Women: Pursue God Through His Word

One of the points that arises clearly from the creation narrative in Genesis 1-2 is that God made man and woman equal. Sure we have different roles, both in the church and at home. But these are not indicative of inequality. In fact, throughout the Bible we see the opposite. God invites men and women to know, worship, love, and serve him equally.

To enjoy God we must know him.

Considering the African Church, this is a vital truth. For women often comprise a much larger percentage of local churches than men. To those women, this conversation is an encouragement, perhaps even an exhortation, to study God’s Word for themselves. It’s an invitation to know God more deeply, through prayerfully hearing from him in the Bible.

So, Women, Pursue God

This video is a conversation recorded during the 2023 TGC Conference between our Kenyan council member, Ken Mbugua, and author and bible teacher, Nancy Guthrie.

As the pastor of a large church in Nairobi, Ken recounts how they’re currently encouraging women to read extensively. In his own words, “Our hope as elders, as shepherds of the congregation, is that the women in our church would not see the thick fat books articulating theology…as belonging to the men.”

The thing most deserving of all our energies is an attempt to know this God.

Nancy goes on to emphasise the importance of men and women investing their lives in knowing the God who created them. We do this by hearing from him, in his Word. In his book, Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (free here), John Piper says, “Faith is born and sustained by the Word of God, and out of faith grows the flower of joy. But to enjoy him we must know him.” Nancy comments on this, “I think it all begins with men and women alike understanding that they have been made for God. They have been created for God. And what that means is that the thing that is most deserving of all their energies – mental included – is an attempt to know this God.”

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Transcript

A Lifelong Investment

Nancy: So Ken, you pastor a large Church in Nairobi and with lots of women. What do you notice about the women in your church and how they handle the Bible? And what their needs are in regard to the Bible?

Ken: So, by God’s grace, we’ve seen a growing hunger and thirst amongst the women in our church to understand the Bible more. Our hope as elders, as shepherds of the congregation is that the women in our church would not see the thick fat books articulating theology as being, as belonging to the men. And seeing books that are merely articulating maybe just topics that might be very practical as those belonging to the women. So yeah, we’ve seen a hunger grow in our congregation and we’re really thankful for that.

Nancy: I often say to women, “Don’t be afraid of big books!” You don’t have to read them in one sitting or one week or even one year. But the things of God are worthy of investing ourselves and seeking to understand.

I still remember being a younger woman and being in a Bible study, and some women would talk about the Bible and they, like, knew where stuff was in the Bible. And a book of the Bible would be mentioned and they knew what that book of the Bible was about. And I just remember thinking to myself, “I don’t think I will ever know or understand the Bible like that!” I remember thinking, “You know what, that would like take a lifetime to understand the Bible that way!”

And I’ve come to think, “Yeah, that’s, that’s about right.” I mean, I’m 61 and I am on my way of spending a lifetime seeking to understand the Scriptures. But the thing about it is the Bible is the one book that’s worthy of spending a lifetime seeking to know and understand.

Made to Know God

Ken: Yeah. I think it all begins with men and women alike understanding that they have been made for God. They have been created for God. And what that means is that the thing that is most deserving of all their energies – mental included – is an attempt to know this God. There’s not going to be a higher goal or aim for which they can apply their minds.

And if, once we get that right, it stops being about, “Is this complicated or is this simple? Does this apply for me or it doesn’t apply for me?” We come out of the center and trying to look for something that is kind of shaped according to my life’s needs, and you put God at the center and it becomes, “No, I am being called to shape my life, my thinking, according to him.”

And that means that both men and women glorify God in their minds by thinking about him, by studying the works of the Lord, which is what I think the Scriptures invite us to do.

God’s Divine Book

Nancy: You know, the Bible, I think the more I study it, the more it reveals itself to me to be a divine book, you know? I think most things in the world, the closer you examine them, the more they fall apart. Like, if you look too close, right, it’s going to fall apart. And the Bible I think is different than that because my experience has been the closer I look, the more it holds together. And the more I think that only God could put together a book that is so consistent and so reliable and comes together in such a beautiful way.

The Bible on Its Own Terms

Ken: What you’re saying is so important, which is why it’s important, even for the women watching this video, to understand we want to come to God on his own terms. We want to stop using the Bible as a step towards something, as just, “I feel like I need some therapy, I feel like I need some…

Nancy: A little inspiration.

Ken: …there you go, a little inspiration. Let me go to the Scriptures, get that and then move on with my life.”

We leave so much on the table. And in many ways, we’re eating – it might be some truths that we’re gleaning from the Scriptures – but it’s almost like you’re feeding off the crumbs that are falling off of it, as opposed to coming and asking the Scriptures, “What do you have for me?” And reading it on its own terms.

Love Jesus, Love His Word

Nancy: Yes and how can I look into your Word and see what God is doing in the world more clearly and what makes Christ worthy of my trust and my love?

Ken: And love how you keep going back to Christ. That’s the glue that holds the Scriptures together. That’s the climax of the story.

Nancy: Let’s love him by loving his Word.

Kenneth Mbugua is the senior pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Nairobi, Kenya and is a Council member of The Gospel Coalition Africa. He is the Managing Director of Ekklesia Africa which promotes biblical resources for building healthy churches. Kenneth is married to Arlette and they have three children.

Nancy Guthrie teaches the Bible at her home church, Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tennessee, as well as at conferences around the country and internationally, including her Biblical Theology Workshop for Women. She is the author of numerous books and the host of the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast at The Gospel Coalition. Nancy and her husband founded Respite Retreats for couples who have faced the death of a child and are co-hosts of the GriefShare video.

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