When God Doesn’t Meet My Need

Posted on August 23, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Several years ago, I was preparing to attend my second writer’s conference. There’s always a butterflies-in-the-stomach-feeling when facing a trip. But I wasn’t consciously nervous since I had been to this conference the year before, and it was in a town where I used to live.

However, for some reason, I could not get much sleep the night before. I couldn’t get comfortable. I was too hot, then too cold. My knee started tingling. I played music on my phone, then tried an audiobook. Nothing helped. Of course, I prayed off and on all night.

I ended up with maybe two hours of sleep. It’s one thing to putter around the house without much sleep, but I was in no condition to drive for three and a half-hours.

I couldn’t help but wonder if God didn’t want me to go. I had good motives: I wanted to learn writing and the publishing industry better in order to be a more effective writer for Him. But had I asked Him about this conference? I couldn’t remember.

So I did ask at that point, as well as asking for wisdom to know what to do next. As I prayed and pondered, I decided to go ahead and get ready, then try to take a nap in my desk chair, and see how I felt after that. I asked God to multiply my sleep like the loaves and fishes and make it enough if He wanted me to go.

And that’s what happened. After I slept for a short while, I hit the road. I missed most of the opening session, but was able to attend the rest of the day’s meetings, slept well at the hotel that night, attended the Saturday sessions, had a great time, and made it home safely late that afternoon.

But for several days, I was confused, frustrated, and even a little wounded over that long night of sleeplessness. Why would God create me to need sleep and then not provide it, especially on a night when it was so crucial? Why would He not answer earnest prayer to enable me to do something for His glory?

One of the first thoughts that came to mind was Psalm 66:18: “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” Unmet needs and seemingly unanswered prayer can lead to soul-searching.

Deuteronomy 8:3 also came to mind. During Israel’s days of wandering in the wilderness, a couple of times they were without water and food–a dangerous situation any time, but especially in the desert. God told them, “He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

One of God’s purposes for letting them hunger was to humble them. There’s nothing like being in desperate need to make us humble ourselves before the Lord. We realize there’s nothing we can do, and we cast ourselves on Him completely. However much we need bread–or sleep–we need Him more.

That also seems to be what Paul is saying in Philippians 4:11-13: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” God gives us strength to face both abundance and need with contentment, knowing He will take care of us in His own time and way.

Whatever other factors that might have played into my sleeplessness that night, my main conclusion was that God wanted me to depend on Him in ways I would not have otherwise.

God did actually answer both my need for sleep and the Israelites’ need for food and water–just not in the conventional way.

That helps me when thinking of death. This is probably not a spiritually healthy way to look at it, but death could seem like the final unanswered prayer or unmet need. We prayed for healing, but our loved one died. We prayed for safety, but our loved one got into a fatal accident.

But God said no to those prayers so He could provide something better–eternity with Him. Heaven is not a lesser answer.

Hebrews 11, often called the “Hall of Faith,” tells of Abraham, Noah, Samson, and others who experienced great victories for the Lord. But the last few verses tell of others who were beaten, persecuted, destitute, and mistreated. These were not second-class believers whose faith fell short. They were “commended through their faith” though they “did not receive what was promised” in their lifetimes.

Jesus said, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33).

God knows what we need, both physically and spiritually. He might withhold a physical need for a while to work on a greater need in our hearts. But He’s a good Father who loves and cares for His children. He wants us most of all to trust Him and rest in Him.

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

Biblical Self-Concept

Posted on August 17, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Some years ago, when I was a young mom, it seemed like self-concept was the topic of the times. There was no Internet then, but we heard about a biblical view of self from women’s meetings and magazines.

I believe one reason the topic was so prevalent was because the world was touting the need for good self-esteem. Though their motives may have been noble, the idea of feeling good about yourself just for the sake of feeling good about yourself fell short.

After not hearing about self-concept in a while, lately it has come up in a number of places–in a ladies meeting at church, in conversations with a couple of friends, and in an online article and comments.

Being a slow processor, some of these thoughts have percolated on the back burner for a few weeks. I thought I’d share a few things that have helped me over the years.

If self-concept is how we think of ourselves, there are two ways we can go wrong. One is to think too highly of ourselves. We’ve all known people who thought they were hot stuff, their ideas were the best, their ways of doing things were the only valid ones. The Bible has a lot to say about humility and esteeming others higher than ourselves.

But usually if someone says they’re struggling with their self-concept, they mean it the other direction. They don’t feel “good enough” in their looks, their personalities, their clothes, their homes, or their abilities.

Sometimes a negative self-image comes from things our parents, friends, or schoolmates said as we were growing up. Sometimes it comes from comparing ourselves to others.

A wrong view of ourselves can be crippling, creating anxiety and sadness, lowering our confidence, paralyzing us from extending ourselves. We might seek solace in self-destructive activities or isolate ourselves overmuch.

