Biblical truth in layers: digging deeper

You're six (with pigtails or dimples--take your pick), and you listen to a storybook version of the Genesis Creation story, and the birth of Jesus, and the miracle of a man born blind receiving sight, and you get it.

You get it as in, "God's big, he made the world, he was born in a smelly place, and he can do anything!" That's as much as you get, and that's enough, for now. But then you grow up, and you begin to put away childish things and ideas, and the Bible begins to be an awfully big book filled with mystery and prompting lots of questions.

In the process of digging deeper, some of us seem to lose our faith. Others of us find a deep well from which to draw from, and grow more comfortable with paradoxes and mysteries. We understand that we may understand a certain passage to mean one thing, but once we drill down to investigate the Greek or Hebrew, or we put it into context with the rest of Scripture, our views change somewhat.


God never changes (and neither does his Word),  but sometimes our views or understanding on God change. 

We're human, after all. And as humans, we are in a discovery process to mine the truth about God, who is Other than us. Greater than us. More loving than us. Perfect and sovereign.

This whole process is happening to me right now as I study the Hebrew word ezer, the word God used when creating Eve in Genesis 2. It also happens to be a strong word used 16x in the Old Testament for God! Describing how he is a strong helper to his people, how he comes through for them when they are in desperate need. And there's a boat-load of significance in God's word choice here...he could have used a Hebrew word for servant or one of the words for wife, but he chose EZER. And so in sharing through the written word what God intends for his daughters by the use of the word ezer, I have likely spent at least 100 hours studying and consulting experts, since I myself have not studied Hebrew. I'm not kidding you. Deep waters.

What I am discovering, in an supreme effort to stay true to Scripture, and to be faithful to the usage of the word in this particular context, is different than what I thought I was going to write about when I signed up for the project. It's even a shade of meaning that's different from what I shared in a sermon about this subject last month.

And that, ultimately, is OK. We are all learning as we go, digging deeper, searching for the ultimate meaning of what God is saying Scripture, and as NT Wright recently said in the May/June issue of Bible study Magazine, anyone's translation is "a 65% best guess." The point is, we are doing the best we can.  We are uncovering "Big T truth in layers," and I believe even the search pleases our heavenly Father.

How about you? What have you learned about God's Truth as an adult that surprised or confused you? What makes you want to dig deeper into Scripture?

"Why Women Matter to God" sermon audio by Suzanne Burden

Here it is, friends. A message delivered last Sunday on Mother's Day. Please, spread the message far and wide. God has created every girl and woman in His image, as an ezer (Hebrew word in Genesis 2:18)--a strong helper, warrior, and rescuer in His Kingdom.



Is this message new to you? Comment below on the implications of every girl and woman being created as God's image-bearer and a strong helper, warrior, and rescuer in His Kingdom. Look forward to conversing here!

Half the Church book review and giveaway: comment to win!

*Giveaway open Wednesday, April 6 to Friday, April 8 - post a comment to enter (details below)*

This author has impacted my current journey into ministry more than any other. If that's not praise enough, in her new book Half the Church, Carolyn Custis James asks a bold and timely question about the body of Christ:

"Can the body do what it was created to do—can it even survive—if half of the body isn't fully functioning and the rest of the body is deprived of their ministries?"

Zondervan, Hardcover, $18.99

Here's why I believe you should read the book:
There are thousands of women often cited as exceptions who have fully owned their identity as God's full image-bearers and as "ezers" -- the strong Hebrew word God used when He created Eve, calling his daughters forth as warriors. (It is usually translated "helper," but a deeper study reveals there is more there than meets the eye.) I'm not talking about feminist theology, I'm talking about a strong biblical mandate for each of us to take an honest look at the Bible to determine who God says we are and what he is calling us to as women. As we join with our brothers as partners in bringing the gospel (both truth and acts of compassion and justice) to the broken around the world, we will rock God's Kingdom. Starting of course, in our homes and backyards. What could happen if we answer the call? This book will answer questions you didn't even know you had.

