The Bible Nerd Guide to Rightly Reading Scripture: Faith Womack

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The Bible Nerd Guide to Rightly Reading Scripture

Guest:Faith Womack

From the series:Overcome Pain to Love God’s Word Again (Day 2 of 2)

Air date:February 26, 2026

Faith (00:04):

I think the dinner table is one of the most important things a family can do together. If you’re not eating regular meals, I highly encourage you. And to spend that time after you talk and have the heart to hearts and hear about the day, to even just end on a paragraph from scripture. Maybe work your way through the gospel, see if you can do that in a year and ask them, what did you see about Jesus in this passage? What did you see about the Jews and how they responded to Jesus in this passage? How does this make you view Jesus differently? Those three questions will transform the way that your children see scripture.

Dave (00:42):

Welcome to FamilyLife Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I’m Dave Wilson.

Ann (00:48):

And I’m Ann Wilson. You can find us at FamilyLifeToday.com. This is FamilyLife Today.

Dave (01:01):

Faith Womack back in FamilyLife Today, talking about no more boring Bible study.

Ann (01:06):

I really liked even yesterday how she talked about why she’s so passionate about this and how important it is to take God’s Word and use it correctly.

Dave (01:16):

So help our listeners. Some of our parents are like, “I don’t want to teach the Bible wrongly to my kids. So how do I teach it right?” And then I’ve got the verse I want to find out what you think it means.

Faith (01:27):

Okay. I love the intent of how do I make sure I’m doing it right? Because that shows that you believe it’s true and you want to be faithful to it. And that’s where we have to start. That’s why my book starts there. But what we’re really getting at is intro hermeneutics, like the study of how we read and interpret the Bible. And that’s based on author’s intent, the type of genre it is, why it was written and for whom, like who were they writing to, at what time in history to discuss what problem? And how did these ancient people understand an old poem or an old song or are they mirroring like an Egyptian love song?

Ann (02:01):

I think you should do it.

Faith (02:03):

Yeah?

Ann (02:04):

Take one of your Psalms that you’ve been studying. Look at that Bible all marked up. Let’s do it.

Faith (02:08):

Last week I studied 107 and it’s right at the beginning of the fifth book of the Psalms. So when you’re entering into the Psalms, you need to understand that they were originally sung and they were written at all different eras in Israel’s history by different people and then later compiled. And so that’s where we get five books of the Psalter. And the five books of the Psalter are all tend to have different angles, different things that they include that are reflective of who wrote them and why. Big picture, like Psalm one to 150, you’re moving from lament to praise. Here at the start of book five, it’s really interesting because Psalm 107 opens up and is basically answering a prayer. Psalm 106, the ending of book four left off and said, “God, I really hope you’ll bring us out of exile.” In so many words, I’m paraphrasing.

(02:58):

And Psalm 107 opens up and says, “Up, he did. Let me read it for you. I’ll flip over to my Bible.”

Dave (03:04):

First question about your Bible, what translation?

Faith (03:08):

Oh, ESV. Good question.

Dave (03:09):

Always?

Faith (03:10):

No, no, no, no, no.

Dave (03:11):

Okay.

Faith (03:12):

Bible translations are tools. The translations for the most part are different angles of really trying to explore how do we faithfully translate scripture to not move too far from the original languages, but still also translate the thought. And so it’s a whole spectrum. I’ve made a million videos about it. We talk about it in my book, but I do teach from the ESV because that’s what my church preaches from. And this is just the Bible my husband bought me. So yeah, Psalm 107 then opens up and answers a prayer and says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” He gathered—I’m going to jump down to verse three, “and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.” He gathered us up essentially. And so it’s just the answer of he brought us out of exile and praising God for that.