One verse that has helped me in this area is Romans 12:3: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” A couple of translations say “sensibly” rather than “soberly.” According to Biblehub.com, the word means “To be of sound mind, be sober-minded, exercise self-control. From sophron; to be of sound mind, i.e. Sane, moderate.”

So how can we think about ourselves soundly?

I think, first of all, by remembering what the Bible says about us.

God made us in His image. That image has been marred by sin, yes. But each person has intrinsic value because God made them.

God sent His Son to die for us. God could have left mankind in sin. But He went to great pains to make a way that we might be forgiven through Jesus taking our sin on Himself on the cross.

God dearly loves us. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He didn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up first–we never could. Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:37-38).

God accepts us. That God “made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6, NKJV) was pivotal for me in my own thoughts about myself.

God rejoices over us. “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

We’re children of the King. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). John writes later in 1 John 3:1, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

We’re still in a state of growth, or in the process of sanctification. If we’re saved, we’ve been made new and given a new heart. But we still have the old nature that fights against us. When we sin, we don’t despair. We confess our sins to the Lord. (1 John 1:9), ask for forgiveness and His grace to overcome. We gradually change to be more like Him by gazing at Him (2 Corinthians 3:18), renewing our minds with His truth (Romans 12:1-2), and putting off our old selves and putting on the new one “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

God says we’re more valuable than the birds and flowers He cares for. Jesus told the disciples not to be anxious about their needs because God would take care of them. He pointed out the birds of the air and the flowers that “even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:25-33). He says, “Are you not of more value than they?”

God gives us something to do. Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God equips us to do what He calls us to do. He gives spiritual gifts to each of His children. (Romans 12:6–8; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; 1 Peter 4:10–11). He gives us “all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises” (2 Peter 1:3-4). He gives us His Holy Spirit to dwell within us and guide us.

We’re not enough, but God is. “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:4-5).

When old voices echo into our minds saying we’re not valuable or we’re “less than,” we need to correct our thinking with these and other truths from Scripture.

Secondly, we need to avoid comparisons.

Some of our biggest problems come in when we look at what other people have or do. Social media gets blamed for this, but, believe me, it was a problem long before.

The Bible tells us, “they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12, NKJV).

One experience in particular helped me with this. When my children were small, I had a friend at church who was about the same age with the same number of children spaced similarly apart. We traded baby-sitting for doctor’s appointments and such. Any time I was at her house, I noticed it was not only tidy and picked up, but it was nicely decorated. She sewed clothes for herself and her children, she sewed things for her home, and she sewed for other people. She was active in several ministries at church.

Meanwhile, I felt like I was barely keeping everyone fed and reasonably clean. I wondered many times why I couldn’t do all this woman did.

I finally had to realize that some people just had the capacity for more. If God passes out talents like the man in the parable, maybe she was a five-talent Christian and I was a two-talent Christian.

Some years later, this lady and her husband invited us to their home for dinner. Throughout the night, she kept getting up to start something or check on something or see about something. I thought, if this is the price for getting so much done, then maybe I’m okay with not doing so.

It’s not that either of us was right or wrong, worse or better: it was just a realization that God made us different, and that was okay.

Thirdly, we need to practice acceptance and contentment.

The disciples argued often about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. After Jesus’ death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell within believers, that didn’t seem to be as much of a problem.

Not everyone was given Peter’s place as the leader or his and James’ and John’s experiences with the Lord. Some of the disciples seemed to minister in relative obscurity.

When Peter asked Jesus what was going to happen to John, Jesus said, “What is that to you? You follow me!”

Something else that helped me was the realization that, whatever my strengths and gifts were, there was always going to be someone who could do what I did better. It’s not a contest. God has a place and a ministry for each of us. Our part is to faithfully serve Him in whatever He calls us to.

If someone has more or better or different gifts than I have, I can appreciate them and learn from them, but I don’t have to strive to be just like them. This came home to me with another friend who was one of the most organized people on the planet. I used to wish I was more like her, until I got to know her better. Some of the ways she organized just would not have worked for me and seemed too restrictive. Again, it wasn’t a matter of right or wrong, but of the different bent God gave each of us. If I had an organizational question, she would have been the first person I asked. But I didn’t have to lament that I wasn’t like her.

It’s the same with any area of life–finances, houses, clothes, looks, family size, and everything else. If someone has more or better, we can rejoice with those who rejoice.

We also don’t need to idealize others. Of course people are going to post good news on social media. That doesn’t mean their lives are perfect. Everyone has flaws and problems.

Finally, we need to turn our focus away from ourselves and minister to others.