Here's the review I posted on amazon:
Carolyn Custis James' carefully-honed theology offers a razor-sharp look at God's vision for all of his daughters. What works for the Western middle-class women in the church pew must also work for the millions of women globally who suffer from sex-trafficking, forced marriage, genital mutilation, and more--or it doesn't work at all. The holistic gospel is the answer, and Half the Church proves it is possible to move past the tired complementarian/egalitarian debates to embrace God's indisputable blueprint for his image-bearers around the world. A must-read.

View the book video trailer here. Follow author Carolyn Custis James' blog here. 

And here's your chance to win the book! Comment below by Friday, April 8, telling me why you want to read Half the Church. I'll pick a winner and announce by the end of the week. 

New video studies: Bible women - Grandmother Eve, part 1

Need a fresh vision? Some perspective? A reminder of why you as a woman are worthwhile? Watch this week's study for an exciting look at who God created Eve to be--and how you share her essential qualities today. Be sure to join the conversation in comments after watching the video. (Men welcome, too!)

You, daughter, of Eve, are not an afterthought--but Creation's perfect finishing touch.

Bible women - Grandmother Eve-an ezer, part 1 from Suzanne Burden on Vimeo.

Genesis 2:18, NIV
"The LORD God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a *ezer* suitable for him.'"

Read Genesis 1-3 for the full Creation story. Other suggested resources:
When Life and Beliefs Collide and Lost Women of the Bible by Carolyn Custis James.

If you are female, do you often feel  like an afterthought? Have you believed the lie that daughters of Eve are not as valuable to God as sons of Adam? Share your thoughts below. Let's get the conversation started!

Next week: Adam and Eve unite--a blessed alliance, whether single or married. See you then!

Let's do this together, single or married

I just got back from our church office, where four women had another meeting of the minds. We're working on creating a basic curriculum that helps every woman understand and live out of her true identity--made in the image of God, created to function as an ezer--a strong helper, warrior, and rescuer.

And wouldn't you know, the stuff I got stuck on writing about this last week had to do with being a single Christian in the church. I got stuck because all the old emotions came back to me in force: I was single in the church for 35 years, and some of that time, I was extremely lonely. Now that's not to say that I didn't have good relationships with people, but that I often felt I was on the outs by not being married, that people would prefer I was married, and that while single I could be in the church, but not fully integrated. Does any of this make sense?

The bottom line is, single or married, we as women are a) made in God's image b) an ezer and c) a full, card carrying member of the Blessed Alliance God created between men and women. Now that I've got that out of the way, I'd like to share with you an essay I wrote after coming home from church on a particularly lonely Sunday. Let's face it, most of the time Sunday was the loneliest day of the week.

I'm going to share this in an effort to open up a dialogue between married and single women in the church, and I'm really hoping that after I go all vulnerable on you, exposing some of my deepest struggles as a single, that you'll go to the trouble to post a comment. Let's get talking, sisters. It's about time.

Titled, "Pain of Longing," written October 10, 2004

A dullness, tiredness, and small package of sadness arrived today. In the big picture, you are a good God full of love that you lavish on me…but for this moment my desire to love and be loved seems relentless and tedious. I feel as though I shoo it away with frustration, swatting at a fly that constantly alights on my being. I am weary, annoyed.

I haven’t asked you for perfection or even an absence of physical and emotional pain. I have only asked that I might find someone to share my journey with. Someone who loves you well…someone who would be thrilled to love me well. The same person that I would desire to love well.

Why this waiting without end? I know the whole deal about how this is only a shadow of my longing for you…but I do long for you. I truly want to know you and to serve you and to love you.

My humanity cries out, What must I do to be ready for a man? At the moment, I want to curse at the well-meaning ladies who say, “You’ll find him as soon as you’re not looking.” What rubbish and conjecture we produce to try to aid another or to assuage our need to “help.” Do you laugh or cry at our blathering? Do you wish often that most of us would shut our mouths and open our arms?

When you see a single soul battered and abused, buffeted by pain that stems from broken relationship, do you wish with everything within you to change things? Do you wish I had someone to pursue and cherish me? Do you know this particular brand of anguish? Did you cry when men pursued only to walk away, unable to commit to loving me? What were your thoughts on the matter?

I feel strangely out of words to describe my heart’s place. I want desperately to give up on the idea of romantic man/woman love. But I cannot. The desire remains, wholly given by you, and I know that truthfully speaking I want it more than ever. It is nonsense to deny my true heart, the most vital part of me—that which you have chiseled, broken, mended, held.

