Brave Fathers of the Bible

Posted on June 21, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Since I wrote about Brave Mothers of the Bible on Mother’s Day, I thought it only fair to write about fathers of the Bible for Father’s Day. I think my audience is mostly female. I have women in mind as I write, but I don’t mind if men read, too. But even as women we can learn from and be inspired by fathers.

Noah experienced a lot of firsts. He was the first person to build a boat the size of the ark, as far as we know. His family was the first to experience a worldwide flood–the only ones, in fact. He and his family had to start civilization all over again, not in the garden of Eden like Adam and Eve, but on an earth recovering from devastation. I can’t imagine what all they faced. Noah displayed some faults later on. But Hebrews 11:7 commends him: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” By faith he believed and obeyed and was saved.

Abraham was also not without fault. Actually, no earthly father is–or mother or anyone else. That’s encouraging to us, though, because if God could work in and through these people, He can work in and through us. Abraham obeyed God by leaving his home and all that was familiar, “not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). I don’t pretend to understand everything that was involved in God’s asking Abraham to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac. But “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:19). Though God does not call anyone else to give up their children in that way, there is a real sense in which we need to yield them to Him. We’re reminded over and over that they belong to Him; they’re just ours temporarily. We’re not to hold them to our dreams and plans for them, but yield them to His.

David was a man after God’s own heart. He failed miserably at times, and some of his children suffered for it. But he repented (Psalm 51). Much of the counsel David’s son, Solomon’s, shared in the book of Proverbs came from David. In the last stretch of David’s life, he did everything he could possibly do to enable Solomon to build the temple that David was not allowed to. I think I wrote David’s words to Solomon on each of my son’s yearbooks or graduation cards, or at least the first part of it: “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever” (1 Chronicles 28:9).

Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather, is one of the unsung heroes of the Bible. When his bride-to-be was found pregnant, he knew he was not the father. So he arranged to break their engagement quietly. But God sent an angel to tell him the baby Mary carried was the Son of God and it was okay for them to marry. Later, when God instructed Joseph to take Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt to flee from Herod, and then a few years later to bring them back to Israel, Joseph obeyed unquestioningly. We’re not told what he thought or felt. His life was not turning out as he had thought it would. But he accepted the responsibility God placed on him and fulfilled it faithfully.

Jairus came to Jesus, “and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live'” (Mark 5:22-23). This was a desperate father, urgently seeking the best help for his child. Jesus agreed to go with Jairus. But on their way, Jesus was stopped by a woman who’d had an issue of blood for twelve years. The Bible doesn’t say what Jairus was doing while Jesus talked with the woman. But I probably would have been pacing and growing more frustrated by the moment.

And then a messenger cameto tell Jairus his daughter had died. What agony he must have been in. But Jesus told Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe” (verse 36). When they got to Jairus’ house, Jesus raised his daughter from the dead.

Talk about a roller coaster of emotions that day. When we’re desperate, when the answer is delayed, when hope is gone–we still don’t need to fear. God doesn’t always deliver–sometimes He gives grace to endure instead.

Jesus said of another person He healed, a man who was born blind, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). Sometimes we’re caught up in our own or our family’s daily needs and forget there are larger issues at stake. God might allow something to happen in our family so that others might see Him.

What can we learn from these fathers?

God uses flawed people. We’ll make mistakes, but God can forgive and use us for His glory.
God uses ordinary people. Most of these giants of the faith came from humble means: David was a shepherd; Joseph was a carpenter.
God requires and honors faith. In some ways, it has taken more faith to trust God for my children than for many other things.
God requires obedience, but He gives grace to obey.
God is faithful when life spirals out of control.
God’s goal is not just for us to have a sweet, happy family, but to live for His honor and glory. Sometimes that happens through hardship and pain. The end of Hebrews 11’s “hall of faith” says that both those who experienced great deliverance and those who suffered were commended for their faith, even when they didn’t receive what they were promised in their lifetimes. But this lifetime is not the end. Earlier in Hebrews 11, God said His people searched for “better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” verse 6).
We can trust God with our parenting and with our children.