We don’t ignore or dismiss thoughts about ourselves: we think biblically about ourselves. We may need counsel to sort out how to think and feel and respond to what others have said about us. But If we’re constantly looking at what other people have or do and feeling we’re falling short, where is our focus? On ourselves.

One of the best ways I have found to battle discontent with myself is to forget about me and minister to others. Instead of turning everything we observe from others into an unfavorable comparison with ourselves, maybe we can ask for God’s help to say something encouraging or complimentary to them. Or we can seek out other people who need encouragement. A stanza from Anna Laetitia Waring’s hymn has helped me, especially the last line:

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, through constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with joyful smiles, and to wipe the weeping eyes;
And a heart at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathize.

Another quote that has helped me is this from Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s Memoirs and Remains. I was looking up the quote about looking at Christ ten times for every look at ourselves just now when I found it in context:

Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely. Such infinite majesty, and yet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief. Live much in the smiles of God. Bask in His beams. Feel His all-seeing eye settled on you in love and repose in His almighty arms… Let your soul be filled with a heart-ravishing sense of the sweetness and excellency of Christ and all that is in Him.

And, finally, this longer quote from Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis sums it all up:

The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. . .

Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

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

How Bible Study Is Like Practicing Music

Posted on August 9, 2026 by Barbara Harper

The various church choirs I’ve been in over the years have followed a similar practice pattern.

With some hymns, the choir director might give us background information about the composer or the story behind the song.

Then the director has the choir sight-read the whole song. After that, he’ll take a section at a time and practice the parts with each group–sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. Then he has us sing that section all together before going on to the next.

Once we have the parts down, we work on things like timing and dynamics (when to sing louder or softer). This involves singing either the whole song or shorter sections of it over and over.

As we practice the whole song, we often stop to go over any problem areas and smooth over any rough spots.

Even then, we’ll rehearse the complete song a few more times before singing it for the congregation. By that time, we know it pretty well. The time spent on individual parts helped the finished piece to come together.

I realized recently that Bible study works much the same way.

It’s good to read a paragraph or section of the Bible at a time, noting what we can of the context, author, and situation that led to the passage.

We might look up words we’re not sure of. One verse might remind us of something we read in another part of the Bible that we’ll then explore.

In trying to discern the author’s main point, we might look at repeated words. Is he comparing or contrasting anything? What does a “therefore” refer back to? What point is a “but” or “however” making?

After we study through the individual sentences–and sometimes the individual phrases or words in a passage–we put it all back together: we read the passage again with renewed understanding. It may feel like studying the parts takes away from the whole; but, actually, that study enhances our comprehension.We know the passage and its truths much better than we would have with a cursory reading.

Other ways learning a song in a choir is like Bible study:

A dedicated time. If we tried to learn a song without a regular time to get together and practice, we probably wouldn’t get very far. Likewise, if we don’t make a regular time in our schedule for Bible study, we’ll likely only read haphazardly, if at all.
Regular attendance. Everyone will miss choir practice occasionally due to illness or vacations. If people only drift in and out as they feel like it, they are not going to know the song as well. Once we set aside time for reading our Bibles, we need to make the commitment to show up as often as possible.
Others help us stay on track. In my earliest choir years, if I sat too near the altos or tenors, I’d find myself singing their parts. I had to position myself firmly surrounded by sopranos to stay on the right notes. It’s good to study the Bible on our own, but we need times with others as well. Joining a group Bible study or sharing what we’ve learned with a friend will not only strengthen our understanding, but will keep from drifting into misinterpretation or a wrong application.
Crossover learning. What we learn in one song often carries over into others. I didn’t have any kind of musical training when I first joined a choir, so learning the basic symbols, Latin phrases (forte, allegro, etc.), pronunciation, timing, etc. were foundational and helpful when starting new music. What we learn in studying one section of the Bible will aid us when we study other parts.

Being in a choir–or learning any type of music– might seem like work. It might even sound boring to go over one’s part again and again and to practice so many times. But we’ll never learn an instrument or song without regularly working at it. Yet that apparently mundane practice work will result in a number that’s beautiful, that ministers to others, and that gladdens our own hearts. We get much more out of it when we put time and effort into it.

Bible study might seem like work as well. We’d much rather just pick it up, read a few verses, and receive inspiration for our day. But the Bible is so much more than a spiritual pick-me-up. That everyday reading and study is where wisdom is developed, where our souls are nourished, where we come to know more about our God. We get much more out of it when we put time and effort into it.

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

Devotional Principles and Practices

Posted on August 2, 2026 by Barbara Harper

A few weeks ago, two different friends asked me what I do for my devotional time. Reading the Bible and praying is also known as quiet time, QT, devos, and who knows how many other names.

I felt a little awkward as I shared, because I certainly don’t hold myself up as a perfect example of what a quiet time should look like. And I felt I needed to share how and why I got to the practices I use now. One of my themes is that there is not one right devotional routine.

