There are moments in Scripture that shake us. Tragedies that feel too heavy to read. Stories that raise more questions than answers. And yet, these difficult passages are part of God’s Word, intentionally placed in the canon of Scripture for us to wrestle with, to learn from, and to ultimately see God’s redemptive hand at work.

But too often, we don’t know how to talk about them.

If we truly believe all Scripture is God-breathed, then even the hardest stories must have something to teach us.

Why Do We Avoid Hard Texts?

The way we read the Bible often reflects the way we process our faith. Many of us have been conditioned to focus on victory narratives—stories where God parts the sea, defeats the giant, or raises the dead. But what about the stories where the miracle doesn’t come? What about the places where injustice happens and isn’t immediately made right?

If we refuse to engage with these stories, we miss out on a crucial aspect of our faith: lament. We lose the ability to sit with suffering, to process grief, and to acknowledge that not every story wraps up neatly.

And that has real consequences.

When real-life tragedies happen, when someone we love experiences abuse, loss, or injustice, we struggle to respond. We haven’t built the muscles to lament. We haven’t learned how to hold tension between grief and hope.

But Scripture teaches us both. And if we ignore the hard parts, we fail to see the full picture of God’s redemptive work.

Who Gets to Talk About Trauma?

One of the most surprising things I’ve experienced while teaching Scripture is the assumption that only those who have personally experienced trauma can talk about it.

When I do deep dives into biblical stories of suffering, people sometimes assume I must have lived through similar pain. And while I am incredibly privileged to have been insulated from abuse, my years of serving women in the church have shown me that nearly every woman I know has encountered some form of trauma.

The idea that only survivors can speak about these things is limiting—for them and for the church. If we took this logic and applied it to Moses or David, we wouldn’t ask male scholars if they were secretly royalty before studying their stories. So why do we do this with narratives of suffering?

Trauma in the text cannot be silenced or pushed aside. If it’s in Scripture, it’s meant to be engaged. And all of us, regardless of our personal experiences, have a responsibility to wrestle with it.

Holy Curiosity: The Power of Asking Questions

The first season of Holy Curiosity was born out of these conversations. I wanted a space where we could ask the hard questions—the ones we’re often too afraid to voice.

And the response has been overwhelming. I’ve never had a Bible study, a speaking engagement, or even a published book that generated as much feedback as this. We’ve had to start a Slack channel just to keep up with the flood of questions from listeners.

That’s the kind of curiosity I want to cultivate. The kind that doesn’t settle for easy answers. The kind that keeps us coming back to Scripture with more questions than we had before.