When writing code there is often a balance (or compromise) to be found with creating something that is clear and easy for people looking at the code in the future (including myself) to understand and that isn’t unnecessarily verbose.

There is also a need to consider the performance of the code.

As the code must also be understood by the compiler it has multiple audiences with differing requirements and expectations.

This got me thinking about the scripture we have today.
It was written for different people, at different times, with different needs, requirements, expectations, experiences and languages. There’s a lot of variation there and it seems unrealistic to have even a small passage of text that is always perfectly understandable to all people at all times.

It therefore seems amazing that the Holy Spirit works through scripture so that so much IS understandable to and by so many people.

When I encounter a passage of scripture that is hard for me to comprehend (because of language idioms or cultural references) I take comfort in the fact that so much more of it is understandable and that the Spirit can still speak to me through it.

This is also something positive to reflect on when I’m struggling to communicate clearly to future developers through the code I write.