These are just a few faithful fathers in the Bible. Do any of them or any biblical fathers I haven’t mentioned inspire you?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on June 20, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Here are some good reads found this week:

What to Do When You Really Mess Up. “Have you ever really blown it–made a sinful choice with the potential to destroy your life and possibly the lives of those around you? The story of David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12 offers insight into what we should—and should not—do when faced with our own moral failures.”

When Faith Seems to Fail. This is the summary, outline, and transcript of a message by Adrian Rogers that I heard parts of this week on the radio (the overview and audio are here). The part that especially grabbed my attention was how in Hebrews 11, the first part of the chapter tells of the faith shown by Abraham, Moses, Noah, and others. But then verse 36 says “Others suffered . . . ” mocking, flogging, imprisonment, stoning, death, wandering. Verse 9 says all of them were commended through faith. As Rogers put it, “Some escaped by faith. Some endured by faith.”

We Don’t Hate and Then Harm–We Harm and Then Hate, HT to Challies. “We live in a world of ceaseless conflict. And when we look for the source of that conflict, we often assume it’s hatred. We hate people and then treat them poorly. It’s because we feel contempt toward others that we sin against them. But that’s only half the story. Often it’s the other way around. First, we hurt someone, and only then do we begin to hate them.”

6 Expressions of God’s Kindness in the Prodigal Son Parable. “The father’s response in this parable overflows with compassion, forgiveness, and generosity and mirrors our heavenly Father’s heart toward all of us. No matter the depth of our wandering, God rejoices when we come home. The father’s kindness isn’t expressed in a single moment but unfolds again and again in deliberate and tender ways throughout the story. Jesus gives us a picture of what God’s kindness looks like in motion, revealed through the father’s actions.”

The Gift of Finitude, HT to the Story Warren. “You might accomplish a few more of your goals with a sensible routine in place. But you still can’t do it all. And that’s ok. Finitude is not fallenness. Adam and Eve were created with finitude, and they were declared good. Finitude isn’t a bug of being human; it’s a feature.”

Technology Is Fast, Sanctification Is Slow, and Claude Can’t Do It for You. “What if the inefficiency of creativity is a benefit rather than a drawback, a feature rather than a bug? What if the purpose of creativity is greater than merely generating the output? What if creativity fosters a kind of inner formation that is every bit as important as the work that eventually results from it? What if we turn over to AI a process that is an important part of what it means to be human, and one that is genuinely good for us?”

In It Together. “Almost everything that men and women experience together, we experience differently, but through patience and understanding, listening and talking, through expressing care in all the ways we can think of when we just don’t know how to help each other, we continually send the message, over and over again, through all kinds of trials and troubles: I’m here. We’re in this together.”

Making Family Devotions Work. “While my parents often prayed with us before bed, for the most part anything beyond that wasn’t a part of our normal rhythm of life. I never really understood why not, until I had a family. Then I realized how challenging it is to maintain family devotions.”

10 Phrases to Eliminate from Your Bible Teaching. These are good reminders not only for teaching Bible, but for any kind of speaking or writing and even everyday conversation. Of course, we need to be gracious listeners. Some of these phrases sneak in unaware when the speaker is trying to gather his thoughts. But when we can eliminate them, we make ourselves much easier and more interesting to listen to.

A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there,
but a guiding light whose love shows us the way. Author unknown.

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on June 19, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Here we are more than halfway through June. I pause on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to intentionally look at at the blessings of the week. Those blessings often pass us by almost unnoticed unless we make a habit to intentionally look for them and express gratitude for them.

1. A thoughtful gesture. We discovered a little bird’s nest in the planter on our porch.

Jim put photos on our family text thread, commenting that he’d have to be careful about watering that planter. Then the next time we saw Jason, he gave us a little device he 3D-printed to help water the planter without disturbing the bird’s nest.

2. Productive days. Every day this week has not been as productive as I had hoped, but I did get a few good days in. I enjoyed getting a number of little odd jobs done.

3. VBS video. I forgot to mention this last week, but the Sunday after VBS, the director gives a report and shows a video from VBS week. It’s so neat to see and hear a bit about how God worked in and through people.

