Salt and Soil

In Genesis 2, God forms the first human — and then plants a garden for him to live in. Picture this: God planting. Not speaking the garden into existence, but planting it. Designing it, tending it, and preparing it to be a perfect home for humanity. Only then did he set us inside, within the protection of the garden. This specific detail, which can easily slide past us in reading, actually carries...

When you hear the words, "Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay." You might think marriage vows. Or wall art. But these words from the widow Ruth to her widowed mother-in-law aren't romantic. They're loyalty.  The book of Ruth is a story about two women, both grieving, one a foreigner, both vulnerable, navigating a world that offered them very little protection,...

Sleep prayers, righteous anger, and God's smile hugs, all covered in this Psalm Short digging into Psalm 4, Answer Me When I Call to the Choir Master with Stringed Instruments, A Psalm of David. Many of us were taught, implicitly or explicitly, that the key to a peaceful night's sleep is to first fix whatever is wrong. Resolve conflict, remove threat, then rest. Written by David during a...

Many of us grew up hearing about God the Father and God the Son. But the third part of the Trinity, that Jesus sent to live *inside* of believers, can somehow feel like background atmosphere. Like heaven air, or the comforting presence of God when you need it. But what the Bible tells us about the Holy Spirit is so much bigger than that. In this final episode of our Holy Spirit series, we do somet...

Psalm 3 starts with David feeling devastatingly outnumbered — not just by his enemies, but by voices telling him that God isn't going to show up for him this time. Many of us know what that feels like. This lament psalm takes place in one of the darkest moments of David's life: fleeing Jerusalem, barefoot and weeping, mocked by his people, and betrayed and hunted by his own son. David op...

As Christians, we were taught to follow the Bible. But what about how to actually hear from the Holy Spirit that dwells within us? There's a gap here, and many believers quietly live in it, trying to follow the rules without a working sense of what inner divine guidance even feels like. This third episode in our Holy Spirit series takes up that gap directly. Starting from Paul's charge i...

"Blessed" are those who take refuge in him. Psalms 1 and 2 are bookended by this powerful word, and that's not an accident. Psalm 2 opens in chaos. Nations raging, rulers plotting, everyone trying to shake loose from God's authority. Sound familiar? But chaos doesn't get the last word. What follows is a four-scene drama — earth rebelling, heaven responding, a king speaking...

What does it actually mean that the Holy Spirit "lives inside of us"? It's a phrase many of us have heard so many times. It sounds warm but vague, like being told a loved one lives on in your memories. In this episode, we push past the sentiment and dig in to what the Bible actually says about this. Building on our conversation about spiritual anatomy, we turn to John 20, where the...

The first word in the entire book of Psalms is blessed . It's not a command, nor a warning, but this overflowing, expansive, almost-untranslatable Hebrew word for a life saturated with goodness. This word sets the tone for all that follows. Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm. Less a prayer and more a structural universal outlook. Two kinds of people, two trajectories. The righteous are like a tree tha...

Holy Spirit E1 - Mind, Body, Soul… and Spirit? Where does Heart fit in? In this episode, we explore the biblical language of soul, spirit, mind, heart, and body, looking at the Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible and how Scripture actually uses these ideas. What did biblical authors mean when they talked about the heart, or soul? Where does the spirit fit in? And what do we do with modern phr...

The word submit makes many people uncomfortable. With good reason, as it’s often associated with control, patriarchy, and power. But what does the Bible actually mean by submit ? As we explore passages like Ephesians 5 and others, we’ll unpack the surprising idea that biblical submission isn’t about submitting to power, but about ordering ourselves under love. When understood within the framework...

The word idolatry often conjures up visions of ancient statues or golden calves. Today, we think of idols as money, or social media. But in the Bible, idolatry was never just about items and images. It's about where people place their trust, security, and hope. In this episode, we explore the biblical meaning of the word idol and how idolatry shows up in modern life in ways that are often muc...

What is Salt & Soil , and why are we making this podcast? In this short introductory episode, we share a little about who we are, what led us to bring our conversations here, and what you can expect from the podcast moving forward. Salt & Soil isn’t about having all the answers or convincing people of what we believe. Instead, it’s a space for thoughtful, honest exploration of Scripture, f...