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Broken Heroes

Bible heroes are just like us—messy and broken and called by God. God used them to do important work, in spite of their faults. We can be inspired because—in the same way—God loves, calls, and uses us for divine impact. Our flaws do not disqualify us; they help us lean all the more on God’s power and grace. God’s work will always prevail, because of his goodness and faithfulness—not ours!

Peter's Recklessness

Nov 21, 2021

Peter was the most well-known of Jesus’ disciples—he was the first to publicly proclaim the Gospel on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), and the first to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10). But he was also thoughtlessly impetuous! From cutting off a soldier’s ear (John 18:26), trying to thwart Jesus’ plan of salvation, or suddenly rejecting the Gentiles he ate with, Peter often acted before he thought.

Yet, Jesus still used Peter as the Rock of the church! God has planned out our redemption since the dawn of time, thoughtfully and patiently working through imperfect human beings to bring salvation to all humanity!

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Solomon's Greed

Nov 14, 2021

Solomon was famously blessed by God to be a wise, powerful, and wealthy king. Yet in his pursuit to expand his power and wealth (he became the richest man in history), he lost sight of the wisdom that God had granted him, fell into idolatry, and set his kingdom on a path to destruction.

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David's Passivity

Nov 7, 2021

David’s ancestry is so important that one of Jesus Christ’s most commonly used titles was the “Son of David.” And yet in David’s own family, he passively tolerated and enabled severe dysfunction amongst his children. One son raped his half-sister, and David did nothing. In light of David’s inaction, another son murdered the first son. Yet another son led a rebellion, and usurped David’s throne in defiance of God’s will. In all of it, David refused to take leadership of his family when they needed him most.

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David's Violence

Oct 31, 2021

David is mostly known as being “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14). He was a faithful and conquering king of God’s people. Yet for most of his life, David used violence and murder as his primary method of achieving his goals. He tried to execute Israelites who didn’t support him enough, and murdered a good man to cover up his adultery.

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Samson’s Lust

Oct 17, 2021

Samson is known for his Spirit-filled, superhuman strength. He killed more Philistines with his final action than most generals did in a lifetime! And yet throughout his life, Samson was led by his passions. He had illicit affairs, made rash marriages, and let his beguilement by a prostitute lead to his downfall.

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Moses’ Anger

Oct 10, 2021

Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, led God’s people for decades, and even came down from heaven to visit Jesus on earth (Matt. 17:3). Yet Moses was routinely angered by the “stiff-necked people” God asked him to lead. In his youth, he lashed out at injustice, accidentally killing a guard. He broke the tablets of the Ten Commandments in his wrath. And his anger problems culminated in his last days, when he performed a miracle in frustration, with a consequence that God forbade him from entering the promised land.

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Jacob’s Deceit

Oct 3, 2021

Jacob is revered as a patriarch—a father of God’s people, who were labelled based on Jacob’s own nickname, Israel (Gen. 32:28). But Jacob was always scheming to get the things he wanted—land, a more beautiful wife, even stealing God’s blessing from his brother. This constant scheming disrupted his family. He told whatever lie he needed to accomplish his desires.

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Sarah’s Cruelty

Sep 26, 2021

Sarah’s name means “princess,” and she is honored for her faith in trusting God to give her a baby in her old age (Heb. 11:11). Her son Isaac was proof of God’s promise, and an ancestor of God’s people. Yet, having invited another woman’s son into her family, Sarah couldn’t stand that Ishmael and Hagar would have equal standing to herself and Isaac. Sarah treated her servant (and her child) cruelly, and ultimately demanded they be cast out, so she could have primacy in the family.

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Abraham’s Mistrust

Sep 19, 2021

Abraham is known in children’s songs as “Father Abraham,” because Christians are his descendants in “faith” (Gen. 15:6). In spite of God’s repeated promises, Abraham routinely tried to take matters into his own hands, in morally dubious ways. He fathered a child with a servant, and dishonorably used his own wife as a decoy for protection against Pharaoh.

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