Why Aren't Women in Love with The Bible?

Abiding in Jesus: God speaks to you through Scripture & hears you through prayer.  - Mark Driscoll

I admit, I have had it with Jesus Calling.

If I have to read one more status update on Facebook quoting Jesus Calling, I'm going to scream.  Seriously. I'm done. Through.  Over it.  Please - no more Jesus Calling.

So why the obsession?  Why the constant quoting of tidbits from the book?  I had to ask myself why because I was apparently missing something.  So many people I know and respect are drawn to this crazy book.  After thinking it through, I think the answer is rather simple.  I'll get there in a moment, but first let me lay out my "issues" with Jesus Calling.

First, the book is written as if Jesus were speaking directly.  The premise is that Sarah Young began to receive messages from the Lord during her private prayer/study time.  Here is what she says (from Tim Challies' review):

The following year, I began to wonder if I, too, could receive messages during my times of communing with God. I had been writing in prayer journals for years, but that was one-way communication: I did all the talking. I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more. Increasingly, I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally on a given day. I decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever I believe He was saying. I felt awkward the first time I tried this, but I received a message. It was short, biblical, and appropriate. It addressed topics that were current in my life: trust, fear, and closeness to God. I responded by writing in my prayer journal.

So basically, she is writing down what she "thinks" God is saying.  Now, there are several layers to this.  For one, how can I be sure God spoke those things to her?  I don't know her.  I don't know anything about her.  Simply put, why would I read a book of devotions filtered through someone elses' interpretation of what she "thinks" God is saying to her. 

Additionally, if this is God speaking to her, what do I do with it?  Either God spoke it or he didn't.  If he did we have new authorized scripture.  If he didn't, or she isn't 100% sure, then what am I supposed to do with this?  Sarah Young says:

"This practice of listening to God has increased my intimacy with Him more than any other spiritual discipline, so I want to share some of the messages I have received. In many parts of the world, Christians seem to be searching for a deeper experience of Jesus’ Presence and Peace. The messages that follow address that felt need.”

In Tim Challies' review, he adds to this quote by saying this:

We cannot miss this. As I have spoken to others about the book, I’ve heard some people say that this book is written as if Jesus is speaking to the reader. But it’s important to know that Young makes a far more audacious claim—this is Jesus speaking, through her. The messages he has given her, she now passes on to us.

If this is Jesus speaking through her we have authorized Scripture!  This is new revelation.  Yet, most (I know, not all, but most) orthodox Christian doctrine affirm that the cannon of Scripture is closed.  God his given us his written and revealed word through the Bible. 

Really, stop and think this through a moment.  I mean, really think it through.

Secondly, "IF" this is new revelation and Jesus is giving Sarah Young a new message, doesn't anyone have a problem with her selling the book?  Contemplate that a moment.  If Jesus gave you a message, that you knew was 100% from Him, would you sell it??  Now, don't misunderstand me.  I am not opposed to people writing books, etc.  I love to read books.  My point is that this book, by the author's own admission, is setting itself up to be something different than just your average 30-day devotional book.  This is a book in which Jesus is actually speaking!  I don't know, if it were me, I would want everyone to read it, not just those who can pay the $9.99 fee.  It makes me think of this verse in Matthew:

    And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
   
(Matthew 21:12-13 ESV)

I'm going to link now to Tim Challies' review here.  You can go read it here, it is very good and further address some of my thoughts.  

Now back to the original question, why the obsession of this book by good, God loving Christian women?  Are you ready?  Because the answer is a dozy.

The Bible IS NOT Enough.

You read that right.  The Bible is not enough.  Sarah Young even alludes to that in the quotes above, saying she "wanted more" and that the practice of listening to God increased her intimacy with him more than any other spiritual disciple.  More than any other.  That would include reading and studying the Bible.

We, like Sarah Young, are all on a conquest to see who can have the next experience.  The next revelation.  The next dance.  The Bible just doesn't do it so we look to outside sources to help bring that experience to fruition.

In Tim Challies' review he says:

James Montgomery Boice once said that the real battle in our times would not be the inerrancy or infallibility of Scripture, but its sufficiency—are we going to rely on the Bible or will we continually long for other revelation? In Jesus Calling we see this so clearly. Young teaches that though the Bible is inerrant and infallible, it is insufficient. It was not enough for her and, implicitly, she teaches that it cannot be enough for us. After all, it was not reading Scripture that proved her most important spiritual discipline, but this listening, this receiving of messages from the Lord. It is not Scripture she brings to us, not primarily anyway, but these messages from Jesus.

So maybe we should take a few moments and review what the Bible affirms about itself:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
(2 Timothy 3:16 ESV)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
(Hebrews 4:12 ESV)

and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
(Revelation 22:19 ESV)

The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
(Psalm 12:6 ESV)

    The law of the LORD is perfect,
        reviving the soul;
    the testimony of the LORD is sure,
        making wise the simple;
(Psalm 19:7 ESV)

    Every word of God proves true;
        he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
(Proverbs 30:5 ESV)

    Forever, O LORD, your word
        is firmly fixed in the heavens.
(Psalm 119:89 ESV)

    So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
(John 6:67-69 ESV)

There are many more affirmations about God's word throughout scripture.  God himself divinely inspired each and every word, every sentence, every verse, every chapter, every book.  The words are alive and active (as Hebrews says).  The Bible isn't an ordinary book, it the real and living revealed word of God!  That is something to get excited about!

God has gifted many writers to compose books about life, marriage, doctrine, theology, homeschooling, raising children, living pure, living single, family, finances and even about the Bible.  There is nothing wrong with that, so long as the book doesn't take the place of God's word.  So long as the book doesn't profess to be Jesus speaking. 

Ladies, if you find your devotional / prayer life lacking and are looking for something more, might I suggest pondering what God's word is?  Re-read the verses above.  Study them.  Memorize them.  Pray about them and ask God to really search you and show you why your love for His word is not exciting.  He has promised to give us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our reading and studying so we can understand and be transformed.  If you want to hear the pure words of God, not those filtered by someone else, then simply read and study the Bible.  Let the words saturate your life daily and you will experience real and thorough transformation.

I can say from personal experience that NOTHING has changed my life the way careful, devoted and purposeful study of God's word has.  It truly is life changing, life altering.  I look forward every single day to sip on a cup of coffee while studying and reading God's living words.  Read devotions.  Read good books.  But above all, read the Bible and let God truly speak to you, without question, without reservation.