4. Sleep. I don’t seem to be able to sleep more than about four hours at a time. Whenever I wake up, I almost always have to get up to use the bathroom. Sometimes I can get back to sleep, sometimes not until a nap later in the day. But sometimes I conk out arounf 9 p.m. on the couch. And even though I wake up in a couple of hours and have to get ready for bed, I can usually get back to sleep easily and feel so much more rested in the morning.

5. Intersections. Lately, what I’ve heard from the sermon and podcast from Ecclesiastes has intersected with the book on God’s attributes that I am going through with a friend. Mainly things like the limitations of being human, our lack of control over much of what happen in our lives, the need to trust God and rest in Him. I love when that happens.

That’s our week! How was yours? I hope you have a good time honoring your fathers on Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to any dads reading here.

Review: Playlist Theology

Posted on June 18, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Several years ago, in a post I’ve lost track of, a worship leader told of being approached by an older woman at church who felt the musicians should not use drums on the older, traditional hymns. He told her she didn’t have a right to impose her preferences on others.

He didn’t seem to realize that he was imposing his preferences on her.

In similar articles I’ve read since then, that seems to be the running theme–the person with more conservative music standards who voices a concern, is written off as old, out of touch, domineering, or, worst of all, a legalist.

It’s true, a lot of people want to keep things the same way they have always been “just because” that’s what they know and feel comfortable with. But a lot of people are not operating from that point of view. They’ve been taught that certain kinds of music are right and wrong. And whether they’re correct or not, their consciences have been trained in a certain way.

I’ve read that the Bible contains over 500 references to music. But it doesn’t say much about styles. It tells how music can help people emotionally, physically, and spiritually, as it did when young David played for King Saul. But when Joshua and Moses came down from the mountain with the ten commandments in Exodus 32, Joshua thought he heard noise like war in the camp. Moses said, no, it’s not war: it’s singing. Considering the people were involved in idol worship with the golden calf, and the chapter says earlier “the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play,” the sound was likely that of the wrong kind of revelry. So there is an indication of certain kinds of music going with certain kinds of behaviors.

The Bible tells us, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) and “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:15-16). There is a kind of music that appeals to the flesh–not just lyrics, but music. But exactly where are the lines between what’s worldly and what’s not? That takes some discernment. And some of it falls within the Romans 14 areas of differing convictions.

How much of our convictions about music are due to the culture we grew up with, to our consciences, or to the Holy Spirit’s leading? That’s what many of us wrestle with.

I recently came across Ben Everson’s book, Playlist Theology. He’s a “musical evangelist” from a conservative background who has given much thought to these issues. His book explores many of these questions in a careful, thoughtful, gracious way. He has the musical knowledge, experience, and vocabulary to discuss aspects of music in detail. He explores what Scripture says about music and how we can apply it.

I read one review of this book that brushed it off as saying music is amoral. That is not what Ben is saying. But he says certain aspects of music are not good or bad in themselves. The context and amount of their use can determine whether they are being used for good or bad purposes.

For instance, some people have a problem with syncopation. Ben explains what it is and names both classical music and some traditional old hymns that employ it.

Theologically, the mere presence of syncopation can’t be equated with sinfulness any more than dissonance in harmony can. Both are forms of tension that demand resolution. When tension resolves toward meaning, toward beauty, truth or praise, it becomes part of the art’s redemptive arc.

Where the moral question enters is what the tension serves. In worship, syncopation can mirror spiritual joy, spontaneity, or the exuberance of grace. . . In sensual contexts, the same rhythmic techniques can amplify bodily pleasure as an end in itself when all the other elements are bent toward lust (p. 118).

Some have trouble with the “beat” of rock music. All music has a “beat” It’s stronger in some kinds of music than others (like march music or children’s rhythmic songs). But a heavy rhythm can stir sensual feelings. (The main thing that made me throw out my rock albums as a teenager and new Christian was reading quotes from rock musicians themselves saying that their music–not just the words, but the music–was about sex and rebellion.) Ben suggests asking questions like whether the rhythm supports the melody or drives it, “What is this stirring in me? Is it leading my spirit or just exciting my body? Is it enhancing the message or overwhelming it?” (p. 142).