Still, I remember as a young Christian, it helped to have some practical advice rather than a general admonition to read my Bible.

After communicating with these friends, I began to think about sharing what I told them in a blog post. Instead, I decided to share some general devotional principles I’ve learned along the way.

Read with a plan. God can speak to us when we open the Bible at random. But, generally, we get more from a passage when we read it in context. I’m a big proponent of reading through a book of the Bible at a time. We wouldn’t read line two of paragraph one of a friend’s letter one day, then line four from paragraph five the next. We’d read the whole thing, then probably go back and reread certain parts.

I was also taught early on to read the whole Bible. God says it is all inspired by Him, so we should read it all. If we just floated in and out of our favorite passages, we’d miss some buried nuggets in unexpected places. Plus, some parts of the Bible help us understand other parts.

When I first became a Christian as a teenager, my church advocated reading the Bible through in a year. I am so thankful for that, both because I needed the structure and because that practice grounded me spiritually more than anything else.

But I found that I didn’t have time to stop and ponder what I was reading because then I’d get behind on my schedule. And once I fell behind, it was very hard to catch up.

There are multiple Bible reading plans on the Internet and in various Bible apps (a good variety is here). There are plans to read the Bible in 90 days, a year, or two, or five. Some plans incorporate readings from various parts of the Bible; some focus on a book at the time. Some plans go straight through from Genesis to Revelation (as I did for years). Others go back and forth between the Old and New Testaments (as I do now). The key is to find one that works for you. However, you’re not tied to that plan for the rest of your life–you can try different things.

Sometimes you’ll read a longer passage as an overview: other times you’ll study a smaller passage more in depth. I share ways to do both here: Ways to Both Read and Study the Bible.

If a certain verse or phrase or principle in a Bible passage piques our interest, it’s perfectly acceptable to stop and investigate it more fully. Or, alternatively, we could make a note of that verse or thought and come back to it later..

Read purposefully, not passively. One problem with using any kind of plan to read the Bible is that we can fall into a “getting the assignment done” mentality. We work through our routine and then check “Bible reading” off for the day.

But what is our purpose for reading the Bible? To get to know our God better and learn how He wants us to live.

When I first started reading the Bible, I was advised to underline promises with blue, warnings with red, commands with black, and salvation verses with yellow. That was helpful as far as it went. But that focus might cause us to miss the overall theme of a passage.

One of my pastors used to say the Bible is “divinely brief.” The Bible says God’s thoughts are more than the sand. Of all the multitudes of things God could have shared with us, He chose what is in the Bible. So everything there has a purpose.

As we read a passage, we can ask a number of questions. Who is saying what to whom? What is the line of thought developed in the passage? What does this teach me about God? Is the passage prescriptive, telling me something to do, like forgive others, don’t lie, etc.? Or is it descriptive, telling me what people did that I am supposed to learn from but not copy, like polygamy in the OT? What words are repeated? What are connecting words connecting?

Read prayerfully. The psalmist prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Jesus opened people’s minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). We can’t understand the Bible in our own human reasoning. We need God to unfold it for us.

We often think of prayer as a separate part of devotions, before or after Bible reading. But we can pray while we read. When we come across verses of praise, we can express them to God right then. When we’re convicted by what we’re reading, we can confess that to God immediately, ask His forgiveness and His help to change.

Read thoughtfully. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7). God told Joshua to meditate on His law day and night (Joshua 1:8), and we’re told the righteous person does just that (Psalm 1:2).

Biblical meditation isn’t emptying the mind: it’s turning the passage over in our thoughts, looking at it from all angles.

Sometimes part of our devotional routine might be staring out the window, thinking.

Read with aids. A good study Bible made a great difference in my understanding, giving background information, the meaning of the original Greek or Hebrew words, the different interpretations of a passage. Trusted study aids like Warren Wiesrbe’s With the Word or “Be” series are helpful. I’ve also used some of the Good Book Company’s “For You” books: Isaiah for You, etc. I’ve just started one of Charles Swindoll’s Insights series on books of the Bible. There are multitudes of Bible study aids and commentaries: perhaps ask your pastor or a good friend for recommendations.

Studying the Bible with a friend or group can be helpful, too. Discussing what we’ve read helps reinforce it. Often, someone will bring out a point we missed.

Read obediently. God tells us not just to hear but to do His Word (James 1:22). After (or sometimes during) reading the Bible, we need to ask what our response should be. Sometimes we need a definite outward response: we may need to apologize to someone, change our viewing habits, stop wasting money on certain purchases, etc. But sometimes the response is inward: I need God’s grace to respond to that person with love rather than irritation; I need to change my attitude toward a job I’m not looking forward to; I need to be grateful rather than complaining.

