Why We Study Women Of The Bible
By Matt Dawson
We have a new series coming up at Journey called “Women of the Bible.” We’re going to take a few weeks as we study the Bible together using the lens of specific women of faith and their encounters with God and others. We don’t have to do a series in order to study the stories of women in the Bible, but we decided that we wanted to spend a concentrated time this year devoted to it.
WHY?
Here are 3 reasons why we study women of the Bible.
1. Women Do Amazing Things!
We tend to focus on larger stories like David killing Goliath to defeat the Philistines, but did you know that an entire nation was defeated when Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, invited the enemy king to come rest in her tent while he was fleeing…. only to kill him while he slept by driving a tent peg through his temple into the ground! (Judges 4:21) We talk often about Peter’s bold example of following Jesus as a disciple, but we sometimes miss that Mary Magdalene was honored to be the very first person to see Jesus’ resurrected body while Peter and the boys were locked in a room cowering in fear! We can miss some incredible stories of both men and women in our study of God’s word, stories that have impact and meaning in our lives today especially through the contextual lens of how women were treated and viewed during that time in history.
2. Women Give Us a FULL picture of God.
When God created Adam and Eve, He made them in His image. This means that God has characteristics in both men and women that are unique to each of His creation. Sometimes, when we take a moment to concentrate our efforts to study the daughters of Eve, we see elements of God that were given to us for a reason. The Beauty He wants us to see, the Wisdom we can all experience in life, and the Peace we can taste when fully resting in Him is often seen in WOMEN more than men throughout history.
3. Women Get Overlooked in Religious Systems.
The religious system that we’ve experienced through the world (including Christianity) has often reflected the values of men in culture and devalued women. This has happened throughout history and is still the case in many developing countries (although not as severe in the West as it once was.) This is one of the reasons that women RAN toward the gospel in the New Testament church. The opportunity to enter into a relationship with Jesus surpassed the religious system of the day. One example we are given was Lydia, who was a successful business woman that also became a church planter. This was UNHEARD of in that day and age, but it didn’t stop God from using her in a powerful way to advance His kingdom!
If you’ve never done this before (taken a moment to study stories of women of the Bible), maybe it’s time you did. Join us for the next few weeks as we engage in these stories as a church!