Our humanity shines through the scriptures just like our theology.
Our politics, our sociology, our psychology are all prevalent in the Bible if we pay attention enough. Instead of seeing humans during biblical times as abnormal because they were documented in the most sold and most well known book in the world, we see them as everyday human beings with feelings, thoughts, quirks, idiosyncrasies, and quarries.
Seeing them as real people with real problems, allows us to be ministered to on not just a spiritual level but as a practical human level. This is where we have to recognize that over spiritualizing does not benefit us as a whole. It is when we can see the (hu)man and the free will of our soul that we can begin to recognize ourselves more clearly in the scriptures.
For instance, this evening a thought crossed my mind that led to an impromptu bible study on the psychology and sociology of oppression and liberation. It can seem kind of random until we remember that liberation is one of my personal and business core values. It is a huge part of what I am wired to do. Of course if we’re talking liberation from oppression then the Israelites are an obvious example.
I thought to myself hours later that I hadn’t written a Sacred Resistance Journal article in a while. This is a perfect addition.
In the book of Exodus, we walk through a story of oppression and liberation. The oppressor being the Pharaoh and his people in Egypt. The oppressed being the Hebrew Israelites and the generations of families enslaved. They were marginalized. Forced to assimilate. Erased from autonomy of self and communal agency. They experienced collective trauma that passed through generations.
We also see the Israelites respond to their liberation first through eyes of gratitude and later ways of the internally oppressed. The Bible speaks plainly of the many sins of the people toward God, Moses, and Aaron. They showcased obvious signs of trauma response such as fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. They were physically free but still internally bound to the oppression of the past so much so that they saw that life as familiar in comparison to the unknown of walking with God.
In our country, I think we are still dealing with the residual of the racial and societal constructs of slavery, segregation, and colonized mindsets. Not much different from the stories of Israelites under oppressive rulers like Egypt, Babylon, and Rome, as well as, when they were delivered by God’s mercy.
What can we learn from this common thread?
We learn that liberation is not just a historical event. It is also a spiritual and psychological journey that every generation must reckon with. Deliverance may begin in a moment, but healing and transformation take a lifetime.
The Israelites were no different than us. And we are no different than them. They carried the weight of trauma in their bones, just like our communities do. And still, God chose to dwell among them.
We learn that divine liberation isn’t sanitized or romantic. It’s messy, disruptive, and often terrifying. It requires us to let go of the systems that once gave us false security, and to walk forward with a kind of holy uncertainty. Freedom comes with grief, because even our chains can feel familiar. But God’s call has never been to return to comfort. It has always been to become whole. To go through instead of around.
We learn that Scripture is not merely a spiritual text but also a mirror, a manual, and a map. A mirror that shows us our full humanity. A manual that helps us understand the anatomy of trauma and the grace of God. And a map that leads us not just toward heaven, but toward healed community, renewed minds, and just systems on earth.
Finally, we learn that liberation must be sacred.
It must touch every part of who we are: spirit, soul, body, and society. That’s why I write. That’s why I teach. That’s why I coach. Because I believe in a God who is not only concerned with sin but with systems. A God who doesn’t just want us saved, but wants us free.
So let this journal entry be a reminder:
You are not reading an ancient book of strangers.
You are reading your story.
Our story.
The story of a people being healed while on the way to wholeness.
May we walk it together, with sacred resistance.
