Word and Hope · Bible Articles
Biblical answers to the questions people actually bring into counseling.
Every article here starts with a real question someone brought to Pastor Matthew Schaefer — about a parable, a hard providence, a marriage, a besetting sin — and works through it slowly, straight from the text.
Written by
Matthew Schaefer
Pastor at First Baptist Church of Wellston. He writes the way he counsels — plainly, from Scripture, without padding — because the people asking these questions deserve a straight answer, not a devotional.
The article library
New articles are added regularly as real counseling questions turn into written answers.
Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Idols and God's Glory? Psalm 29
Psalm 29 takes every claim the ancient world gave to a storm god and hands it back to the true one. It leaves us asking: what have we been crediting to our own idols?
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Numbering Our Days? Psalm 90
Moses prays from the gap between God's eternity and our few, hard years — asking not for information about death, but for a different heart altogether.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About God as Our Shepherd? Psalm 23
Psalm 23 doesn't promise an easy life. It promises something better: a shepherd who is with you in the green pastures and in the darkest valley alike.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About God's Steadfast Love? Psalm 36
Psalm 36 shows two pictures side by side: the deceitful darkness of the human heart, and a love from God so vast it fills the heavens. We're asked which one we'll live by.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Creation and Scripture? Psalm 19
Creation and Scripture are two witnesses telling the same story — and both leave us needing more than admiration. They leave us needing a Redeemer.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About How Long Suffering Lasts? Psalm 13
Psalm 13 is built to slow you down. Its structure hides the point until the very end — and the point is how a believer responds to God in the middle of unresolved pain.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Giving? Luke 12:16-21
The rich fool wasn't condemned for his wealth, but for believing it was his own. Everything we have belongs to God — the only question is whether we live like owners or stewards.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Spiritual Thirst? Psalm 63
Written in the wilderness, Psalm 63 shows us how to pray when God feels distant — moving from thirst, to remembrance, to the settled confession that he is better than life itself.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Loving God's Word? Psalm 119:9-16
Psalm 119 isn't first a portrait of you — it's a portrait of Christ, who kept his way perfectly pure. Only because of that can this psalm become our prayer too.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Praying for Justice? Psalm 137
Psalm 137 ends with one of Scripture's most shocking prayers. It's meant to be a comfort — teaching us to bring our grief over injustice to God rather than take it into our own hands.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Giving Thanks? Psalm 107
Psalm 107 traces one pattern four times over: crisis, crying out, rescue, and thanksgiving. It's the rhythm of everyone God has redeemed — and it's ours to pray.
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Christian Living
What Does the Bible Say About Feeling Distant From God? Psalm 42-43
When your soul is cast down and God feels far away, these two psalms teach you how to pray honestly, preach truth to yourself, and anchor your hope in Christ.
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Psalms
What Does the Bible Say About Confessing Sin? Psalm 51
David didn't see the problem with his own behavior until Nathan the prophet confronted him. Psalm 51 and what it looks like to pray when we've fallen.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” — Psalm 51:1
Psalms
What Does the Bible Say About How to Pray? Psalm 145
If prayer is learning to speak with God, we should begin the same way Jesus began: with adoration, not requests. Psalm 145 and two simple ways to pray Scripture back to God.
“I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever... Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” — Psalm 145:1, 3
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Joy in Christ? The Book of Philippians
Stepping back from the phrase-by-phrase study to hear Philippians the way its first readers did — as one letter, read straight through, from a man in chains who could not stop rejoicing.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” — Philippians 4:4
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Contentment? Philippians 4:10-23
Paul learned to be content whether in plenty or in need — and he tells us plainly where that strength came from. Philippians 4:10-23 on contentment, gospel partnership, and God's promise to...