(03:55):

And then it works through four different, not really specific, but vague situations of deliverance. And I love it because the four different situations all start with distress. Then they move to prayer, specifically prayer to Yahweh, all caps L-O-R-D. Then they move to describe how God delivered them, and then they moved to thanks. And they do that over and over and over again. And so in my Bible notes, I marked those four parts of each of those historical situations. In red, orange, yellow, and green, I can see the rainbow of God’s deliverance over and over again through the Psalm as it unpacks. And then it moves into praise. Closes with “Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.” And I did a whole word study on that word, steadfast love. It’s a Hebrew word that’s repeated all throughout the Old Testament.

(04:43):

It’s my favorite Hebrew word, chesed or hesed, God’s mercy. His faithfulness, even when we are unfaithful. It’s just, “Oh, you could do a great study on that word, guys, if y’all haven’t looked into it. ” But yeah, so that’s kind of like an overview of some of the things that I look at in scripture. It’s like, how is this Psalm outlined? It shows us what the author was trying to communicate, that it shows us their prayers and then how God delivered and then how they praised God for that deliverance. And then they did it over and over and over again and concluded in praise at the beginning of this praise book of the Psalms that really informs the way I read it. I study it and then I apply it to my life.

Ann (05:18):

And so then when somebody’s done with that, is there a point that they say, “Now, how does this apply to me? What does this mean to me?”—

Faith (05:26):

Yeah. Absolutely.

Ann (05:27):

—without taking all of that out of context.

Faith (05:29):

Scripture, we’re not really studying it if it doesn’t change our lives, but I think we all want to jump to the application and we forget to look at the cultural context, the literary context, the meaning right there in the text, the words used, and we jump to application. And so that’s how we’re misusing it instead of looking at it as what it was originally and still stands as today.

Dave (05:51):

Okay, you want the verse?

Faith (05:52):

Sure.

Dave (05:54):

How do you understand it, interpret it, and then apply it? And you know it; everybody’s heard it. Is very common verse. It’s Matthew 18:20 where he’s quoting Jesus and he says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them.” And so most of the time I hear it, there’s two of us here, Jesus with us. There’s three of us here. Jesus is now with us and that’s how it’s interpreted.

Ann (06:23):

People are like, “Yeah, yeah. So isn’t that true?”

Dave (06:26):

Yes. But is that what it means?

Faith (06:29):

But He’s also there with us on our own when we are alone in the cave, like David, I think of in his psalms. Or He’s there with us when we are absolutely isolated and everyone has rejected us. God is not a God dependent on us gathering in His name. But I think when we take Bible verses like that out of context, it’s because let’s be honest, we’re looking for rules, we’re looking for a checklist, we’re looking for a promise that because we haven’t trusted God in his original promises. So I have talked a lot about Bible verses taken out of context, but I always want to be hesitant because I don’t want someone to feel shamed if they’ve misused it. They were cultured to do that. So many other people throughout church history and really the last hundred years, we all kind of misuse certain verses. But I think if we believe it’s true, we’ll want to be faithful to, again, the author’s intent. And I do not believe Matthew saying that God is only there with us when only two people are gathered, but I do think it’s important to acknowledge that the reason why we misuse it is because we’re looking for a promise that’s already been set for us in scripture. And so what we’re really searching for is something deeper underlying, do we have our faith placed in Jesus or in our ability to gather in groups of two?

Dave (07:41):

If I’m a parent, I just heard our conversation about Matthew 18:20, I’d be saying, “Okay, so if it doesn’t mean that, what does it mean? How do we find out what it means?”

Ann (07:52):

Yeah, that’s a good question.

Dave (07:53):

You go back and again, you go back to the context, which you write about in your book, what’s the context? Every time I preach, I read a verse, I say, “By the way, don’t take my word for this. Go back. I don’t have time to develop this for you today, but I’m teaching this based on this.” You go back to verse 15, again, that’s just four or five verses back. You could go back to the chapter, you could go back a lot, but if you go back, you tell me what he means then. Okay, I’m going to read you what he said. This is where this verse comes out of. “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. Where two or three are gathered, I’m there with you.”

Ann (08:31):

In the conflict.

