environment, wherein Jesus would make “…all things new” (Rev. 21:5). The Thesis would be fully realized and emphatically proven. The writer of Hebrews speaks of the faithful ones:

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13-16 NIV)

Some of the Serpent Crushers of the Old Testament were people like Abraham, who was called to go to a place he had never heard of and, by faith, enter into a covenant relationship with a God he did not yet know (see Genesis 12-25). He would perpetuate the Serpent Crushing seed of the woman to his seed — Isaac, Jacob, and their seed.

There was Joseph, kidnapped by his brothers and sold into slavery. Yet, by faith, he trusted God to crush the Serpent (see Genesis 37-50) and ultimately save his family and his nation. He would, by faith, perpetuate the Serpent Crusher’s seed to his seed.

Perhaps one of the most famous Serpent Crushers was King David. He would engage in an epic battle with Goliath, a serpent-like giant (see 1 Samuel 16-17), and not only crush his huge “hairy crown” (see Psalm 68:21) but cut it off, lift it up, and display it for all the world to see and give God glory. This was so profound an occurrence that Jesus would eventually be called “Son of David” (see Matt. 1:1, 21:9).

There is not enough space in this article to mention where in the other books of the Bible (all of them in my opinion), Jesus, the Thesis, makes appearances. For a larger list of those appearances, you may want to check out my book, Jesus is the Thesis.

Does the Serpent Get Crushed in the New Testament Too?

Absolutely, the Serpent gets crushed in the New Testament, too. In fact, Jesus, the Serpent Crusher Himself is the connecting force between the Old and New. As we have already seen, John reminds us that He, the Word, was there in the beginning at creation (John 1:1), then prophesied by the mouth of God to be the One who would crush the serpent and his seed (Gen. 3:14-15). I have given a few Old Testament examples of Him working through various serpent-crushing heroes of faith. Then, as Paul puts it, “When the set time had fully come,” Jesus came to the planet to initiate a final assault on the Serpent and his minions:

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” (Galatians 4:4-5 NIV)

Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem brought about the crushing reality that, in Him, and through Him, there would be both temporal and eternal hope for all who would have faith in Him. Through Jesus, they would have hope in the Serpent Crusher and could become Serpent Crushers themselves. The Serpent would not get the last word; Jesus would.

In my next article, I will outline what serpent-crushing looked like in the New Testament and then what it might look like today and for all eternity. In fact, Paul gives us an encouraging sneak peek when he says to us, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Romans 16:20 NIV).

Join Dr. Jeff Voth and Dr. Nathan French for Weird Stuff in the Bible, a unique video series from Cavetime and Study Gateway! Try it free for 7 days!

In the Weird Stuff series from Cavetime, Dr. Jeff Voth and Hebrew scholar, Dr. Nathan French, discuss and make sense of some of the weird stuff in the Bible to ultimately point us back to the needed redemption of Jesus Christ.

First Temple-Era Wooden Beams Discovered in Jerusalem’s City of David

News Articles

Timothy C. Morgan

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July 28, 2026

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First Temple-Era Wooden Beams Discovered in Jerusalem’s City of David

Ashes from Jerusalem’s destruction have lain hidden for 2,600 years beneath one of the world’s most controversial parking lots. The recent discovery of First Temple-era charred timbers provides promising new evidence of Nebuchadnezzar’s army burning Jerusalem and the Temple as described in 2 Kings 25 and Jeremiah 52.

During recent digs at the Jerusalem Walls-City of David National Park, immediately south of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, excavators uncovered enormous wooden beams, charred by fire, the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced recently.

“The beams appear to have served as the roof of an inner courtyard in a building from the First Temple period,” IAA excavation director Efrat Bocher told The Jerusalem Post. Experts believe the timbers were preserved after surrounding plaster melted and sealed them during the intense fire. The IAA and Tel Aviv University are overseeing the excavation. The remarkable find is among several major archaeological discoveries in the past year that illuminate people, places, and events connected to the Bible.

The Building of the First and Second Temples

Many Jews (and historians) view the construction of the Temple as among the greatest achievements of ancient Israel. The biblical narrative of King Solomon’s construction of the First Temple is primarily detailed in 1 Kings 5–7. Although the temple’s precise location today remains undiscovered, scholarly consensus is that it was likely built on the Temple Mount.

This site is also the location of the Second Temple, constructed around 516 BC as described in the book of Ezra. Generations later, King Herod greatly expanded the Second Temple, but the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD following the historic Jewish revolt. Following the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in the seventh century, Muslim rulers built the iconic octagonal Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount.

