The Bible is a very down-to-earth book. It is written for men and women who actually have to live every day in this world—who have to deal with human needs and human nature. High and lofty ideals are in the Bible, make no mistake about that. But most of us live most of our lives a long way short of the ideal. Does the Bible have anything to say to those of us who are struggling down here in the mud?

Does God care that we are often alone and depressed? Does he understand that when we have been deserted and left alone that we need someone? Did God make us with a sex drive and then tell us we can’t indulge it? Does God care that a woman has been left with two kids by a louse of a husband who ran off with a new cutie? Does he care that she cries herself to sleep a lot of nights, alone in an empty bed? What does God have to say about the real, down and dirty, problems we have to live with?

The biggest problem we have is not with God or the Bible. It is with the interpreters of the Bible who sit in ivory towers and hand down solutions that real people can’t live with. A good example of how God addresses real human problems is found in one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. When you read it, you realize that there is nothing new under the sun. Human nature hasn’t changed. Marriages came apart in those days, too, and people had to figure out how to live their lives from that day forward. So let’s take a look at 1 Corinthians, chapter 7.