Dave (08:33):

Yeah. I think, and again, I’m not going to say I’m the only one that interprets it this way, but the context is when you have a conflict with somebody, it gets messy.

Faith (08:41):

Yeah.

Dave (08:41):

There could be a tendency to think, “This is so messy. God has abandoned us,” and He’s reminding you, no, when you’re gathered together to resolve a conflict, by the way, which is the context, it applies beyond that, but I think the context is, no, this is—when you’re in a conflict with somebody, I am there with you. When two come together and maybe three to resolve this, I’m right there. It’s a church discipline context situation.

Faith (09:05):

But that’s so important for people to understand is there’s a literary context of what goes before and after Bible verse, and then there’s the historic context.

(09:12):

Sometimes that’s where it actually cuts down deeper and is more encouraging. Matthew’s writing to Jewish Christians, trying to encourage them, Jesus really is the promised Messiah. And so think about Jewish Christians. They were raised Jewish with all these cleanliness laws and all the Jewish culture and then all of a sudden Christ comes, fulfills the law in and of Himself. And now they’re like, “Well, then how do we follow the cleanliness laws? Do we eat the sacrifice meet to idols? How do we live with these Gentiles now and eat the Lord’s upper? How do we do all of this? ” And they’re facing conflict. And now we read that Bible verse. “Oh man, that takes my understanding of conflict so differently or that takes my understanding of being with other believers so differently. It’s not about us figuring out all the debates and having all this disagreement.

(09:52):

It’s so much about we’re gathering in the Lord’s name. There’s the literary context, there’s a cultural context, there’s so much to discover, but I fear that it sounds like work to some people.

Dave (10:03):

Yeah, yeah.

Faith (10:04):

I fear that it’s overwhelming to them. And so I want to encourage you, you have the time and the ability, the Lord would not lead you to this, make you aware of this problem only to lead you to never be able to address it. It’s not hard. If I can do it, you can do it. And sometimes it can be a simple Google search. When was this written and why? “And that will transform your reading of the text. I talk about it all in my book and these are things that transformed my life. I had to pay and learn them in undergrad and seminary, but I think all Christians should know this stuff so that we don’t perpetuate the abuse and the misuse, but that if we really believe it’s true, we’ll be faithful to it.

Ann (10:37):

There’s so many great teachers that have created this hunger for us to know more. And I feel like Faith, you’re doing that. And I’m telling you, the more you taste of God’s Word, the hungrier you become and it changes your life. How do you think it’s changed you?

Faith (10:52):

Oh, man. You would really get the best answer from my husband probably because he, man, he’s got some blackmail on me. He has seen me in my lowest of lows and the highest of highs, but he will honestly be like, “Faith, I think it’s time for you to go to your office, you go pull out your Bible, you go rest.” I do; I need it. It is my anchor. I don’t feel like myself—

Ann:

Me too.

Faith:

—if I’m not in the Word because it’s become so part of how I anchor myself. And I used to find my identity in my family and what I did and things I could measure, like maybe the size of my jeans or the follower count or how many times I made it to church or that Bible study or whatever. Now my identity is tied up in the promises of God’s Word that don’t change, that don’t fluctuate, that don’t go away and I need that.

(11:41):

In every low or high of life, you need to be rooted in what is actually true. And I think we lean towards the easy stuff, the measurable stuff that the world can give us, but it will never satisfy us.

Dave (11:56):

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Ann (12:03):

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Dave (12:16):

Yeah. So for more, go to FamilyLife.com/MarriageAfterDark because intimacy shouldn’t stay in the dark. Again, that’s FamilyLife.com/MarriageAfterDark.

Now, what do you think it can or should look like for a family?—two parents listening or blended family or even the single parents that are listening to us right now. My mom was single mom. They want to help anchor their family in the Word of God. So they’ve got little kids or even teenagers. Do you recommend a daily family Bible time together, a devo, daily, weekly?

Ann (12:57):

Or is it just a conversation all day long?