“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.” — Philippians 4:11-12
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Renewing Your Mind? Philippians 4:8-9
What fills your mind shapes your life, the same way food shapes your body. Philippians 4:8-9 and the eight "whatevers" that describe the mind of Christ.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” — Philippians 4:8
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Anxiety? Philippians 4:6-7
Anxiety isn't dealt with by force of will alone — it has to be replaced. Philippians 4:6-7 on prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, and the peace that surpasses understanding.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” — Philippians 4:6
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Standing Firm? Philippians 4:1-5
Unity, joy, gentleness, and hope don't come from circumstances. Philippians 4:1-5 grounds all four in a single fact: the Lord is near.
“Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.” — Philippians 4:1
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Who We Imitate? Philippians 3:17-21
You are imitating someone right now, whether you've noticed it or not. Philippians 3:17-21 on godly examples, enemies of the cross, and the citizenship that shapes how we live.
“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” — Philippians 3:17
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Pressing On? Philippians 3:12-16
Paul, the apostle who wrote half the New Testament, flatly refuses to say he has arrived. Philippians 3:12-16 on why the Christian life is a race run to the very end.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” — Philippians 3:12
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Gaining Christ? Philippians 3:8-11
Thirty years after his conversion, in a Roman prison, Paul still says the same thing he said on the Damascus road: everything else is rubbish compared to Christ.
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” — Philippians 3:8
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Counting Everything as Loss? Philippians 3:1-7
Paul had every credential a first-century Jew could want — and he moved every single one of them from the gain column to the loss column. What made him do the accounting that way?
“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.” — Philippians 3:1
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Genuine Christian Concern? Philippians 2:19-24
Paul had just handed the Philippians an impossible standard: have the mind of Christ. Now he shows them a real, ordinary, imperfect man who is actually living it — and asks whether our lives...
“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you.” — Philippians 2:19
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About the Humility of Christ? Philippians 2:5-11
An ancient hymn about a God who refused to grasp at His own glory, and was lifted higher than anyone in history because of it.
“"He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped."” — Philippians 2:6
Philippians
What Does the Bible Say About Christian Identity? Philippians 1:1-2
It's easy to read past a letter's opening greeting. Paul packs four load-bearing truths about identity and the church into just two verses.
“"Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi."” — Philippians 1:1
Old Testament Narrative
What Does the Bible Say About Godly Grief vs. Worldly Grief? 1 Samuel 26
David spares Saul's life for the second time. Saul says "I have sinned" for at least the third time. Same words, same tears — and it still leads nowhere.
“"Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed?"” — 1 Samuel 26:9
Old Testament Narrative
What Does the Bible Say About Being Rejected for Doing Good? 1 Samuel 23
David saves an entire city from ruin. The moment danger turns his way, that same city is ready to hand him over. A hard story about what it costs to do good.
“"And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines."” — 1 Samuel 23:5
Old Testament Narrative
What Does the Bible Say About Partial Obedience? Lessons from Saul and the Amalekites
King Saul comes back from battle certain he's done well. He obeyed almost everything God commanded — and that "almost" cost him the kingdom.
“"To obey is better than sacrifice."” — 1 Samuel 15:22
The Psalms
What Does Psalm 1 Mean? The Blessed Man, the Wicked Man, and You
Psalm 1 describes a blessed man who never sins and a wicked man who perishes, with no third option offered. If that doesn't sound like you yet, that's not the end of the story.
“"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked."” — Psalm 1:1
The Parables of Jesus
What Does the Bible Say About the Parable of the Sower?
Jesus told a story about a farmer, some seed, and four kinds of ground. It's also one of the most searching questions he ever put to a crowd: when the word of God lands on you, what kind of soil are you?
“"A sower went out to sow."” — Mark 4:3
The Ten Commandments
What Does the Bible Say About Adultery and the Seventh Commandment?
Adultery has touched nearly every family in some way. Jesus says the seventh commandment was never just about the act itself — it starts in the heart, long before it reaches the hand.
“"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’"” — Matthew 5:27
What we write about
The library is organized around real categories of Bible questions, not just recent posts.
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