I have multiple quotes marked, but here are a few that stood out to me:

What’s taught in song is often remembered longer than what’s preached in a sermon (p. 34).

While the Bible doesn’t give us a list of forbidden styles, it does give us clear principles: music must glorify God, teach truth, be distinct from the world, stir the Spirit not the flesh, and flow from the heart (p. 36).

The same Bible that gives us freedom also gives us boundaries. The same God who created beauty also hates what distorts it. Discernment doesn’t mean endless openness; it means knowing where the lines actually are so we can hold them with integrity (p. 155).

I’ve realized over time that some of what I was taught about music, especially Christian music, as a young adult may have gone beyond what the Bible actually says. But I also didn’t think that meant “anything goes” now. Ben’s book was a great help to me in learning discernment about where problem areas in music are beyond “I know it when I hear it.”

I realize that for some of you, this whole conversation is totally foreign. You may have grown up with rock music and contemporary Christian music and never had a problem with it. Part of what I wrote at the beginning of this post was to try to help explain why that’s not true for everyone and hopefully encourage a little tenderness and understanding and less judgment on both sides.

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(To those who receive these posts via email: the last couple of times I’ve used the “quote” block in my blog posts, the quotes haven’t shown up in the email version. It was suggested to me that it might work better to use shorter quotes. I’ve done that here, so hopefully everything will come through. If it looks like something is missing, I invite you to click through to read the whole post.)

Apologies for Incomplete Posts

Posted on June 15, 2026 by Barbara Harper

I apologize that those of you who subscribe to my blog via email have been receiving incomplete posts. I noticed the email yesterday’s post, A Mother’s Nightly Ritual, did not contain the poem that was the bulk of the post. I looked back at some other recent posts and noticed that the same thing happened with “He Knows, Yes, He Knows.”

I’ve sent a note in to the WordPress support forums to try to find out why this happened and what to do to fix it.

I don’t think I’ll be able to resend those posts–that happens automatically via WordPress. I don’t think there is a way to send something to subscribers directly myself.

I’ve also noticed that sometimes when I post videos, which isn’t often, those don’t always show up in the emails, either.

If anything in the post emails seems incomplete or doesn’t make sense, I invite you to click through to read the whole posts.

And I sincerely apologize, once again, that this happened.

A Mother’s Nightly Ritual

Posted on June 14, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Around this time of year, I see blog or Facebook posts from moms processing their children’s graduation from high school or college and the realization that they are about to leave the nest for good.

That time is such an emotional roller coaster–happy and excited for them, yet lamenting over the changes to come. Wondering what life is going to be like without the daily presence of one we nurtured and loved for 18+ years. Hoping we adequately taught them what they needed to know. Missing them before they even leave. Being concerned for the life changes and multiple decisions they’ll face as they step into adulthood. Praying, praying, praying.

When my children were little, I had a habit of going to their rooms and checking to see that they were breathing before I went to bed. That practice morphed a bit as they grew up. In their teen years, it looked like not being able to go to bed until I knew they were safely home.

I don’t delve into poetry often–I have trouble getting the meter just right. But several years ago, I wrote this poem based on that experience. I’ve shared it before, but it seemed timely to share it again. I hope it’s a blessing to you.

A Mother’s Nightly Ritual

Before a mother goes to bed
She checks each little downy head,
Places a hand on back or chest
Of each sleeping child at rest,
Making sure that all is well
Before succumbing to sleep’s spell.

As children grow and youth abounds,
Yet Mother still must make her rounds.
She can not rest at ease until
Her little ones are calm and still,
Safely tucked into their beds.
Then softly to her own she treads.

From childhood into youth they grow,
And she waits up until she knows
They’re settled safe and sound at home
Til the next day when they roam.
Though now they stay up long past her,
She can’t rest til they’re home, secure.