Dave (12:59):

Coach up families. What can that look like?

Faith (13:02):

We are a weird family in that my husband and I both do different forms of ministry. But I think for the average family, I would highly, highly, highly encourage you that every mealtime, especially mealtime where you’re as a family, it comes back to the Word. And I would highly, highly encourage you to invite your kids into your Bible studies. They can join you with a crayon and sit next to you with their Bibles open and highlight with you whether or not they read or not.

Dave (13:23):

Don’t you have a video where they’re crawling around on you?

Ann (13:26):

I was going to say you have a lot of stuff where your kids are right there.

Faith (13:29):

Yeah. Yeah.

Dave:

And something like Bible study can be messy, right?

Faith (13:32):

Oh, absolutely.

Dave:

Because we think it has to be sanitized in the—

Faith:

Oh yeah. We call it quiet time. Oh, mine is not quiet. It is not quiet at all. Most of the time I have to mute my footage because the boys are banging on the piano or crashing their Legos in the background. But no, my boys, it is regular for me to have my Bible out and they join me and they’ll pull up their Bibles and they’ll color. And for a long time they weren’t reading, but they were practicing what they will later live out. And I think that’s important. So I think parents should aim for you to be your secret challenge just to see if you can create that habit where your kids know every morning, you’ll be in your Bible study. If they go looking for you in the bathroom or if they go looking for you in the kitchen, be like, “Oh no, I want them to be looking for me in my Bible study chair.”

Ann (14:13):

I like that.

Faith (14:13):

And remember that it doesn’t have to be quiet. It doesn’t have to be uninterrupted. That’s another thing that we expect. No, let it be interrupted. Let it be loud. Let it be a testimony of this is what I believe to be the most important way to start and end my day. And yes, I think the dinner table is one of the most important things a family can do together. If you’re not eating regular meals, I highly encourage you and to spend that time after you talk and have the heart to hearts and hear about the day to even just end on a paragraph from scripture. Maybe work your way through the gospel, see if you can do that in a year and ask them, “What did you see about Jesus in this passage? What did you see about the Jews and how they responded to Jesus in this passage?

(14:53):

How does this make you view Jesus differently?” Those three questions will transform the way that your children see scripture because they will feel invited to wrestle with it, not to try and master it or have all the answers, but the ability to go before the Lord and say, “Lord, I want more of you. Show me yourself.”

Ann:

Who would you be, what would you be like without God’s word?

Faith:

Oh, this is my husband’s favorite question.

Dave (15:15):

Yeah, we should call him up.

Faith (15:16):

We should, honestly, he’s the best. I love my husband so much. I probably brought him up too many times on this, but he loves to ask me, where would I be without the Lord, because the Lord derailed my life in the best ways. I always thought—I grew up in Texas, and I always thought I would be a Baylor Bear and go be an elementary ed major and teach. I loved English and wanted to be an English teacher.

Dave (15:38):

You didn’t go to Baylor.

Faith (15:39):

No, I didn’t go to Baylor.

Dave (15:40):

Oh.

Faith (15:41):

Love them though. Go bears. Instead, I went to a tiny little Christian liberal arts college and met my husband there and studied biblical and theological studies. And I’m still a teacher, but in a totally different way. And I still love literature, but in a totally different—

Dave (15:55):

Your classroom’s a lot bigger than 20 kids.

Faith (15:58):

Yes. Yeah. And by the Lord’s grace, it has so much more meaning and value than what I planned in my little brain. The Lord still uses my interests and my gifts, but in totally so much more life giving and better ways. Scripture has brought me so much more than just a different life plan. It’s also given me this peace in the midst of changing life plans. It’s also brought me this identity in the midst of, I don’t know who I am or what I am. I mentioned having miscarriages. I’ve struggled with really bad low seasons after giving birth, like postpartum depression and things like that. We’ve had to move to different churches for different calls. I feel like I’ve gone through so many seasons of where I could have been lost, but the Lord—but the fact that I know who I am because of who I am.