A Connection Rooted in Faith and History

Scholars and others welcomed the discovery of the charred beams. “It is very rare in Israel to find wood with such a large number of growth rings,” Johanna Regev, an archaeologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science who is studying the beams, said in media interviews.

“Here in the City of David, we found thick beams with many rings, offering significant research potential, with more growth rings enabling higher dating resolution. Until now, we could date finds within a range of hundreds of years. Now, we can attain much greater precision, narrowing the dating range down to as little as 10 years.”

The IAA announcement arrived on the eve of Tisha B’Av, widely regarded as the “saddest date” on the Jewish calendar since it commemorates the destruction of the First Temple along with numerous other national tragedies in Jewish history. “On the eve of Tisha B’Av, this discovery underscores that our connection to Jerusalem is rooted not only in faith, but also in history, archaeology, and collective memory. It is our responsibility to continue uncovering, preserving, and passing this heritage on to future generations,” Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu told The Jerusalem Post.

Controversial Parking Lot

The site of the discovery is also known as the Givati parking lot, which has been wrapped in controversy for decades. The Israeli government acquired the property in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood during urban renewal efforts in the 1970s and converted it into a public parking lot.

Later, during the 1980s and 1990s, the Elad Association, founded by Israeli settlers, began purchasing nearby properties to establish Jewish residential communities and develop a visitor center emphasizing the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem.

Construction on the site faced delays due to requirements that so-called “rescue excavations” could occur to recover and protect any ancient artifacts. Those investigations ultimately transformed what had once been an unremarkable parking lot into one of the richest archaeological sites in Israel. Starting in 2007, digs at Givati uncovered ruins of a building connected to Queen Helena (the first-century Jewish queen and convert to Judaism), the remains of an ancient Greek fortress, and a hoard of 264 Byzantine-era gold coins. The excavations also revealed evidence spanning 10 distinct periods of Jerusalem’s history. Today, covering 3,500 square meters, this former parking lot ranks among Israel’s largest archaeological excavations.

Some professional archaeologists object to the excavations at Givati. Raphael Greenberg, a senior lecturer at Tel Aviv University, published an essay in 2014 critical of IAA and Elad for their plans for Givati, saying that IAA was violating its legal mandate to protect and preserve Jerusalem’s ancient sites. Mahmoud Hawari, a Palestinian archaeologist, in a 2022 journal article was critical of excavations in Silwan as violating international law since they took place on “occupied land,” resulting from the Six-Day War in 1967. Hawari wrote, “Israel weaponizes archaeology to create an invented ‘biblical’ narrative centered on the so-called ‘City of David’ to justify its settler-colonial project in Silwan.”

Other New Discoveries

This past year has brought several other significant discoveries in biblical archaeology and related fields.

Archaeologists in the Nineveh Province of Iraq uncovered a section of a 2600-year-old stele linked to the reign of Assyrian King Ashurbanipal, referred to in Ezra 4:10 as “Asnappar.” He inherited the vast Assyrian Empire from his father, Esarhaddon, and grandfather, Sennacherib, whose failed siege of Jerusalem is recorded in 2 Kings 18–19. In Shiloh, archaeologists announced that they have uncovered another wall of an ancient stone structure that appears to mirror the size of the ancient Hebrew Tabernacle, in which the Ark of the Covenant was held.

In the field of ancient manuscript restoration, scientists recently announced the recovery of 42 lost pages from a biblical manuscript that monks had hidden inside book bindings for nearly 800 years.

Known as Codex H, the sixth-century Greek manuscript contains Paul’s letters and was preserved in a library on Mount Athos in Greece. By the thirteenth century, its ink had faded so severely that monks dismantled the codex and reused its pages to reinforce the bindings of newer books.

Codex H is among the finest surviving examples of the Euthalian Apparatus, a system of explanatory notes and reference aids designed to help readers navigate biblical texts. Scientists recovered the hidden pages using multispectral imaging and radiocarbon dating.

Archaeologists and historians say these discoveries provide new historical context for biblical narratives and other ancient texts, while raising fresh questions for future research.

Never miss a story! Whether you want to study the Bible, discover its history, or stay on top of the latest research and updates, be sure to subscribe to the free Bible Gateway: News & Knowledge newsletter and get every article right in your inbox!

