“It’s just not for me, I guess,” she said, shaking her head with resignation. The words fell from her mouth with a splat; they were deflated and her heart was fit to match. Between us sat an open Bible, a well-worn dictionary, two pens, and plenty of scratch paper. We worked through the text verse-by-verse and tried to learn our way to effective interpretation through a mess of underlines, highlights, and circles. The past hour had proven difficult to be sure, and as we hit yet another word that required the dictionary, she waved her white flag.
This conversation was not unique. Over the past year, I have worked with a local group of Christian women to learn how to effectively study the Bible. All of us saw a need in our local ministries for sound, Biblical teaching, and wanted to learn and practice effective Bible study. But the longer we meet and the more conversations that pass around this topic, the response has become common:
I can’t do it. I guess I’m just a devotional kind of gal.
I don’t have the time to learn how to do this. Are there any good studies you’d recommend instead?
This is a lot harder than I expected; I just don’t know if I’m smart enough.
The refrain has become familiar and even unsurprising. And here is what I want to say to each and every woman who has said, felt, admitted, confessed, or thought these things (including myself): sister, you can do hard things.
I’m not saying that Bible study is easy. I’m not saying that it doesn’t require a learning curve or a good amount of time and effort. I don’t believe that it comes easily to most, and my personal experience says that it takes a lot of persistence and practice. Studying the Bible is not necessarily and easy task, but, sister, you can do hard things.
Yes, a pre-packaged Bible study is easier, but on its own, it cannot be your daily bread. Others can do the work to study and reframe the truths of God’s Word for you, but you’ll then miss the riches and rewards that come from hard work and study of the Word for yourself. I know there are a plethora of blogs and Instagram accounts that make the Word of God seem like a quick pick-me-up and a short fix. Yes, that would be much easier. But, sister, you can do hard things.
Will it require early mornings? Maybe. Will it require you to focus during nap time while there’s a little quiet? Probably. It will take your time – your sparse, limited, free time. You will have to push back other intrusive demands on your time, and this will take hard and persistent work. And, sister, you can do hard things.
It is easy in our Pinterest culture to conceive that Biblical womanhood is solely about the cultivation of a trendy home and ways to find the quickest and cheapest slow cooker recipe. But when we only look around us for examples of Biblical womanhood, we fail to look back – back to the women of the Bible who did hard things and blazed a trail for us to follow.
1 Samuel 25 – Abigail, the wife of a wicked husband, saved her family from the fury of the nation’s leader, David, by extending biblical hospitality that her husband neglected to show.
2 Kings 22 – Huldah studied and interpreted the Word of God before the leaders of the nations. When the kings had failed to remember God’s words – having lost the Scriptures themselves – Huldah taught them the ways of God again.
Judges 4 – Deborah led the nation of Israel, exercising her discernment and wisdom and leadership over the people of God. She led the nation into battle as God led, and she spoke as a prophet to the people on behalf of God Himself.
Esther 1 – Esther, the orphaned daughter of Jewish parents, exercised courage and wisdom as she outsmarted an enemy of her people, and saved her people from national destruction.
Luke 2 – Mary, a teen, virgin girl, believed the words of the Lord when it was told her that she would mother the Messiah. With great courage, she birthed the Son of God among stable animals and placed Him in a feeding trough.
Matthew 27:56 – Mary Madeline followed Jesus as a disciple. Defying the cultural mandates on women in her day she learned from Jesus and followed Him throughout His earthly ministry.
We will all need help, we will all need others to teach us along the way, but each and every one of us can do it. We are in good company with the women of faith in our spiritual lineages – women who did not turn back at the first sign of difficulty but pressed toward the challenge for the glory of God.
Like them, our God has graciously equipped us with sharp minds, teachable hearts, and the will power to form our loves around His Word. It might seem like a resolution that will fade away in the coming weeks, but you and I can do the hard work of pressing through, pressing on, and persistently coming to God’s Word as His students.
As you start this process, don’t be easily convinced by convenience. You – yes, you – can do hard things.