Ann (HYPERLINK “https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/j-05OI3X5osZuMyEjvhLIkgO0v-0fJZLx0uSbNhWl_rCmwb8Sk3r0ODsYJat0pZ-8-l4NaI8zluBDgMMS5M4kbnDGOs?loadFrom=DocumentDeeplink&ts=1003.81″16:43):

Through His word.

Faith:

Yeah. Because I am his. The word is really my anchor in all of life and derailed my life in the best ways.

Dave (16:54):

What would you say to the parent—this is a parent who’s raised their kids in the Word, right or wrong, whatever way. They’ve decided—

Ann:

They’ve tried.

Dave:

—as parents or as a single mom or dad, “This matters to me. This matters to our family. I’m going to raise my children going to church and in the Word,” and now their children are adults, and they’ve walked away or they’ve deconstructed or whatever. I know you’re not there and your kids are younger, but a lot of our families that watch and listen, that’s the question that they are, many are asking, “My son walked away. My daughter doesn’t believe. I’ve done all that I thought I could and should, and they’ve walked away.” What do you say? What would you say?

Faith (17:40):

I love that question.

Dave (17:41):

You do? That’s a hard one.

Faith (17:42):

I do, because it points me to one of the most beautiful truths in scripture that we see over and over again through all the different narratives, through … I would argue every single book in a different way. And I’m going to say it slow because I have the fault of talking too fast when I get excited. But our God, portrayed in scripture is a God that works in, through and despite you over and over and over again. And I think so often as parents, we think that it’s our job to save our kids, to do everything right, to make their life go exactly how we think it should go. But our God isn’t—He chooses to use us, but He’s not dependent on us. We are dependent on Him, and He gets to work in, through and despite us. Take it to God. Prayer moves mountains, like Matthew talks about.

(18:32):

God is not afraid of deconstruction or children’s questions or them walking away from the faith. In fact, God is so big that He will continually work in, through and despite us over and over again. And so—

Ann (18:45):

—children walked away, many times.

Faith (18:47):

Yeah. So I think we need to be set free in the promises and the comforts of how big our God is.

Ann (18:55):

Why were you emotional when you started that whole thing? Because it was so good, but I can see the emotion on your face.

Dave (19:03):

I was going to ask the same question. I saw it too.

Faith (19:06):

It’s a life changing truth. Coming here and sharing about my book or having those conversations with my boys, I can get into my head. It’s all about me and I have to do it right and I have to have all the answers, and I need to show up right and not talk too fast, all the things. But the comfort in scripture and over and over and over again, I want you to think about Nicodemus. I want you to think about Nebuchadnezzar, David. I want you to think of Esther and her bold—God works in, through, and despite us over and over and over again in scripture. And that’s one of the most applicable truths for us as Christians because I think we get so in our head, we take ourselves so incredibly seriously.

Ann:

We have to do it all perfect, all right.

Faith:

Really what that is, is a small view of God.

(19:54):

Lord, I am your vessel whether broken, chipped, in pieces, I’m yours to use. And so you mold me, you move me, you do with me as you want. Ultimately, I think we all need to have that stance. It’s the most worshipful stance we can have

(20:10):

Is even in my brokenness, even in my not enoughness, even in my kids’ brokenness, even in my frustration with my child or the way that they’ve walked away from the faith, Lord, use that for your glory because maybe just maybe it could lead somebody else to the faith. Maybe just maybe it could lead me back to the cross. Maybe just maybe it could do so much good and in the meantime, heal some brokenness even in my child’s life.

Ann (20:34):

I feel like that was for so many parents because when we look at our kids, we can feel so much shame or disappointment or feel like God’s disappointed in us. And He’s so much bigger than our failures. I think of all three of us, the pain we’ve walked through, through our marriage, through like our past and God can still use us. It’s a miracle and it’s the beauty of the gospel.

Faith:

Amen.