Power Made Perfect in Weakness: God’s Promise to Those Who Feel They’re Not Enough

Comfort

Joshua Luke Smith

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July 27, 2026

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Power Made Perfect in Weakness: God’s Promise to Those Who Feel They’re Not Enough

My son was born in our bathroom.

It was late morning, and our midwife, Julie, was sitting on the stairs outside, praying and reading Scripture. He was meant to arrive in the birthing pool, but I didn’t fill it in time. I had one actual job that day — and I didn’t even get around to doing it.

I didn’t exactly forget; I just couldn’t bring myself to leave the room. The space between my wife’s contractions wasn’t long enough to make it down the stairs and back. They kept coming — like waves gathering more fury, foam, and more anticipation.

Bon Iver was on the birthing playlist. The song “It Might Be Over Soon” came on at just the right moment. We looked at each other and started crying — delirious with joy. It felt like a declaration of grace and a welcome encouragement: This is going to pass. And it’s going to be worth it.

When he was born, and I watched Kara clutch his tiny, yet chunky, pale body, and I felt a tangible connection to the most primal, ancient truth of our shared human experience; this is what we’ve been doing since the dawn of time.

For all our incredible developments in technology and engineering, this birth is how it all begins. You might have a robot vacuum or a car that drives itself. You might have finally optimized your life to the most precise degree. But it all comes back to the agony and awe of childbirth. Whether squatting in a field, lying in the most pristine and well-equipped hospital, or huddled together in a small bathroom, there’s no escaping it.

This is how we begin.

We Begin in Weakness

We come into the world in the most vulnerable of states — and nothing really changes. We are all the ages we’ve ever been. Beneath overalls and aprons, pinstripes and scrubs, we’re still naked little babies, with a hue of blue beneath the blood and slime we were bathed in.

Sometimes, in an effort to be more compassionate and present with the person in front of me, I glance at their shoelaces. I remind myself that, at some point in the day, regardless of their stature — or lack of it — they contorted their back like Quasimodo and bent low, or perhaps raised their leg in an awkward high-lunge, to cross their laces and tie a bow.

All that ambition and all those grown-up to-do lists poured over a pair of laces, just like when they were a child, tongue pressed to the side of their lips, concentrating as intensely as someone cutting the correct wire on a live bomb. I learned to tie my shoes later than most. In the end, it was my Scottish Granny who showed me how. For some time, I wore Velcro shoes, which offered a sense of independence while quietly revealing a deeper truth. I didn’t want my parents to tie my laces for me, but I knew I couldn’t do it on my own.

Some of the men in the prisons where I run poetry workshops wear Velcro shoes. Mostly it’s a safety measure. But sometimes it breaks my heart because, for all the reasons they are there, I wonder if somewhere inside them is a little boy who never learned how to tie his shoes, and perhaps never had someone patiently say: “Cross one lace over the other and pull it tight. Make a bunny ear. Wrap the other lace around it. Push it through the hole. Make another bunny ear. Then pull them both tight.”

The Grace of Dependence

For too long, I believed the lie that you somehow outgrow need, or that you should. But the illusion of self-sufficiency only distances us from the beauty of care — and the grace of being held.

I watched competent, qualified people and assumed they didn’t face the same gnawing sense of incompetence and helplessness that I so often do. But all you need to do is start something for the first time, and that same rushing feeling of dependency floods back in.

A new hobby will do it. I started doing jiu-jitsu recently, and there’s nothing quite like being folded into a pretzel by someone half your height and weight to remind you that you’re an amateur. It’s the awkward dance of a new relationship. The first day on the job. Walking down the steps to your first recovery meeting.

All our beginnings are marked by naked vulnerability.

Sometimes we don’t even realize we’re being born into something new until we’re already in it — shivering, blinking in the light, with an involuntary cry escaping our lungs as we gasp for air.

Paul’s Paradox of Weakness

Of all the voices in the New Testament, it is the Apostle Paul who captures this paradox of living in strength and vulnerability most clearly. While writing his letters to the Corinthians — a people deeply concerned with status, power, appearance, and strength — Paul does something remarkable. Rather than garnering their respect through building a case for his competence, he speaks openly about his weakness.

Specifically, he tells them about a “thorn” in his flesh, something he desperately asked God to remove. The jury is still out on what exactly Paul is speaking of here, but we know it’s produced a feeling of ailment and struggle in his life. In an act of stunning transparency, as though opening the pages of his prayer journal, he allows us to read God’s response:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV)

I have heard these words read from pulpits countless times, but I have rarely seen them lived so publicly. To boast in weakness does not mean simply enduring it or tolerating it, nor does it mean romanticizing suffering. The word Paul used in Greek is kauchēsomai — to glory in, to take confidence in, not because it is somehow desirable, but because weakness reveals the sufficiency of Christ.

