The Rest of the Story

The Rest of the Story

This morning, I sat out on the lanai, sipping coffee and reading my Bible. Today’s reading took me through Nehemiah 9 to most of chapter 11. Like many Old Testament passages, these chapters included long lists of names...the kind that are hard to pronounce and easy to skip over.

Shemaiah, Hasshub, Azrikam, Hashabiah, Jozabad, Bakbukiah, Pedaiah… you get the idea. Names that, in ancient Jerusalem, were as common as Steve, Mike, Scott, Jim, or Dave.

But as I read through the list of those who signed the covenant (the binding agreement to return to God’s law) and the names of those who resettled Jerusalem after exile, a verse from 2 Timothy came to mind:

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

— 2 Timothy 3:16–17

So I asked God, “How are these names useful for teaching or correction, Lord?”

And the Holy Spirit whispered,

“It’s not about the verse — it’s about the rest of the story.”

He gave me this picture: Imagine trying to make a delicious dish using just one line from a cookbook. It won’t work. That single line is only part of a larger recipe. It needs context, ingredients, steps, timing, and care.

So I grabbed a cookbook from the kitchen, opened to a random page, and highlighted a sentence. I even underlined it and added asterisks — just like I sometimes do in my Bible. But no matter how much I marked it up, that one line didn’t make dinner happen. It wasn’t the whole story.

We often do this with Scripture. We highlight a verse, claim it, frame it, and expect it to change our lives. But true understanding — real transformation — comes from reading the whole recipe. The whole story.

God’s Word is more than a collection of verses — it’s a complete narrative of redemption, grace, and truth.

And I’m a little sad that it took me 55 years to finally understand that.