Verse from Hebrews

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

In the late nineteenth century, few people had access to the great sequoia groves in the United States, and many didn’t believe the reports of the massive trees. In 1892, however, four lumberjacks ventured into the Big Stump Forest in California and spent thirteen days felling the grand tree named Mark Twain. Twain was 1,341 years old, three hundred feet tall, and fifty feet in circumference. One observer described Twain as a tree “of magnificent proportions, one of the most perfect trees in the grove.” They shipped part of this remarkable beauty, now destroyed, to the American Museum of Natural History, where everyone could see a sequoia.

The reality, though, is that we can’t prove every truth with our eyes alone. Hebrews describes faith as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith isn’t irrational or a fit of fancy, because the whole story is grounded in a person—Jesus—who has entered human history. Faith includes human senses and reason, but it’s not limited to them. Faith requires more. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command,” Hebrews says, “so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (v. 3).

It’s often difficult to trust what we can’t touch or see or completely comprehend. But our faith in Christ, made possible by the Spirit, helps us to believe more than we can see.

Verse from Psalm

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. Psalm 119:71

The brain is remarkably small, but stress can make it even smaller. Recent research has revealed that cumulative stress can shrink the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for managing emotions, impulses, and social interactions. This shrinkage is linked to anxiety and depression, highlighting the toll that a lifetime of stress can take. But there’s good news—the brain’s plasticity allows it to heal through intentional practices like exercise, meditation, and meaningful relationships.

The psalmist in Psalm 119 understood this idea of growth and healing after facing stress and hardship: “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (v. 71). 

Affliction, though painful, became the psalmist’s teacher—taking us from being “astray” from God to choosing to “obey [His] word” (v. 67). The psalmist expresses gratitude for his bitter medicine and God’s goodness (v. 68). While he understood that affliction and suffering could diminish him, he trusted God to use those experiences to refine and restore him (v. 66).

Like our brains, our spirits are capable of being stretched. God uses this stretching to cause growth and renewal. Through Scripture, prayer, and a Spirit-inspired perspective, He can reverse the effects of our hardships. He can use our afflictions for our spiritual growth, transforming pain into purpose.

Verse from Proverbs

The soothing tongue is a tree of life. Proverbs 15:4

How are we to respond to the poisonous messages we so often encounter? The book of Proverbs offers sound counsel. Solomon, who compiled most of the book, brackets chapter 15 with similar imagery: “the mouth of the fool gushes folly” (v. 2), and “the mouth of the wicked gushes evil” (v. 28). The chapter begins, however, with the antidote to such venom: “A gentle answer turns away wrath” (v. 1). Solomon also noted, “The soothing tongue is a tree of life” (v. 4). Always, a patient response is key: “The heart of the righteous weighs its answers” (v. 28).

How might God use our words when we ask Him to help us weigh them before our mouths, our pens, or our keyboards spew venom and vitriol at our fellow humans? As the proverb says, “How good is a timely word!” (v. 23).

Verse from Romans

Be devoted to one another in love. Romans 12:10

In Romans 12, Paul urges new believers not to try to do life in Jesus alone. Instead of seeing themselves as self-sufficient and thinking of themselves “more highly than [they] ought” (v. 3), they needed to see themselves as part of an interdependent body, where every member needs each other’s help (vv. 4-8).

As Jesus helps us learn how to “be devoted to one another in love” (v. 10), we can experience life “in harmony” with each other, where one another’s needs, griefs, and joys (vv. 13, 15) are never carried alone.