Remember there is no perfect plan. No matter what routine we use, there will be days we wrestle with sleepiness, distractions, or boredom. We have to battle our flesh as well as the enemy of our souls who would like to keep us from God’s Word.

Every time in the Word will not give us blinding flashes of insight. Every time in the Bible will not leave us feeling warm and cozy. Sometimes God will speak to a specific need or answer a particular question for us from His Word. But most often, it’s the daily intake of spiritual food that nourishes us and sustains us. It’s like physical food. Some meals are a Thanksgiving feast. Others are less memorable, but even the tuna casserole and peanut butter sandwiches nourish us.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in our devotional routines that we forget why we’re actually having them. We feel good when we’ve accomplished everything on our list and vaguely uneasy when we haven’t. But the point of a devotional time isn’t just to work through a routine: it’s to meet with God. That can happen over one verse or thirty if we have a heart that wants to meet with and get to know our God better.

There’s so much more that could be said–in fact, the book I am *trying* to make time to write is on this very subject.

If you’d like a peek into what some other women do for their devotional time, Christa Threllfall did a series of interviews on that topic here.

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

The Wrong Kind of Nostalgia

Posted on July 26, 2026 by Barbara Harper

A few years ago, we visited the Mast General Store downtown. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia as I came to a section of toys from not only my children’s childhoods, but from mine as well. I didn’t know some of those toys were still made.

Little Golden Books have a warm place in my heart because I read many of them to my kids, and I remember some from my childhood.

Going through boxes in our shed, My husband and I discovered high school and college notebooks as well as letters from our parents and cards our children had made for us when they were small.

When we talk about the price that things used to be, I’m reminded that the half-pint milk cartons served at our school cafeteria used to be five cents. I remember when McDonald’s first became a company, their commercials said that you could get a hamburger, fries, and a soft drink and still get change back from a dollar.

I remember as a child in southeast Texas, hardly anyone had central air conditioning. After dinner in the evenings, people would bring lawn chairs out in the front yard and visit with neighbors while kids rode their bicycles up and down the street or ran through sprinklers. My dad took kids for rides on his little motor scooter.

We often look back on the past through a rosy glow. The “good old days” seem simple and idyllic.

But were they?

I see acquaintances my age on Facebook posting memes saying we need to get back to the way things were years ago. Our childhoods would have been in the 60s: the era of the Viet Nam war, civil unrest, the emergence of “free love” and the drug culture, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., the Cold War. Though our own neighborhoods seemed peaceful, the world at large was not. And who knows what we’re forgetting from our own childhoods: fights with siblings, school cliques, feeling left out.

It’s not wrong to ooh and aah over our old baby pictures or talk fondly about how things used to be. But the wrong kind of nostalgia errs in a few ways.

One error is a condescending attitude that everything was better back in our day, and everything should be done the way we did it. I’ve seen snarky memes that say things like:

“We didn’t need to take water bottles with us everywhere we went. We drank from a hose and lived to tell about it.”
“We didn’t have coping skills. We had chores and a ‘You’ll live.'”
We didn’t wear helmets on our Schwinns. A fall and a few scrapes, and we were back to riding our bikes again.”
“The world wasn’t wrapped in bubble wrap. We slid down hot metal slides and got splinters from wooden swings. That made us tougher.”
“We didn’t go to Urgent Care for every splinter. Mom got out her tweezers.”

Some changes are good. Not everyone was so fortunate as to survive a bike wreck without a helmet on. Honestly, I cringe a little at the photo of us on the scooter without helmets. Urgent cares have been a great option when the doctor’s office isn’t open and one wants to avoid emergency room costs. People probably did have coping skills of some kind. These sayings mix truth with error, but they also seek to look down on everyone younger. How are we supposed to mentor or model Christlikeness to them or encourage them with attitudes like that?

Another nostalgic error is discontent when we long so much for past days that we can’t enjoy the present. Jen Wilkin writes in None Like Him: “There is a difference between missing the past and coveting the past. The antidote for covetousness is always gratitude: We can combat a sinful love of the past by counting the gifts we have been given in the present” (p. 75).

We fail to appreciate what we have and what we’re to do in the present if we are preoccupied with the past or think it’s all-around better.

Sure, young people do things differently than we did. But we did things differently than our parents did, too, didn’t we? If we’re always talking down to them about how our ways are better than theirs, we’ll just widen the generation gap. Where there are legitimate causes for concern, we do better to approach people where they are in love and speak from Scriptural truths, not cultural contexts.

Ecclesiastes 7:10 tells us “Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”

There are things God wants us to remember and learn from the past and to anticipate and plan for in the future. But He has given us this present moment to live and serve in, to love Him and others.

Ephesians 5:15-16 tells us, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” The KJV phrases it “redeeming the time.” To quote Jen Wilkin again, “Redeeming the time requires being fully present in the present” (p. 76).

