Significant: Six Ordinary Women, One Extraordinary God- Book Review

 

Why did God choose to bring his son into a sinful world? 

As Christians, we know that Jesus was brought into our sinful world to help save us from our sins. However, Rachel Risner brought up in interesting question in her book, "Why did God choose Judah to continue his bloodline when Joseph would have been a better choice?"

Why did he choose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and most importantly, why did he choose the women who would be the foremothers of Jesus?

It was a very intriguing question.

Summary

Significant is divided into six, five day weeks. Rachel designed each week to start off with a little bit of background knowledge. Then, as the week progressed, we'd learn about each of the women, how they came into the family, the trials they faced, and why they mattered. Some of these women I've read about and knew a little bit of their story- like Sarah and her husband Abraham. Others, I had heard their names, but didn't know very much about them. 

My Review

To be honest, sometimes I was baffled when reading this book. I don't know if it was because it seemed like when I was studying some of the scriptures, I mostly saw it like the Sunday school versions, but the Bible is anything but a simple story. I mean, many of these men had multiple wives. I knew that polygamy was common, but I guess I figured that the men in the genealogy of Jesus would have been faithful to one wife, however, that wasn't always the case. 

You'll read, time after time, of the sin that Jesus came from. My mind was blown, often. 

Thankfully, there was always something redeeming in their stories. Something bigger than them. And Rachel does a great job in explaining this.

What did I like about this book?

This book/study guide is different than many of the other books that I've read. I really like that instead of just telling us what the Bible says, Rachel made this book very interactive.

I really had to follow along with my Bible otherwise, I could get lost. I'd get the point because Rachel would explain it, but without my Bible, I wouldn't be able to see the whole picture. Books that I have read in the past, would take a small part of the scripture and quote it or summarize it, giving me no need to even look it up to see if the scripture was true. However, Rachel would ask us to read those parts and then write down answers to questions or interpret what we took from that passage.

Another thing that I like was that at the end of the day or week, we were given a challenge or something to think upon. We were asked to look for an object or a saying that would remind us of our lesson OR we could post something meaningful to us on social media with #significantwomenofthebible. It was pretty cool to also be able to look up that hashtag and see what other women were thinking.

Conclusion

Why did God chose this bloodline for his chosen heir?

Many mistakes and sins were made in these people's lives.

Sarah was a bully.

Leah wasn't her husband's first choice.

Tamar was forgotten.

Rahab was a prostitute.

Ruth was a Moabite- the worst place to come from.

and

Bathsheba was another man's wife.

To be honest, not all of their husbands/lovers were top notch, either.

I think....  God chose these mess-ups, degenerates, sinful people who also were redeemed, because he wanted to cover the multitude of sins that Jesus would save us from. If Jesus could be so perfect, even though his lineage is so imperfect, then perhaps there is hope for us all. 

Order your copy here- Significant- Six Ordinary Women, One Extraordinary God