Her birds fly later from her sight.
Their beds are empty now at night.
She cannot check the rise and fall
Of sleeping breaths within her walls.
Yet she trusts they’re safely kept
By Him who never once has slept.

Though now they sleep beyond her care,
They never move beyond her prayer.
Her nightly vigil now is to
Trust them to the same One Who
Watched o’er Jacob while he roamed,
And kept him safe though far from home.

Barbara Harper
Copyright 2010

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on June 13, 2026 by Barbara Harper

For the first time in several weeks, I am caught up with my blog reading! Here are some posts that stood out to me:

Portrait of an Abortionist, HT to Challies. “Dr. Bernard Nathanson was one of the extraordinary few who, upon encountering the truth, decided to defect from the abortion movement that he had helped to found and spend his life defending the pre-born.”

How to Respond When Your Routine Is Disrupted. “When we’re waiting for life to return to some semblance of normalcy, what practical steps can we take to make our days a little easier (or perhaps a bit more bearable)? Although I don’t have many answers, here are a few suggestions drawn from my own experience.”

Hope When You’re Scorching Under Life’s Trials. “The refreshing and restorative power of shade isn’t new. David the psalmist/shepherd wrote about it in Psalm 121. He knew what it was like to sit for hours in the Judean sun, watching his sheep graze. He also knew the value of a well-placed shade tree or drifting cloud. Perhaps this is why he described God as ‘the shade at your right hand.'”

The Aroma of Christ in the Mundane. “Maybe, if you’re like me, it’s easy to understand how Christ’s life and death were a fragrant offering to God. God was pleased with His Son’s perfect life and sacrificial death. What is harder to grasp is that because I am united to Christ by grace through faith, God sees me clothed in Christ’s righteousness and is pleased with me. He not only accepts me because of Christ, but joyfully receives me as His daughter! Furthermore, God uses broken vessels like me to spread the knowledge of Christ to others.”

Virtue Signalling in the Church, HT to Challies. “Is it possible for a Christian to be more concerned about the appearance of godliness in their own lives, rather than the existence of it? To sound like they love God, but deep down actually fear man? To talk of virtuous deeds yet be substantially empty of them? I am living proof that the answer to those questions is yes.”

Nine Marks of a Healthy Paragraph: Suggestions for Improving a Pastor’s Writing, HT to Challies. And not just pastors! “We traffic in words because God has chosen to work through words. From creation to salvation, from his perfect Word to our fallible ones, God loves to turn the lights on through written truth. That’s why we care about words: because we care about souls.”

Discipline is choosing between what you want now,
and what you want most. Abraham Lincoln

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on June 12, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Another Friday (already!), another opportunity to stop and count the week’s blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Vintage Market Days. This is where a number of vendors from all over come and display, and try to sell, vintage-looking items. There were a lot of clothes, craft items, furniture, and more. Jim and I went with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. It seemed the best of these kinds of events that we attended.

Here’s my haul:

I didn’t intentionally look for a bird theme, but that seems to be what I found! Along with a giant chocolate chip cookie and a slice of banana bread. It was a fun outing.

2. My oldest son’s new job. My oldest son got a call from a recruiter from a resume he had posted online ten years ago. As they talked and then my son went for an interview, all the boxes seemed to tick favorably, so he decided to go with the new job opportunity. I don’t want to say much more than that, because it’s not my story to tell. But we prayed for him through the decision-making and are happy for him. It seemed the hand of the Lord was obvious in a number of factors.

3. Timely books. Just as I’ve been pondering over a particular issue for the last few months, I discovered a book written on the subject by someone I know of and have reason to trust.

4. New Wednesday night church activities. Over the summer, instead of our usual Bible studies, the church has smaller prayer meetings. They’re attempting to do something different this year–still having prayer time, but also food and other activities, sometimes meeting all together, sometimes just men or women. We had the first such meeting last night with food catered by Salsarita’s (I’m not sure, but I don’t think it will be catered every week). We really enjoyed the conversation around our table and the prayer time together.