May God give us grace to enjoy His blessings and lessons from the past, but to be content with where He has us now and about His business ministering to others.

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

(Special note: I don’t usually post on Mondays, but I’ll be celebrating my 20th blog birthday with a giveaway tomorrow.)

Kinder than They Deserve

Posted on July 19, 2026 by Barbara Harper

When someone makes a cutting remark to us, we want to slice them back with our words. When they speak unkindly to us, when they are dismissive or make us feel stupid, often our first instinct is to answer them back in like manner. “Oh yeah? Well, you . . . “

I’m not confrontational by nature, so I may not say what comes to mind. But I’ve sure fed retaliatory thoughts for hours after a negative encounter.

Yet I am often convicted by Colossians 4:6: “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” (NKJV).

Christians use the word “grace” a lot. There are many ramifications of what grace means in the Bible, but the standard definition of grace is “unmerited favor.” Though the word isn’t used in Romans 5:8-10, the concept is: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”

Titus 3 provides another clear illustration. Verse 3 says we “were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.” Then there comes a turning point: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (verses 4-7).

If we understand grace as God’s favor shown to us when we didn’t deserve it, then what does it mean to let our speech be with grace?

Well, the grace that God shows to us, we show to others. We don’t react negatively to negativity. We forgive because He forgives us. We love out of the overflow of His love for us.

I like to think of it as being kinder to other people than we think they deserve. Of course, we should treat every person with the respect of an image-bearer of God.

But when someone isn’t bearing that image well, we don’t respond in kind. The Internet has made harsh speech the norm rather than the exception since we can’t see the hurt in others’ eyes or when we know they can’t hurt us beyond flinging words back at us.

But when we speak with grace, we respond kindly even when others are harsh. We remember God was kind to us when we didn’t deserve it.

Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath.” Responding softly can often disarm a person’s anger and diffuse the tension.

But grace isn’t just about conflict avoidance. Ephesians 4:29 tells us, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” We build others up with our speech instead of tearing them down. We “minister grace to the hearers,” as the KJV puts it. Hopefully, the grace we show others, even when, especially when, they don’t deserve it will point them back to the One who gave grace to us and wants to give it to them as well.

Gracious speech isn’t dull, wishy-washy, Pollyanna-ish, never taking a stand. Colossians 4:6 goes on to say our gracious speech should be “seasoned with salt.” Ephesians 4:15 talks about “speaking the truth in love.” Jesus was full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

We have to share truth, even when it hurts, because it would be even more hurtful to the person not to share it. But we don’t wield truth like a club. We share truth graciously, in love, hoping for their reconciliation.

May God give us the grace to be kind and gracious to others, even when they don’t seem to deserve it, because He was kind and gracious to us when we didn’t deserve it.

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

Aging Is a Series of Relinquishments

Posted on July 12, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Sometime in our thirties, we realize we can’t do everything we did in our teens and twenties. My sons that age have joked about throwing their back out when they sneezed or turned quickly.

In our forties, suddenly our body chemistry changes. I never had problems with dairy products until I was forty. When I asked my doctor why I suddenly did, he just answered “hormones.” I also became allergic to penicillin and sulfa around that time, though I had taken them for years before.

It seems the older we get, the more we lose physically. Our energy diminishes. Our health may go downhill. Our looks melt into wrinkles and greyness. Our vision and hearing may become problematic. Eventually, we might have to give up car keys. Our decreasing mobility may require walkers or canes.

In some ways, we might feel we’ve lost our identity. Women facing the empty nest and men facing retirement may struggle with who they are and what to do with themselves. We may not be able to participate in the ministries or activities we always used to.

We might feel the sting of lost influence as younger people think we’re out of touch and seek their peers’ advice and fellowship instead.

And, if we live long enough, we might lose our homes and end up in a facility. I remember when my mother-in-law moved into assisted living, I was sad that her life was now reduced to one room.

We may lose our privacy and dignity if we can no longer take care of our bathing, dressing, and toileting. And we may lose our memories if we develop dementia.

This all might sound really depressing except for a few factors.

I heard someone on the radio years ago say that one reason our bodies start falling apart as we age is to make us willing to let loose of them. We have such a strong survival instinct, and we often want to stay for our families. But gradually we admit that heaven looks much better than life here.

God is gracious to make us aware of our mortality in increments. As we face each relinquishment, we’re geared a little more toward eternity.

I like to think of it something like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. It doesn’t need its caterpillar appearance any more. It doesn’t need the chrysalis. It would look absurd if it tried to hold on to its old “house” while flying around with its beautiful new wings. Whatever we relinquish here, we won’t need in heaven. As C. S. Lewis wrote in Letters to an American Lady, “There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

And those who know God have his promises in our old age:

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee (2 Corinthians 5:1-5).
“Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).
“But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand” (Psalm 31:14-15a)
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).
“They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him (Psalm 92:14-15).