An honest relationship with our weakness does not magically transform it into strength. It simply reveals the source of what sustains us. Perhaps that is why Paul’s words remain so compelling and so profoundly countercultural: the deeper he goes into the life of God, the more willing he becomes to acknowledge his need.

Returning to Holy Helplessness

We’re trained to outgrow need. To build distance from dependency. But the older I get, the more convinced I become that true maturity looks more like a return — back to that holy helplessness. Back to trust.

I was in a 12-step meeting last week, and a friend shared her new acronym for TRUST:

TRy Using Step Three.

Step Three reads:

“We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.”

That, honestly, might be worth trying.

Doesn’t something in you exhale, even slightly, when you think about turning your life over to the care of someone with shoulders broad enough to carry it? Hands calloused enough to manage it? A heart large enough to contain the overwhelm, the exhaustion, and the self-loathing you feel?

Born Beloved

My son was born in need, and he was born beloved — and the good news is that you can’t outgrow either.

I need people. I need grace. I need space to be vulnerable and held and even as I write these words, I feel my shoulders relax and relief flood my body.

Friends, this is the great mystery and beauty of our faith: that God, in all power and sovereignty, chose to enter the world not as a noble king but as a newborn, wailing into the night. The One who breathed stars into being was bathed, breastfed, and bruised His little knees. And this is the invitation extended to us, to return to where we began and boast that in all we’ve been through His love has sustained and His grace is sufficient.

This Is the Main Event by Joshua Luke Smith

What if the life we long for isn’t elsewhere but rather right here, waiting to be discovered?

Joshua Luke Smith believes the greatest lie facing our generation is that the life we long for lies beyond the life that we have. We so easily learn to disdain the inconveniences and interruptions that infuse our everyday. But the real transformation happens when we look at our life as it is and dare to announce: This Is the Main Event.

Modern Challenges Require a Mount Carmel-Sized Courage. Elijah Shows Us How

Spiritual Warfare

Max Lucado and Shannon Bream

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July 21, 2026

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Modern Challenges Require a Mount Carmel-Sized Courage. Elijah Shows Us How

Who doesn’t love a “my dad will show you” story? You know the type. A kid is cornered by creeps who are twice his size. Then from behind them comes a deep voice: “Leave my son alone.”

The bullies turn, and to their horror there stands an enormous dad: nine feet tall in his stocking feet, biceps as thick as tree trunks. “You mess with my boy, you mess with me,” the father bellows.

The bums don’t stay around for details. They scatter like scared mice.

We love those stories. Thankfully, our Heavenly Father does too.

Your Challenges Are Real — but They’re Not New

If only our bullies and troublemaking scalawags were just high school punks. But your tormenters are diseased cells that threaten to take your life. Your punk is bad news that threatens to take your peace. Your ruffians are a horde of godless politicians who, in your mind, are taking over.

Can you relate to the psalmist who said, “How long, Lord? … How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?” (Ps. 13:1-2 NIV).

Nothing we face today has not already been part of the human story. That’s encouraging because the Bible is full of the stories of men and women who have walked through whatever we may be facing in 2026. From broken families to devastating diagnoses, there is hope tucked into every single journey.

God may not have shown up in the way those men and women might have hoped; he didn’t always remove the enormous challenges in their paths. But what he did do, is what he is still doing: walking us through the storms of life.

Elijah on Mount Carmel

Elijah’s story is one of a faithful man who confidently followed God’s direction. 1 Kings 18 has what is arguably the most epic showdown between the Lord’s servant and a wicked leader, and it required unwavering faith from Elijah.

By the ninth century BC it appeared that Satan had succeeded. Monarch after monarch wanted nothing to do with God’s plan. They turned away from Him and embraced a satanic religion that called for prostitution worship and celebrated the sacrifice of infants.

How far the people of God had fallen!

But then Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel on Mt. Carmel. He dared them to call on Baal to send fire. From morning to evening they cried. Riff upon ridiculous riff. This was Satan, the fallen angel, versus Jehovah, the living God. Our Maker was proving his point. Any thought of Satan’s power was doused the day that Satan had no response on Mt. Carmel.

