book review: A Woman's Guide to Hearing God's Voice
Note: I received a copy of this book for review from Bethany House Publishers.
Leighann McCoy, A Woman's Guide to Hearing God's Voice: Finding Direction and Peace Through the Struggles of Life (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2013).
The further I read, the more I liked this book -- and its author. Leighann McCoy comes across as friendly and encouraging, caring and thoughtful, and the insights she shares throughout this book and in the latter sections, especially, were helpful to me. I came away with plenty of beneficial food for thought, and I'll share just a couple of the many ideas that I found so engaging. That said, it took me four months longer than intended to read past chapter 1 because of one statement I found deeply troubling.
The book begins with a chapter titled "Hearing God's Voice 101," and I am a fan of how clearly McCoy details the many ways we hear God's voice -- through God's word, through prayer, through other people, and so on. At one point, however (pp. 22-23), this chapter makes the argument that if we don't obey God's voice when God tells us something, God will remain silent. Only when we choose to obey God will God speak to us again. I have two serious concerns about this statement. One, this would imply that if we do not understand what God is saying, we may find ourselves cut off. Perhaps McCoy would argue that as long as we are genuinely trying, our struggles to understand will not cut us off from God -- that it's the intention that counts. My worry is that this book is written for an audience of women struggling through hard times. When we're in the midst of life's struggles, it can be very easy to question whether we are hearing God properly. It can be incredibly easy to blame ourselves even for the elements of our struggles that lie outside our control. Without further clarification, this statement could serve to instill needless fear and anxiety. My second concern is this: I do not believe a God of grace and mercy would fail to give us a second (or perhaps even third, fourth, fifth...) chance. I do not believe we are left stranded and alone when we fail to obey. I can buy the notion that God's message may not change until we finally hear and obey. Perhaps this is what McCoy means. My reading of the passage in question, however, seemed to indicate silence rather than an unchanging directive, and it's the idea of silence that concerns me so deeply.
I was sufficiently troubled by this passage that I almost failed to pick up the book again -- and this would really have been a shame, because the rest of McCoy's volume is well worth reading. She comes from a Baptist tradition, while I am Lutheran; this means she sees some things slightly differently than I do, but that poses no serious obstacle to gleaning wonderful insights from her writing. I appreciated her deep commitment to exploring Scripture and drawing lessons from the lived experience of Biblical figures. To provide one example, she carefully uses the story of Joseph to illustrate the difference in scale between our perceptions and God's ultimate plan. Using the story of Joseph being dumped into a pit by his brothers and then sold into slavery in Egypt, she writes, "Where is God in your pit? He's in there with you--thinking higher thoughts and navigating better ways. He is even now making sure that the promises He's made to you will achieve His purposes." (p. 97) Later in the book, she discusses the New Testament story of Jesus' disciples failing to heal a child suffering from demons due to what Jesus diagnosed as a lack of faith. "It's important to understand that disciples sometimes fail," she writes. "But it's just as important to remember that Jesus never fails." (p. 138) We cannot let our human frame of reference lead us to limit our understanding of God's power. As McCoy puts it later, "God is bigger than whatever it [our struggle] is." (p. 164) The personal stories she tells throughout the book add helpful dimension to her arguments, and I appreciated her candid honesty in sharing from her heart. God is bigger -- but that doesn't mean bad things don't happen. She is open and authentic about acknowledging this reality.
I find it profoundly encouraging to be reminded that God operates within a frame of reference unimaginably bigger, and broader, and deeper than anything in this world. Once that troubling first-chapter passage is past, McCoy's book does a wonderful job of reminding us of this fact.
Leighann McCoy, A Woman's Guide to Hearing God's Voice: Finding Direction and Peace Through the Struggles of Life (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2013).
The further I read, the more I liked this book -- and its author. Leighann McCoy comes across as friendly and encouraging, caring and thoughtful, and the insights she shares throughout this book and in the latter sections, especially, were helpful to me. I came away with plenty of beneficial food for thought, and I'll share just a couple of the many ideas that I found so engaging. That said, it took me four months longer than intended to read past chapter 1 because of one statement I found deeply troubling.
The book begins with a chapter titled "Hearing God's Voice 101," and I am a fan of how clearly McCoy details the many ways we hear God's voice -- through God's word, through prayer, through other people, and so on. At one point, however (pp. 22-23), this chapter makes the argument that if we don't obey God's voice when God tells us something, God will remain silent. Only when we choose to obey God will God speak to us again. I have two serious concerns about this statement. One, this would imply that if we do not understand what God is saying, we may find ourselves cut off. Perhaps McCoy would argue that as long as we are genuinely trying, our struggles to understand will not cut us off from God -- that it's the intention that counts. My worry is that this book is written for an audience of women struggling through hard times. When we're in the midst of life's struggles, it can be very easy to question whether we are hearing God properly. It can be incredibly easy to blame ourselves even for the elements of our struggles that lie outside our control. Without further clarification, this statement could serve to instill needless fear and anxiety. My second concern is this: I do not believe a God of grace and mercy would fail to give us a second (or perhaps even third, fourth, fifth...) chance. I do not believe we are left stranded and alone when we fail to obey. I can buy the notion that God's message may not change until we finally hear and obey. Perhaps this is what McCoy means. My reading of the passage in question, however, seemed to indicate silence rather than an unchanging directive, and it's the idea of silence that concerns me so deeply.
I was sufficiently troubled by this passage that I almost failed to pick up the book again -- and this would really have been a shame, because the rest of McCoy's volume is well worth reading. She comes from a Baptist tradition, while I am Lutheran; this means she sees some things slightly differently than I do, but that poses no serious obstacle to gleaning wonderful insights from her writing. I appreciated her deep commitment to exploring Scripture and drawing lessons from the lived experience of Biblical figures. To provide one example, she carefully uses the story of Joseph to illustrate the difference in scale between our perceptions and God's ultimate plan. Using the story of Joseph being dumped into a pit by his brothers and then sold into slavery in Egypt, she writes, "Where is God in your pit? He's in there with you--thinking higher thoughts and navigating better ways. He is even now making sure that the promises He's made to you will achieve His purposes." (p. 97) Later in the book, she discusses the New Testament story of Jesus' disciples failing to heal a child suffering from demons due to what Jesus diagnosed as a lack of faith. "It's important to understand that disciples sometimes fail," she writes. "But it's just as important to remember that Jesus never fails." (p. 138) We cannot let our human frame of reference lead us to limit our understanding of God's power. As McCoy puts it later, "God is bigger than whatever it [our struggle] is." (p. 164) The personal stories she tells throughout the book add helpful dimension to her arguments, and I appreciated her candid honesty in sharing from her heart. God is bigger -- but that doesn't mean bad things don't happen. She is open and authentic about acknowledging this reality.
I find it profoundly encouraging to be reminded that God operates within a frame of reference unimaginably bigger, and broader, and deeper than anything in this world. Once that troubling first-chapter passage is past, McCoy's book does a wonderful job of reminding us of this fact.
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