Women of the Word Book Review
Studying the Bible can be hard.
The language can be difficult to understand. The cultural context is so different from ours. Some chapters or books seem irrelevant to us now. The timeline can be confusing. There are so many books, chapters and pages that even figuring out how or where to start can be overwhelming.
With so many bible studies, books and sermons so easily accessed these days, it can be tempting for us to rely on second-hand bible knowledge. To let someone else do the work and tell us what we need to know or believe. But as children of God, we should seek to know our Father personally, not simply to know what others know about Him, and He has given us his word as a means to know Him.
Another temptation can be to use the Bible as a type of therapy. By that I mean, you have an issue in your life- a worry, a sin, a conflict- and we turn to the Bible to find an answer, or to make us feel better. This is not to say that the Bible doesn’t have answers or won’t be comforting. But if that is our sole use and main purpose for reading our bible, then we are missing the point.
Our families, churches, cities and the world need women who are firmly grounded in the good news found in scripture. In Women of the Word, Jen Wilkin encourages women to know the word personally and to seek out the “big story” of God’s redemptive plan throughout. Her plan for studying your Bible is challenging, but one that anyone can do. After studying a passage, her application questions are: 1) What does this passage teach me about God? 2) How does this aspect of God’s character change my view of self? and 3) What should I do in response?
(Do those sound familiar? They are a lot like our four questions! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, find them here.)
Women of the Word will encourage and excite you about studying your Bible, knowing God better and more personally, and learning to see how everything in the Bible points to Jesus and our need for him. It is an enjoyable read and well worth your time!