Most of us live with a quiet assumption about desire:
If I can just figure out what I want and work hard enough at it, life will eventually start to make sense.
But the Bible tells a different story.
Starting in January 2026, this Pastor From the Pasture presents a new series called “The Story of Desire.” The series explores how desire forms, distorts, corrects, and ultimately restores across the biblical narrative – from Genesis to the prophets, and eventually to Jesus.
This isn’t a self-help project, nor an abstract theological workout. It’s an invitation to step outside modern Western expectations and listen carefully to Scripture on its own terms.
Why Desire?
In much of Western culture, desire is treated as something deeply internal and intensely personal – the engine of self-actualization. Through that lens, what a person can be, that person must be. We must look inside ourselves, trust our instincts, and express what we feel.
However, Hebrew Scripture approaches desire very differently. In the biblical imagination, desire isn’t mostly about self-expression. It’s relational, shared, and directional. By directional, I mean desire has a rhythm to it; think of it like a dance between partners – toward God, toward others, or toward rival sources of meaning and security.
This series traces that movement.
A Hebrew Lens, Not a Modern One
One of the challenges of reading the Bible today is, without giving it much thought, we filter what we read through modern psychology, individualism, and internalized emotional language. The biblical writers didn’t think this way.
In ancient Hebrew understanding of what it means to be human (anthropology):
A covenant relationship shapes personal identity, not how you see yourself
Allegiance (faithfulness in relationships) grounds moral action not emotional connection
Desire is understood through relationships, not by looking inside yourself.
This series intentionally slows down to explore the Hebrew world – not to romanticize it, but to understand it well enough to hear Scripture clearly before asking how it speaks today.
The Shape of the Series
The Story of Desire unfolds in movements rather than standalone topics. Each article builds on the previous one so I ask the reader to read them that way. That’s a significant commitment and I am grateful to you for doing so. I will publish an article once a week and update subscribed readers if anything changes.
In the Scripture story desire is:
rightly ordered in creation
distorted in the fall (Genesis 3–4)
magnified from individuals to empires (Babel)
reoriented through covenant (Abraham and Israel)
contested in the prophets amid cultural lures
embodied when Jesus steps onto the stage
I attempt to avoid treating Scripture as a collection of proof texts, instead the series follows the narrative arc. This means I allow tensions, unresolved questions, and prophetic voices to remain in dialogue with one another.
Disclaimer: How This Series Is Meant to Be Read
This isn’t fast food content.
I don’t fancy myself a scholar, academic, theologian, philosopher or psychologist (although I draw from the knowledge and wisdom of others) so I’m not interested in having or winning arguments.
This series won’t resolve every theological tension, or offer quick applications. Instead, the aim is Christian faith formation. My goal is to help us learn how to see desire differently before attempting to manage it. You may find yourself unsettled at times. That’s intentional. The truth is, as I ask questions of Scripture, and of Israel in their Ancient Near Eastern cultural context, I discover the distorted direction of their desire. I’m left with tension, not solution.
Genesis itself is counter-cultural, inside-out, and upside-down; especially when read against both ancient Near Eastern expectations and modern Western ones. If you’re willing to sit with Scripture patiently (without cheesy Christian cliches) over weeks and months, this series may offer a different kind of clarity.
Why Substack?
The Substack space exists apart from the noise of social media. I invite you to read, reflect, and respond without algorithms rewarding outrage or speed. Just know I’m also learning and imagining along the way.
Above all, I welcome you to listen to a story that continues to shape us, often in ways we don’t immediately control.
The first article in “The Story of Desire” will be published shortly.
Grace and peace,
Larry