Technology in the Bible: Ancient Stories to Help Us Follow God in a Digital World

I have yet to meet anyone who wishes they spent more time on their devices.

“Hey! How are you?”

“Doing well. Just wish I had more time to doomscroll.”

It’s hard to put devices away. What are we going to talk about if we do? How will we stay connected? What if someone needs us? It’s also fun to scroll, look up random facts, and laugh at fail videos. We don’t want devices to disappear; we want more freedom from our phones and healthier boundaries with tech in general.

But it’s difficult to find guidance, especially because there can be tension between generations. It’s a stereotype, but older people are seen as more skeptical of technology, and younger people as more accepting. Parents, pastors, and youth leaders often feel ill-equipped to help younger generations navigate a complex, digital world. Meanwhile, younger generations are often suspicious when older adults want to talk about devices.

Maybe you remember a conversation like this:

“I don’t want you on your phone.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not good for you.”

“How is it not good for me?”

“It’s just not, okay? When I was your age, we didn’t have smartphones!”

“This is how I connect with my friends.”

“Put it away or I’ll _________.”

New technology creates possibilities and struggles. It impacts our relationships with God, others, and the world. It has an upside and a downside. New tech can save or destroy lives. And it’s something that has transformed cultures for centuries (Don’t you wish we still had stone tools?).

So, how might the technologies we’re using now be shaping our culture? Maybe you relate to a few of these struggles people experience with devices...

• Struggling to focus
• Feeling anxious
• Not able to enjoy simple pleasures
• Feeling incomplete, or lost, without your phone
• Surrounded by lots of information but struggling to know what’s true or false
• Struggling to pay attention to the people in front of you
• Spending more time on devices than with people
• Concerned that if phones are put away, there may be dead space or boredom
• Experiencing a decrease in mental health, or a loss of identity and purpose
• Feeling an urgency to check your phone when you think about it
• Seeing the time and realizing you’ve been distracted for longer than you thought
• Forgetting why you picked up your phone
• Realizing you’re on a different app, website, or video than the one you intended to use

Did any of these ring true for you? If so, what can we do about it?

This might sound crazy, but technology shows up in the Bible and plays a vital role in God’s story.

The Bible is an ancient set of books, set in ancient times, with different people, places, and cultures, so it’s not always easy to notice technology. The Bible doesn’t mention phones, smartwatches, or video games. We won’t find references to apps or downloads. And when one of the poets featured in the Bible wrote about not being afraid of modern warfare, he wasn’t talking about a first-person shooter game. Instead, he wrote, “Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). Just a bit removed from today’s stealth bombers. But if technology is simply taking something that exists to create something new to solve a problem, Scripture references many such innovations.

Obviously, the Bible isn’t a how-to manual for using tech wisely. It doesn’t give you a step-by-step guide for building better boundaries with devices. But there are several stories where technology plays a role. As we read them, we may find wisdom and freedom for how to use tech well in our modern world, and more importantly, we can draw closer to God and others. In fact, I recommend going through this with someone you want to grow deeper with.

Before you start (spoiler alert), here are the most important lessons I’ve learned through these studies. Technology isn’t the problem, but how we use it can build us up or tear us down. It can draw us closer to God and others or further away from them. It can help us do amazing things or feed our worst impulses. Basically, it can lead us to be more human or less human because it shapes who we become. An important set of questions to ask as we use devices is: How is this shaping me? Who am I becoming when I use _________? Am I controlling it, or is it controlling me?

Bring those questions with you as you read these stories. And maybe memorize this short prayer as a way to start noticing why you’re reaching for your phone:

A Prayer Before Picking Up Your Phone

Present God, as I pick up this phone, may it help me draw closer to you and others. If not, please point my attention to things that will.

This content is a preview of our free physical Bible Study— Technology in the Bible: 7 Ancient Stories to Help Us Follow God in a Digital World. To get the full study sent to you, follow the link to our website!