You have been hard at work through the years, and I would not trade my darkest moments to return to a more innocent, shallow spirituality—married or not. My soul is now satisfied with only the richest of fare. I have released many of my desires. But I want my desire for you—for purity, holiness, light, joy, laughter, camaraderie, community, and for the encouragement and salvation of souls to burn. May it burn in my lonely moments. May it burn in the presence of others. May it continue to burn when the man who will be my husband makes the decision to love me. May the flame be eternal.

I cannot demand anything of you. You have stretched out your arms and poured out the most you have to give. I come to you only with honesty and tears, asking that you help me be honest with my desires, that you show me how to keep hope alive.

And asking that your body sense the unmet longing and react with a generous dose of love, affirmation, and affection. As you ask us to take care of widows in their need, so may your children grow a desire to comfort, care for, and love those who are alone with many needs. May they be sensitive to our hearts, and may we be willing to join their families, to eat together, minister together, work together, do life together.

Illuminate our equality in you—single or married—help us to sense our belonging as dear sons and daughters no matter our circumstances, heal us to give and receive love. Make us one.

Calling all ezers--women, that means you!

Within the last year, a book started turning my world right side up. Read the beginning of the journey at  this blog post. 

The book Lost Women of the Bible pointed out who I am as an ezer--the word God used when he created Eve. Every female, simply by virtue of living, was created to be a strong helper, warrior, and rescuer. And there's more: this word Ezer is used a total of 21 times in the Old Testament; in 16 of those instances, it refers to God rescuing us. There's untold significance to unpack--and the study is well worth it.

If you'd like an entree into this subject, you'll be thrilled to know you can listen to *free* audio sessions from the Synergy 2008 conference, led by the book's author, Carolyn Custis James. Just go to this page on the synergy site. I just crossed off two of them myself. You've got to love free resources--especially when they help you get a clearer view into God's intention when creating woman to join with man in His grand purpose.

And so it begins

"Maybe you could sit in on one of your husband's classes?"

This was the gist of the question I received at the seminary preview banquet a few months back, after a dear woman gave me the upsell on the wonderful seminary wives' group. I told her it sounded like a nice group with good speakers, etc. Never realizing I was getting an informal invitation, until she said something like this . . .

"Maybe you could even sit in on one of your husband's classes."

"Um, noooo," I replied. "Actually, it's me who is going to seminary."

Her eyes widened. I smiled a bit stiffly. She had made such an honest mistake. My husband had been sitting next to me during the banquet, offering his support and enthusiasm for this new leg of the journey. There are only around 100 residential students at this small Midwest seminary--and out of those 100 students, only six are female.

So, you see, I soon realized that come September when classes start, I may be the only lady in the room. We'll see. Except for my "Spiritual Formation" course, where an articulate female professor will be instructing us on how we are shaped spiritually. And it so happens that my husband has been invited to attend. To, um, sit in on one of my classes.

Lest you think I am a bold warrior for female equality in the church, I have to speak up now. I'm just a sister finding her way, asking God how to use her gifts. And discovering His plans for me have stretched beyond anything I could have dreamed up.

I'm figuring out how to claim my identity as an "ezer"--the Hebrew word God used when He created Eve, identifying her as a strong helper, a warrior, and a rescuer. (Thank you, Carolyn Custis James, for calling our attention to this in Lost Women of the Bible; thank you, too, to John and Stasi Eldredge and Captivating, where I first discovered "ezer," although it had been there all along.) In addition to unpacking that astounding piece of truth this last year, God's Word has come alive, with women leaping off the page, showing me the way to obedience, to stewardship of the gifts God has given.

Trust me on this, though: I am not a Bible scholar and I have so much yet to learn. It's high time to dig deeper in the trenches of seminary--and right now, nothing excites me more than seeing what comes next. So if you're a woman who's in seminary, has already attended seminary, or is simply seeking God's will for your life, feel free to post. All I'm asking, sister, is that you keep things positive. Honest searching and questioning? Great. Negativity? Please take it somewhere else.

So how about you? What have you learned about your role and your giftedness from the pages of God's Word? And what are you still hoping to learn? Please post.