Dave (20:59):

And so often we allow our happiness, our fulfillment in life to be governed by how our kids are doing. If they’re doing great, if they’re doing poorly or even walking away from what we established and tried to live their whole life, it’s like my life is ruined. It’s like—that’s an idol.

(21:22):

As Tim Keller would say, when something bad happens and you’re sad, that’s life. But when it’s the ultimate and you’re going to jump off a bridge because of it, that’s an idol.

Faith:

Amen.

Dave:

It’s more important than it should be. The only thing that matters is God and His Word. That’s the barometer of my life, not whether they’re doing well or not doing well, not whether my marriage is doing well or not doing well. Although we want all of that to do well. I’m not saying it doesn’t matter. It matters, but it’s not as important as what you just said, what He’s doing in—

Faith (21:51):

—through—

Dave (21:52):

—and despite. And we forget the despite part.

Faith (21:55):

Oh, yes. Oh yeah.

Dave (21:56):

Yeah. That’s why that was so beautiful. That’s so true.

Faith (21:59):

I think of King Cyrus, 539 BC, he did the decree to rebuild Jerusalem with Ezra and Nehemiah. And he’s just a pagan trying to please his pagan gods. But God worked in, through and despite him. And it’s over and over again in scripture and that sets me free.

Ann (22:16):

Yeah. And that’s what the Word does. Every time I’m in the Word, I’m reminded who God is like, “Oh, I don’t have to be afraid. This is the God I serve.” And I’m reminded who I am in Him. Like, “Oh, He loves me. He sees me. He’s with me. He’s redeemed me.” When we’re in the Word, we’re reminded of those things. And if we really believe that, how can you be, not be in His Word? Because I don’t know about you, but when I’m not in His Word, I go down in the trenches, man. It’s not pretty or good because I try to—

Dave (22:48):

Yeah, it’s not pretty.

Ann (22:49):

I try to find my life everywhere else.

Faith:

Yes. Yeah.

Ann:

And we all do.

Dave (22:53):

Yeah. So I would say this to parents and I mean it. I hope you’re inspired today to become a man or woman of the Word.

Ann (22:59):

Not just parents, everybody.

Dave (23:01):

Everybody. But I mean, especially thinking couples, I talked to so many men who want to love their wives. I’ll tell you what, the best way you could love your wife is be a man of the Word. Am I right?

Ann (23:14):

Absolutely.

Dave (23:14):

I mean, that’s not only romantic, that is powerful. And if you’re like me, you’re like, “I’m not very good at that. ” You can be. And we’ve got a book for you to help you do that. This isn’t just for men; this is for everybody. Just go to FamilyLifeToday.com. There’s a link there. You can buy Faith’s book No More Boring Bible Study. I always say, if a sermon is boring, it’s because the pastor’s boring. It’s not because the Word of God’s boring. How can you take this book and make it boring? That’s on them. The book is not boring, but often we don’t understand it. So this is going to help you become the man or woman of the Word you want to be.

Ann (23:48):

And I was going to say, if you’re a woman and you’re waiting for your husband to get in the Word, don’t wait on him, just get in the Word yourself because it will change your life and your view of your husband and your family. It will change you. So this is the year. Let’s do this. Let’s become students of God’s Word because it’s not boring.

Dave (24:05):

And if you really want to dig in—

Ann (24:07):

We’re going here. We’re doing a lot of extras.

Dave (24:08):

Where do you go?—Biblenerds.com?

Faith (24:12):

Biblenerdministries.com.

Dave (24:13):

Biblenerdministries.com. I’m going there tonight. I don’t know about you—

Ann:

Me too.

Dave:

—but I think you should join me. Before we’re done today, let me just say this. We meet a ton of couples who say FamilyLife helped them when they needed it the most. And that’s what being a FamilyLife Partner is all about, helping others find that same encouragement and tools that you found right here.

Ann (24:34):

And we’d love for you to join us. So click the donate button at FamilyLifeToday.com and become a partner today.

Dave (24:45):

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