When we took care of my husband’s mother, she slept most of her last two years. I wondered how this verse played out in her life–how was she still bearing fruit in that condition? Part of it was her testimony all her life until that time. Part of it was her lack of complaining and her willingness to undergo whatever she had to. And part of it was the peace that hospice workers and caregivers sensed when they came to see her.

I’ve often been inspired by the poem from William Newton Clarke:

Gone, they tell me, is youth.
Gone is the strength of my life:
Nothing remains but decline,
Nothing but age and decay.

Not so, I’m God’s little child,
Only beginning to live;
Coming the years of my prime,
Coming the strength of my life;
Coming the vision of God,
Coming my bloom and my power.

To be sure, I still don’t look forward to the process of death or the decline that leads to it. The Bible calls death the last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), so it’s right to think of it as such.

And I don’t mean to give the impression that aging is all negative. There is a settledness that comes with aging. We don’t know everything, of course, but some of the issues we wrestled with in younger years are no longer a problem. Our limitations make it clearer what we can and can’t do, so it’s easier to make choices and to say no when we need to. We’ve developed some degree of wisdom by walking with the Lord for so many decades. We don’t need to go at the driven pace we used to.

We’ve experienced a few of these relinquishments. We hope to escape some of them and we hope that others are two or three decades away. We’ve talked about various scenarios that might play out in our final years–if he should go first, if I should, if one or the other of us needs more care than the other can give. We’ve shared our preferences, but, truly, we may not have any control when the time comes.

But whatever happens when, God promises His grace through it. We don’t have grace for it now because we don’t need it yet. Until then, each reminder that I have an expiration date spurs me to make the most of the time I have left. I pray along with the psalmist, “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come” (Psalm 71:18).

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

The Danger of Blessings

Posted on July 5, 2026 by Barbara Harper

When we assess what gives us the most trouble in life, we usually point to trials or problems. It can be hard to trust the Lord or have a good attitude in the midst of them. We feel life would be so much easier, and we’d be much more useful to God and others, without these issues that cost us so much time and effort and emotion.

Yet, it’s often those trials that strengthen our faith and give us a platform to show God’s grace and faithfulness to others.

We don’t suspect our blessings, the good things in our lives, of causing us any harm. But God gives a warning to Israel that is just as applicable to us today.

In Deuteronomy, Moses was preparing the people for the new land and life they were about to enter. He reiterated God’s commands and warnings. He reminded them of how God cared for them in the wilderness for forty years. He gave a brief preview in Deuteronomy 8 of the blessings to come. But those blessings came with a couple of unexpected warnings.

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for ^rit is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day’ ( Deuteronomy 8:11-18).

Don’t forget God. Moses warned the people that when they experienced the long-awaited blessings of the promised land, they’d be tempted to forget God. And that’s true for us, too, isn’t it? When life is easy, we often grow complacent and then independent. We forget everything we have is from God. We forget the lessons we learned through the trials. We need God just as much as we ever did, but we don’t feel that need as much in the good times.

Don’t be proud. Moses warns that after blessings, then our hearts can be “lifted up.” Centuries later, King Uzziah demonstrated this very thing. After listing his accomplishments, the Bible says, “He was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God” (2 Chronicles 26:15-16).

Back to Deuteronomy 8, Moses goes on to say, “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth” (verse 17). Chapter 9:4 repeats, “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land.” The point is made further in 9:6: “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.”

It’s an odd thing that we can become proud when God is the one who gave us whatever we have. But I have experienced that, and I imagine you have, too.

How can we combat these temptations?

Remember whose we are. Back in Deuteronomy 7:6, Moses reminds the people, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.” When we remember we are not our own, but we are bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus, we are motivated to yield to His will and not our own.

Do God’s will. “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today” (Deuteronomy 8:11). His commandments are not grievous, John says, but are for our good.

Remember how God has led you. Deuteronomy 7 and 8 recount how God led His people. Chapter 7, verse 2 says, “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you.” When we look back at God’s leading and provision in our lives, trust and praise to Him bubbles up within us.

Remember everything comes from Him. “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18). Jeremiah 9:23-24 tells us “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.’”1 Corinthians 4:7 reminds us, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

Remember His past mercies. Moses reminds the people, “Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness” (9:7). When we think we “deserve” blessing, we need a quick reality check. If we got what we deserved, we’d be in big trouble. But God deals with us in mercy and grace.

Be thankful. The downward trajectory of mankind detailed in Romans 1 says, among other things, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (verse 21). We need to thank God not only because He deserves it, but we need the reminder to acknowledge His gifts with thanksgiving.

