God's Wisdom for Women , livre ebook

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2017 by Patricia A. Miller and Rachel Gorman
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1226-6
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011
Scripture quotations labeled GNT are from the Good News Translation—Second Edition. Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled MSG are from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Scripture quotations labeled NET are from the NET Bible®, copyright © 1996–2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Epigraph
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Hebrews 6:19 NIV
Topics
Look for the anchor within each topic. This signifies an “anchor verse” and offers an overview for the topic.
Cover 1
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Epigraph 5
Introduction 9
Knowing God 15
The Good News 17
Who Is God? 20
How to Know God 25
Why the Bible? 29
What to Do with Doubt 32
Sin and God’s Forgiveness 35
Encouragement 39
Comfort 41
Contentment 43
Hope 47
Rest 50
Self-Worth 54
Trials 56
Trust 61
Lifestyle 65
Clothing 67
Decision Making 71
Entertainment 75
Money 80
Social Media 84
Time Management 88
Work 91
Daily Struggles 97
Bitterness 99
Depression 102
Difficult Memories 107
Disappointment 112
Grief 116
Guilt 120
Loneliness 123
Pride 127
Worry 132
Relationships 139
Church 141
Communication 145
Forgiving Others 151
Friendship 154
Hospitality 159
Marriage 163
Mothering 169
Singleness 176
Difficult Challenges 181
Abortion 183
Abortion Recovery 187
Abuse 191
Addiction 197
Adultery 201
Death 205
Death of a Child 210
Divorce 214
Eating Struggles 219
Illness 224
Rape 228
Sexuality 233
Lust 235
Marital Sex 239
Pornography 243
Sexual Purity 249
Appendices 255
Appendix A: Characteristics of God 257
Appendix B: Bible Reading Plans 259
Appendix C: Names of God 260
Appendix D: Decision Making 262
Appendix E: What Does God Do with Forgiven Sin? 264
Appendix F: Applying the Gospel to Daily Life for Those Abused 266
Notes 269
Back Ads 279
Back Cover 282
Introduction
I (Rachel) have often struggled with my persona as a woman—at times feeling too feminine, at others too tough. Too weak, but also too strong. Always too much, but never enough. I was insulted for my self-sufficiency or “masculine” strength on the volleyball court, and in the same breath patronized for softness or gentleness. I could never win, never feel free, never sure what I was allowed to do or not do as a woman.
It took me most of my adolescence to truly meet Jesus—bad decisions, misdirection, lies, and chaos followed me through high school and college. It wasn’t until the end of college that I could say I truly wanted to know Jesus. During this time I read Philip Yancey’s excellent book The Jesus I Never Knew . I’ll never forget reading about what he describes as the “flannel board Jesus.” 1
Somehow I’d missed actually seeing the true character of Jesus for the first twenty-one years of my life. I only saw the flannel board Jesus, packaged neatly for Sunday school—one dimensional and flat. Honestly, looking back, I think I would have admitted that this version of Jesus wasn’t someone I really wanted to know or spend time with—and definitely not follow or obey. But then I read these words I’ll never forget: “Two words one could never think of applying to the Jesus of the Gospels: boring and predictable. How is it then that the church has tamed such a character—has, in Dorothy Sayers’ words, ‘very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies’?” 2
With those words the flannel board was beginning to fade, and I was starting to see the Lion of the Gospels. Jesus as Aslan, the powerful and kind lion in the Chronicles of Narnia books. That was someone I wanted to know.
Too Much and Never Enough
As I began this journey to put away the flannel board Jesus and know the real Jesus, I still struggled to understand which parts of me and my personality were acceptable. As a Christian woman, was I allowed strength and femininity? Was I allowed to feel bold and gentle? I was trapped by these thoughts—still too much and never enough. The world with its misconceptions, and often other Christians, dictated how I should act and what I should feel. Since all expectations contradicted each other, I was at a loss.
It was when I discovered these powerful words by Dorothy Sayers in her book Are Women Human? that I started to finally feel free. Accepted. Wanted. She said,
Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man—there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as “The women, God help us!” or “The ladies, God bless them!”; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything “funny” about woman’s nature. 3
As I read these words, my confusion began to dissipate, and I started to see clearly for the first time. The Jesus Sayers describes, the real Jesus of the Gospels, pulled at all my misconceptions about myself, my world, and Jesus himself. Sayers’ words simultaneously showed me two very powerful things: First, I’m not the only woman to feel this dichotomy between who I am and who the world tells me I should be. And second, here is a man I want to know, here is the Jesus who accepts me, frees me, and puts my fears and insecurities to rest. I can trust this man.
Maybe you’re like me, always feeling too much and not enough, or maybe you’ve always understood your place in the world. Maybe you grew up knowing Jesus as a multifaceted, multidimensional hero, or maybe you’re longing to put away the Sunday school flannel board and meet the Lion, Jesus.
Whoever you are, no matter how you grew up, what you’ve experienced, or where you’re longing for restoration—I believe we are all looking for hope . The longer I live and the more women I begin to truly know, the more I realize that every one of us has experienced sadness, longing, and loneliness. Even if it’s hidden and no one else knows—not one of us is exempt. We long for hope.
Anchors and Hope
As we prepared for this book, one visual kept coming to mind: an anchor. Steadfast and mighty, anchors help to tether us through the storm. God’s Word is our anchor. Without his promises, we are subject to any storm life gives us. Without an anchor to truth we are in peril––tossed around with no direction, no map, completely at the mercy of the storms that surround us.
We all, each and every one of us, need a strong tether in life; we were created for this very thing—something to help us hold fast to “the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18 NIV).
This is the hope promised in God’s Word: that God keeps his promises, that we are not alone, and that we can find our hope in the Scriptures through Jesus. “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:18–19 NIV).
How to Use This Book
You can use this book as a topical field guide, a starting place, to help you easily find God’s words for your life and your journey. You can discover and read through new topics as you need them, hurry to a specific topic in a moment of crisis, and at other times take the time to pause and reflect for long quiet periods. The book is intended to be an anchor; it’s not the whole ocean, or even the ship, but rather a tether to Scri