5. Moderate weather. Once again, the forecast showed rain and thunderstorms most of the week. We got a little rain, but not as much as projected, and no thunderstorms. Seven of the next eight days show a forecast of rain and thunderstorms again, so I hope that forecast is as inaccurate as the last week’s 🙂 I don’t mind some rain, of course. But, living in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, where there are hills, there are also low spots which flood when we get as much rain as was in the forecast. Then when the ground gets that soaked, sometimes tree roots loosen and trees fall over. And thunderstorms and lightning can cause fallen tree limbs and power outages. So it’s a blessing when rain is mild and limited.

How was your week?

Review: Echoes of a Silent Song

Posted on June 10, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Echoes of a Silent Song is a dual-timeline novel by Amanda Wen.

Blair Emerson has been the accompanist–or collaborative pianist, as she prefers to be called–for all of Peterson High School’s choirs for several years. But the last five years, no one conductor has stayed more than a year. The lack of continuity has hurt the kids and the music program. And the newest conductor, some hotshot from Boston, is no better. He has said upfront that he only plans to be there for a year.

Callum Knight had been a successful composer and conductor in Boston. But the pandemic brought everything to a screeching halt. And then his fiancee died. His old friend, the retired conductor from Peterson, Illinois, told him about a job opening at the high school–the last thing Callum ever would have considered if he wasn’t desperate. But it would pay the bills for a year and hopefully help his composing muse to come back.

Blair and Callum clash immediately. She has been the only constant in the students’ musical lives for years and feels protective of them. Callum feels they need to be challenged. She feels he’s choosing material that’s too hard and settling them up for failure. She reminds him they are children, not professionals. She thinks he’s arrogant. He thinks she is an ice queen.

They go round and round until they discover an unsigned partial piece of music in an old box in the choir room. They play a part of it on the piano and feel it’s brilliant, but they can’t find any more of the music. As they search, Blair remembers an Iris Wollingford, a student at the school who was said to have composed music but died by suicide before graduation. As Callum and Blair work together to find out more about Iris and her music, they come to understand each other better. But what they find out about Iris stuns them.

Some chapters tell Iris’ story from the late 1960s and early 70s. She was indeed a high school student whose mind was obsessed with music. She was not antisocial, but she didn’t have many friends. Then Victor, a boy in her class, saw a piece of music she was working on and confessed he was a composer, too. They became a couple with big plans to go to college and compose together. But then the draft for the Viet Nam war changed everything.

I’ve not read anything by Amanda Wen before except a Christmas novella, but I saw this as a free audiobook for Audible subscribers and decided to give it a try.

I felt the narrator of the audiobook overdid things in places. I think I would have enjoyed the print version more, but the library didn’t have the book and the Kindle version was more than I wanted to pay. About halfway through the book, either I got used to the narrator by then or she settled down into the story better.

It took me a little bit to get into the story. Some of Blair’s early conversations with her best friend, Joy, seemed downright juvenile. But once we got past that, I became more intrigued. The story seemed to get better as it progressed. We find out what is driving both Blair and Callum, what’s keeping them from opening up to each other, and what really happened to Iris.

I didn’t like the multiple uses of the word “crap.” The faith element seemed a little lacking in the first part of the book, but came out beautifully by the end. Overall, I enjoyed the story, especially the latter half.

The audiobook didn’t contain any notes from the author, but I found one interview she gave about the book here.

“He Knows, Yes, He Knows”

Posted on June 9, 2026 by Barbara Harper

I was reading None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different From Us (And Why That’s a Good Thing) by Jen Wilkin this morning, just starting the chapter on God’s omniscience. Jen began with a stanza from an old hymn titled, “He Knows, Yes, He Knows.” by Georgia C. Elliot. I was so taken by the few lines she shared that I looked up the whole hymn.

He Knows, Yes, He Knows

He knows and He hears
When you cry unto Him,
Though it may be your tears
Make the pathway seem dim.

He knows and He sees
When your soul’s in distress,
And if oft on your knees
With His presence He’ll bless.

He knows and He cares
When you’re troubled and tried,
Though it seems that your prayers
Fall so empty and void.

He knows, yes, He knows,
Why not trust in Him then,
And confide joys and woes
To the Savior of men?