When I had LASIK surgery a few years ago, I was stunned by what I could suddenly see. For the first time in years, individual leaves on trees stood out. Greens popped with a vibrancy I had long forgotten. The world hadn’t changed—but my eyes had. That moment gave me a new perspective, a sudden clarity that felt like seeing creation as it truly was.

Faith does something similar. It gives us a new lens to view the world. We begin to see things not just as they are, but as they were intended to be. We are given eyes that see and ears that hear.

While LASIK improved my view of God’s creation, it was my faith that improved how I read Scripture. I stopped approaching the Bible merely to gather knowledge or check off a spiritual to-do list. Instead, I began to read to gain God’s perspective.

Many of us secretly wish the Bible worked more like an instruction manual—clear steps, exact outcomes, no uncertainty. Like building a Lego set, we want to follow the directions and end up with a box-top version of the Christian life. But Scripture doesn’t work like that—and for good reason.

Instead, the Bible is a storybook—one that tells of real people wrestling with real life, learning to trust a faithful God. Through their stories, we’re not given blueprints—we’re given wisdom. As When Home Hurts puts it:

“Scripture does not provide a simple index of the exact response to any situation we find ourselves in. Scripture provides guiding principles that we then, in reliance on the Holy Spirit, use to discern how best to respond. This is a dynamic process that requires us to acknowledge multiple biblical angles from which to consider our lives.”

It’s like holding up a gemstone—examining it from different angles, each facet catching the light and revealing more of its beauty. As we read about others struggling through their life circumstances, we are invited to see God’s purposes for us in our situations

Consider these people:

• Demas, whose faith faded because he loved the world
• Epaphras, whose faith was strengthened through trials
• Mephibosheth, who experienced restoration despite shame and brokenness
• Ahab, whose passivity led to retreat and ruin
• Rahab, whose courage and confidence sheltered a people’s hope

These stories aren’t neat moral tales. They’re messy, honest, and deeply human. But they are also inspirational—because they remind us that others have faced difficult circumstances and yet, by God’s grace, endured.

And as we read them, they challenge us to trust a little longer, to try a little harder and to lean on the Lord through all things.