A Closer Look

I have an old, fading snapshot sitting on my desk. Not sure how it got there. It’s a three inch by three inch picture from a long-ago December in 1969. I was thirteen, and my family was visiting relatives in Florida over our Christmas break. My aunt, uncle, and two of my cousins are standing outside the door of their home. It’s a family photo I’ve gazed at now and then throughout the years. But today I looked at it and spied something I don’t believe I’d noticed before. My older sister Nina (eighteen) stands on the far left of the photo camouflaged by trees behind her, a few branches in front of her, and the shadow of leaves on her and the house to her right. (She probably thought she was far enough away to be outside the picture). What adds to the camouflage is her white sweater against the white of the house, dark slacks that fade into the shadows near her feet, and dark glasses. 

For me, it was a wow! Apparently, my eyes had always been drawn to the four family members framed in the center of the picture. Perhaps it’s because my younger cousin is wearing red pajamas. Or perhaps it’s my Uncle Clyde, my dad’s brother and my favorite uncle, dressed all in white with a smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes. 

I looked closer and noticed other things. My thirteen-year-old cousin Jimmy is barefoot and wearing gold, flowered pants. My older cousin Kerry is missing from the photo. Still in bed? A football sits at an angle in a low bush to the right, and a strand of Christmas lights decorates the soffit above their heads. It’s the old-fashioned kind with big-colored bulbs that burn when touched.

Spying my sister for the first time in that old picture reminds me of the many times I’ve read a Bible verse or passage and something (an insight or detail) pops out that I’ve never noticed before. Another “wow” moment.

I think of what the apostle Paul wrote: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Yes, but that doesn’t mean we always understand what it’s meant to teach us. And sometimes we can read a passage and come away with seemingly nothing. But just as with my picture, sometimes we need to take a closer look and really examine it. What’s the context? The setting? The audience?

At other times, we may not be ready for a particular insight, or our focus is elsewhere. That was true of many of Jesus’ listeners in the first century. In Matthew 13, a large crowd listened as Jesus spoke in parables (v. 3). After telling the people gathered the parable of the sower, His disciples took Him aside and asked why He liked to speak in parables (v. 10). His answer? “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (v. 13). Then He exclaimed, “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (v. 16) and proceeded to explain what the parable meant. Even the disciples needed spiritual enlightenment and growth. Their eyes had to be open.

That’s true for all of us. Jesus knew His followers through the ages would need help perceiving and understanding His words and their truths, and that’s why He sent His Holy Spirit to live in and to teach and guide us to the truth (Luke 14:26John 16:13). When we open and dig into the Bible, the Spirit is the One who brings clarity, opening our eyes to “new” details or truths and sometimes even giving us those “wow” moments of insight.

Going back to that old picture. When I examined it, it told me a lot. It was also an emotive experience. I felt nostalgic memories of family, of vacations, of youth, of times past, of people long gone. That’s true of Scripture as well. When we read a passage again, not for the first time, we bring who we are and what we’ve learned and experienced to the words. God through the Holy Spirit uses all of that to bring freshness to old, familiar passages. It’s “God-breathed”!

–Written by Alyson Kieda. Used by permission from the author.