The real offering of this sacrifice was not the bull but the precious water the crowd wanted to drink rather than offer to God. They saturated the altar three times so Elijah could make sure that everything was soaked: the wood, the bull, the platform. Why douse the altar with water if you want it consumed by fire? Because God was about to show up in the way only a Dad can.

‘The Lord, He Is God!’

We’ve seen this tactic before. It’s one of God’s favorites — showing up and showing off in a way that leaves no doubt who has the power. When the Israelites stood before the towering walls of Jericho, God took the city with a marching band (Joshua 6:1–5). When Gideon faced an army “thick as locusts” (Judges 7:12), God won the victory with three hundred men, a troop of trumpets, and some flashlights. And when the whole universe buckled under the weight of sin, God rescued you and me through a dirty manger, a homeless rabbi, and a horrible death on a cross.

Elijah didn’t even request fire. But the Lord sent it.

Heaven opened, and a blaze from heaven fell. It consumed the water, the rocks, the wood, even the dust. All that was left was a charcoal-colored oval on the ground.

The people responded with repentance. Voices echoed off the rugged cliffs and rocky slopes. For the first time in three generations, the nation of Israel cried out to Jehovah. “The Lord, he is God!”

Our Enemy Is the Devil

Won’t we shout at that moment? Won’t we celebrate the incarceration of this cosmic punk? He masterminded your addiction. He conjured up all this division. He mapped out your seduction. He is the culprit who created the temptation, the frustration, the utter confusion that contaminates our planet.

Please hear me as I say this: Satan is our foe. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12 NKJV).

Your enemy is not your Ahab. Your adversary is not your competition. Your foes are not the people who forgot or abused you. Your antagonist does not work in the Oval Office or a Hollywood movie studio.

Our enemy is the devil. And at the end of this age, his time will end. Until then expect our Father to show up. Don’t think for a moment that he will sit still while Satan seduces and harms his creation.

Could Elijah’s Story Happen Today?

Can’t a Mount Carmel moment happen in our day? Our days are as dark as were the days of Elijah. Our God is as alive as he was in the days of Elijah. Dare we dream of a renewal that silences the stewards of Satan and reveals them for the frauds they are?

Elijah’s story is relevant because the challenges he faced are similar to ours. In a historical blink of an eye, we are shedding old beliefs and grasping for new ones. What was once unthinkable is acceptable today. Changes around us. Challenges within us. Chaos. Anxiety. Exhaustion. Fear. The economy. The threat of nuclear war. The school shootings. The homeless camps in your city. The state of your country.

The story of Elijah offers us hope. It is a field manual on how to thrive during a spiritual drought. Elijah shows us that one person following a living God is greater than hundreds of people praying to a lifeless one.

He shows us how to find faith in a torrent of odd gods and bad odds. Do you feel it is you against the world? Not so, my friend. Outnumbered by foes and outdone by fear? Please reconsider. Surrounded by adversity? Perhaps. Yet, you are also encircled by divinity.

Serve the Lord Only

Elijah chose Jehovah, alone. Let’s imitate our hero: Serve the Lord only.

Let’s pray to be delivered from the paralysis of spiritual bigamy. To serve the Lord alone is to make him sole Lord. No other master. No other rival. Discipleship is never part-time.

If you look around and think that your life doesn’t look like you had once hoped and planned it would, I want you to be encouraged. Whether it’s our own self-doubt or rebellion, or circumstances far beyond our control, the Lord is always at work. As believers, when we lay down the pursuit of our kingdoms in favor of his, we will find peace and joy in our brief earthly adventure. The Lord can redeem our mistakes and bind up our wounds. He can neutralize our enemies. He can help us to see purpose in our pain, if only we will let him.

With God’s help you can respond to the raging torments of this world with unbreakable courage. Immovable. Determined. Square jawed and resolved. Like Elijah.

Join Max Lucado and Shannon Bream for A Call to Unbreakable Courage — July 30th at Museum of the Bible, D.C. Together, Max and Shannon will discuss how followers of Jesus can live a life of faith in today’s culture.

A Call to Unbreakable Courage — July 30, 2026 — Museum of the Bible — Max Lucado & Shannon Bream

Order your copies today: Discover how to live a life of courageous faith in Max’s new book, Unbreakable Courage. And be encouraged to trust again in the God who never fails with Shannon’s New York Times bestselling book, Nothing Is Impossible With God.

Called, but Still Searching: The Effect of Scripture Engagement on Human Flourishing

News Articles

Julie R. Neidlinger

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July 20, 2026

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Called, but Still Searching: The Effect of Scripture Engagement on Human Flourishing

What is the point of my life?

