This week, I’ve been overwhelmed with the simple realization that kindness is a superpower.

It breaks down barriers.

It can stop an angry person in his tracks (Prov. 15v1).

A kind word can unlock the secrets of another’s heart, or be the key that activates healing from a past wound (Prov. 25v11).

Kindness makes people think about God differently because most people don’t consider God to be kind.

But he is, friend.

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This morning I was reading in John 14, and after Jesus had told his apprentices that he would be leaving them soon, but not alone, he spoke the following words:

All this I have spoken while still with you. (John‬ ‭14‬:‭25‬, emphasis mine)

We’ve all heard the expression that some things are better left unsaid, and yet I sensed the Holy Spirit whispering to me as I read that some things are better said. That some words carry weight that can only be felt when they are spoken and, because of the proximity, heard.

I mean, let’s be real, if you got a text from the IRS saying you owed money, you’d delete it and report it as junk. But let a card-carrying, badge-wearing IRS agent knock on your door to tell you the same thing, and you’re suddenly listening. I can tell by the sweat forming on your brow just from reading that scenario that you understand how the medium we use to communicate goes a long way toward communicating the weightiness of what we’re saying.

Jesus knew his time was short, and he knew that some things are better said face to face. He made sure he was with them so that he could tell them what was coming.

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One of the reasons why I love listening to the Bible (rather than only reading it) is because it can result in some pretty cool wordplay.

Case in point: this week, my devotional reading (listening) has taken me and The B99 through the story of Hagar and her trials at the hands of Sarai. You can catch the whole thing in the 16th and 21st chapters of Genesis, but to make sure we’re all on the same page for this post, let me sum it up for you…

• Sarai can’t have children
• Sarai has a mistress named Hagar
• Hagar can have children
• Sarai persuades her husband, Abram, to sleep with Hagar so that Sarai can have a child
• Hagar gets pregnant
• Sarai gets angry
• Abram gets confused
• Hagar gets abused by Sarai
• Hagar runs away from Sarai carrying the child who came from Sarai’s plan
• Hagar needs long-term counseling

If you ever wondered whether the Bible is relevant to today’s culture, the fact that this story sounds like a modern drama should convince you that it is. God doesn’t hide the ridiculously messy situations that we find ourselves in, even messes created by his people.

You can imagine how Hagar’s head must have been spinning as she fled from Abram and Sarai, which is what made the devotional’s wordplay so powerful. It began in verse seven, and I heard it as soon as it began.

Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. (Genesis‬ ‭16‬:‭7, emphasis mine)

The woman who had been used, abused, and rejected was on her way to Shur, which is pronounced exactly like “sure.” When I heard it, I thought, “Of course she was, and aren’t we all from time to time?”

Relationships change. Companies downsize. Promises are broken, and people are left broken as a result.

So often, life can leave us dazed and confused, and like Hagar, we don’t know where we’re going. We know where we’ve come from, but we’re not quite all the way to sure, and we can feel stuck. Ever been there?

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