Field Notes are quick sketches from the Biblical world – the people, places, rulers, etc. that show up in Scripture and shape the story around them.
Sometimes that still means looking at the armor Paul describes in Ephesians. If that’s what you’re after, you can find each piece of the armor in the sidebar links at right.

  • Field Notes: Where Were You When I Laid the Foundation of the Earth?

    For most of the book of Job, Job wanted answers. He wanted to understand why everything he had built and loved had been taken from him, and he wanted God Himself to explain it.

    By the time God answered him, Job had lost his children, his wealth and his health. He had spent chapter after chapter arguing with his friends about why this had happened and wanting an opportunity to make his case before God.

    Then, in Job 38, God finally spoke. He didn’t begin by answering Job’s questions. He began asking His own. God spoke to Job from a whirlwind and asked, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

    Job obviously wasn’t there, and that was the point. God continued by asking Job about things that existed long before him and operated far beyond his control. “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning?” “Have you entered the springs of the sea?”

    Then the questions moved into the heavens. “Can you tie up the chains of the Pleiades?” “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?”

    God asked about weather, stars, animals, birth, death, light, darkness, snow, hail, rain and lightning. The questions continue for four chapters. They weren’t really a test of how much Job knew. They repeatedly showed him how much he didn’t.

    Then God asked, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?”

    Job finally answered. He said he was insignificant and had nothing to say. He put his hand over his mouth.

    God wasn’t finished. He spoke again from the whirlwind and continued questioning Job, this time challenging whether Job could exercise the justice and power that belong to God. Then came Behemoth and Leviathan, two creatures Job could neither control nor overpower.

    By the time God finished, He still had not given Job the explanation Job had spent so much of the book wanting. Instead, Job said something had changed in what he understood about God. He had spoken about things he didn’t understand, things too wonderful for him to know. He said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.”

    God’s questions didn’t give Job the reason for everything that had happened to him. They changed Job’s understanding of how much he could possibly know from where he stood.

    Job wanted God to explain Himself.

    God showed Job just how much bigger the picture was than Job could see.

    Job 38–42

    God has more questions. See Let Me Ask You Something: When God Asks a Direct Question.

  • Field Notes: Paul

    Saul of Tarsus thought he was doing God’s work. He hunted Christians, dragged them out of their homes, and approved gleefully when the were put to death. Then on the road to Damascus, everything changed. A blinding light stunned him and the voice of Jesus confronted him directly. The man who once tried to destroy…

  • Field Notes: Widow in Zarephath

    A widow in Zarephath had almost nothing left. All she had for her and her son was enough for one last meal before the food ran out. A handful of flour and a little oil was all that was left. Then Elijah appeared at her door and asked her to feed him first. It was…

  • Field Notes: Abigail

    Sometimes peace is the harder choice. Abigail heard that David was coming with four hundred men. Her husband, Nabal, had insulted him, and now violence was imminent. She could have turned her back to the threat, but instead, she acted quickly. Abigail gathered food, rode out to meet David, and spoke with wisdom and humility…

  • Field Notes: Daniel

    Sometimes doing the right thing costs you something. Daniel knew the law had changed. Praying to God was now illegal. The penalty was the lion’s den. He prayed anyway. Righteousness does not mean life will be easy. It means choosing what is right even when the consequences are real. This is the Breastplate of Righteousness.…

  • Field Notes: Nathan

    Sometimes telling the truth can make things worse. You know it might start an argument. You know it might upset someone. It would be easier to stay quiet and let things slide. But sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better, and sometimes people need to hear the truth. The prophet Nathan faced…

  • Field Notes: Salome

    Salome was one of the women who followed Jesus and witnessed the crucifixion. She is mentioned in the Gospels among the women who remained near the cross and later brought spices to Jesus’ tomb after the Sabbath. She is often identified as the mother of James and John, though the Bible does not state this…