Don’t trust in your blessings. Paul instructed Pastor Timothy, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). We’re prone to find our security in our “stuff,” our tangible blessings. But those can be taken away. Our only security is in God.

Use blessings to help others. Paul further instructs those with much, “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:18-19). God blesses us that we may in turn bless others, not hoard our blessings for ourselves.

It’s not that anything is wrong with the blessings God gives us. Rather, our hearts are “prone to wander,” as the old hymn says–prone to look to ourselves instead of God, prone to trust in the gift rather than the Giver, prone to forget who gives us our blessings in the first place.

May God give us grace to always look to Him, love Him, lean on Him, and use the resources He gives us for His honor and glory.

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

When Your Biggest Problem Becomes Your Biggest Asset

Posted on June 28, 2026 by Barbara Harper

Temple Grandin was diagnosed with brain damage at the age of two in 1949. But her mother found an article on autism symptoms and felt that diagnosis fit Temple better (Temple was formally diagnosed as autistic as an adult). At that time, doctors advised that children like Temple be institutionalized. Her father wanted to follow the doctor’s advice, but her mother did not. Her parents divorced a few years later.

Temple’s mother took her to special needs researchers and neurologists, hired speech therapists and nannies to work with her, tried to make her school environment accommodating, and eventually enrolled her in a specialized school. She taught Temple social rules to help her remember how to interact with others. She emphasized that Temple was “different, not less.”

When Temple was a teenager, she worked at an aunt’s farm one summer. She noticed that the cattle mooed in different ways. When she mentioned that to others, they dismissed its importance. But Temple kept observing. She also noticed that when left to themselves, the cattle would herd themselves in circular patterns away from their handlers. She saw that they got upset by shadows, clothing dangling from a fence, and other distractions. When they got upset, they’d try to get away, causing damage and sometimes death to themselves and other cattle in their panic.

Years later, Temple designed a circular ramp system for cattle to go through the dipping process to protect them from insects. Many didn’t believe her or take her seriously at first. But when they took her suggestions, they found the system was not only more humane and calming for animals, but it saved the ranchers from loss due to animal injury. She went on to revolutionize the cattle industry with other suggestions and inventions.

In the movie Temple Grandin, Temple and her mother attend an autism conference by a leading “expert.” The parents in the audience shout questions to him which he can’t seem to answer. Temple stands to address some of the questions. Someone asks her how old her child is. She says she doesn’t have an autistic child, but she is autistic herself. When she mentions her degrees and her career, she’s flooded with questions until the moderator asks her to come forward to address the group. The parents are filled with hope while hearing someone who understands their children and has successfully navigated her life with autism. She went on to speak and write books about being autistic.

While autism is a different way of thinking and not a problem in itself, from what I understand, it can lead to misunderstandings and even bullying. Though Temple faced a lot of hardships growing up, her different way of perceiving things eventually became her greatest gift. She saw and understood things others didn’t. Her experiences became a beacon of hope to others.

In a similar vein, Joni Eareckson Tada broke her neck in a diving accident as a teenager. She has spent more than fifty years as a quadriplegic, encouraging and ministering to others, advocating for the disabled, supplying wheelchairs to people around the world, writing books, hosting a radio program, and speaking at events. Her words carry weight because of her experiences. We know she doesn’t talk about suffering only from a theological standpoint, but an experiential one.

Pastor John Vaughn’s wife and two-year-old daughter were severely burned in a fire in 1978. Neither were expected to survive, but they did. A few years later, when Vaughn sought for a Christian school to accommodate his daughter’s special needs, he couldn’t find one. He ended up starting Hidden Treasure Christian School, which grew to educate children with a variety of special needs for more than forty years now. One of their mottoes is “God has given each child what they need to accomplish His purpose in his or her life.”

Sometimes the areas in life where we have suffered or experienced pain or problems are the very things God uses in our lives to minister to others. That makes sense. Second Corinthians 1:4 says God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” The areas where we have struggled are the areas where we have learned to trust Him, to depend on Him, to function within the parameters He has given us.

Most of us have not experienced trials this severe, but we’ve all experienced problems. Family issues, death, illnesses, financial situations–whatever God has allowed in our lives, we can empathize with others in those situations and help them with what we have learned. De Witt Talmage has written that our work may be “to stand a lighthouse at the mouth of the bay to light others into harbor; perhaps to show how glorious a sunset may come after a stormy day.”

A poem that I have quoted often here is from an anonymous author and first came to my attention in Rosalind Goforth’s book, Climbing: Memories of a Missionary Wife. The first stanza says:

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back;
‘Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;
And if, perchance, Faith’s light is dim, because the oil is low,
Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.

From our experience with the Lord along the way, we can testify to others, as one song says, “All my life You have been faithful. All my life You have been so, so good.” And we can encourage them that He will be faithful and good in their lives, too, as they trust Him.

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

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?