Why am I even here?

We’ve all asked ourselves this question, and for the first time, the American Bible Society (ABS) decided to tackle the matter of purpose and calling for their State of the Bible 2026 report. They explored how people viewed the idea of having a calling, and who could identify that calling.

What they discovered was interesting.

According to their research, if you were to get five Americans together, one would tell you they don’t have a calling. Two of them (33%) would think they do. The other two are somewhere in the middle, searching or unsure.

That sounds cut-and-dried, but it’s not that simple. People’s understanding of their calling is constantly changing. Those who feel called also feel like they are searching. And even more to the point, how we view our calling and purpose in life is strongly connected to whether or not we flourish.

Finding Your Calling — but Still Searching

Let’s start with people who say they’ve found their calling.

For them, it seems as if the heavy lifting is done, but this isn’t the case. It appears that even those who have found their calling and understand it still feel there’s more to the story. They’re still searching.

In their research, ABS found that 63% of people said they have found the work they are called to, with 75% saying they have a good understanding of that calling (these are the respondents who answered “moderately true” to “totally true”). Yet the surprise is that 38% say they are searching for their calling while 45% say they are trying to figure out their life calling.

Source: American Bible Society, State of the Bible 2026

That means there’s a decent chunk of people who think they have found their calling but are still searching for it. Why the overlap in what seem like mutually exclusive responses? Why look for what you already have?

ABS has a few theories on this conundrum. For starters, consider that our lives are on a moving timeline; it makes sense that changes in our lives affect how we view our purpose and calling. As we get older or our interests and opportunities change, so does how we view our calling.

Additionally, having found your calling can coexist with still looking for a calling, particularly when you view your calling as a process or journey. This is particularly noticeable in certain demographic groups. For example, Black Protestants have a high score for both having found their calling and searching for one.

For them, and for any group that sees a calling as a spiritual thing, life is seen as pressing on toward the goal, not stopping and settling in (Philippians 3:14).

We can sense a calling in our current work, service, and way of living, but also be open and sensitive to change or wherever God leads. In this sense, searching for a calling isn’t a signal of failure, but an indicator of the importance placed on a calling. It is something worth revisiting and bringing to God rather than a marker of uncertainty.

However — and it’s a big however — there are speed bumps that affect us, no matter how confident we are in our calling.

When Your Calling Is Disrupted

Identity is a tricky thing.

If it’s connected to our job or abilities — two things very much susceptible to change — our understanding of who we are, and therefore our purpose, is up for grabs. Yesterday’s calling might feel like today’s unsettled loss, and our identity seems to flounder.

As ABS notes in their report, life’s challenges can keep us from acting on what we think our calling is. They tracked nine common disruptors that, though not all negative, impact the regular flow of life. The negative disruptors of death, unemployment, and health concerns top the list.

It is unemployment, however, that most affected ABS human flourishing scores.

Now compare those scores to the results ABS tracked on which negative disruptors were most likely to cause people to turn to their Bible, and we see a surprise.

While all disruptors draw people to the Bible, unemployment — which creates the most stress and anxiety and reduction of hope — is the least likely to send us to the Scriptures. It’s strange to see unemployment at opposite ends of the charts, especially since many people tie their sense of calling to their job.

Perhaps people see losing a job as a problem to solve rather than a spiritual crisis. Yet Scripture is uniquely positioned to counteract these disruptors, as ABS discovered. Negative disruptors take a toll on everyone, but people who turned to Scripture don’t just get through with a little help; Scripture makes up for it and shows improvement on the other side.

Yes: when Scripture is applied, difficult challenges help us flourish.

The Importance of Having a Calling

Why does any of this matter?

ABS discovered that when we feel that our lives have meaning and purpose with a calling that fulfills them, we flourish. We have confidence and hope.

In fact, ABS discovered that, across all the areas they measure human flourishing, finding your calling in life is the most important indicator that you will flourish. The stronger your sense of calling, the better your character, relationships, physical and mental health, and overall life satisfaction will be.

It’s important to remember that our vocation isn’t our destination; our calling is more than that. Disruptions can shake us, but they don’t erase our calling. Returning to God who calls us, and to his Word, is where we find an identity that causes us to live a vibrant life.

Never miss a story! Whether you want to study the Bible, discover its history, or stay on top of the latest research and updates, be sure to subscribe to the free Bible Gateway: News & Knowledge newsletter and get every article right in your inbox!