Why Sarah Edwards is Worth Reading About
We asked author Sharon James, who has just released her newest biography, Sarah Edwards: Delighting in God why Sarah Edwards is worth reading about:
When the great eighteenth–century revival preacher Jonathan Edwards wanted to describe what authentic revival looks like, he used the testimony of his wife Sarah as a case study. A transformative experience of God’s love empowered her to persevere in faith and trust, even during the darkest of times. I have often been inspired by reading Sarah’s testimony. I wrote Sarah Edwards: Delighting in God because I wanted others to be encouraged by reading about her life and experience too.
1 Sarah’s life and testimony encourages us to seek to love God more and to know more of his love for us
When Sarah was just 16 years old, she came to realise that “nearness to Christ” is the highest joy life can bring. She knew that we can experience God’s love for us in a personal way, and we can grow in our own love for him. Many years later, during a time of revival, she recounted the exact details of a remarkably intense three–week period when she enjoyed a deep experience of God’s love. “My safety, and happiness, and eternal enjoyment of God’s love, seemed as durable and unchangeable as God himself”, she wrote. Sarah found her deepest joy and delight in the Lord. There can be no greater delight! We should all pray for a deeper personal knowledge of the love of God.
2 Reading Sarah’s testimony is a challenge to pray and work for greater holiness
God is infinitely holy. People are utterly sinful. Once we have been brought into fellowship with the Triune God, through the saving work of Christ, he calls us to be holy. Sarah Edwards was profoundly aware of her own indwelling sin. She knew that she didn’t just commit sins, she was sinful. As she grew in the knowledge of God, she became more sensitive to her own sin. She longed to be perfectly holy. It is inspiring to read of the way that God used both the joys and the sorrows in her life to make her more like Jesus.
3 Sarah’s testimony encourages us to trust God even when life hurts
Life is hard! But knowing that God is perfectly wise and perfectly good equips us to stay calm through the trials that may engulf us without warning. Sarah Edwards enjoyed an unusual experience of the presence of God. “In all things which concerned me, I felt myself safe, under the protection of the Father and Saviour.” During that time, she was able to envisage a number of worst–case scenarios, and trust that if God were to allow any of those things to happen, she would surrender to his will. And then a series of crises did envelop her and her family in subsequent years. Through war, slander, poverty, insecurity, sickness and bereavement she found that nothing can separate the believer from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Her story provides hope for believers going through hard times.
4 Sarah’s testimony challenges us to pray and work for revival
God is infinitely glorious. It is our highest joy and privilege to praise and serve him. When we get a glimpse of his immense glory, we cannot be content until he is praised by everyone he has created. We want the whole world to honour him. We pray for his name to be hallowed, his kingdom to come, and his will to be done on earth as in heaven. Sarah Edwards wanted everyone in her family, her town, her nation and the whole world to praise God. “The glory of God seemed to be all, and in all, and to swallow up every wish and desire of my heart.” Her delight in God meant that she longed for others to enjoy him too: “I felt such a disposition to rejoice in God, that I wished to have the world join me in praising him.” Her testimony, as well as the account of the revival through which she lived, challenges us to pray for and work for revival: personal, local, national and global.
“Blessed be His glorious name forever; May the whole earth be filled with His glory” (Psalm 72:19)
Sharon James is an author, conference speaker, and Social Policy Analyst for The Christian Institute. She has degrees in history (Cambridge University) and theology (M.Div., Toronto Baptist Seminary), and a doctorate from the University of Wales. She is married to Bill, who is Principal of London Seminary. They have two grown up children and six grandchildren. For more information: Home – Sharon James
Her books include:
– Ann Judson: A Missionary Life for Burma
– God’s Design for Women in an Age of Gender Confusion
– How Christianity Transformed the World
– The Lies We are Told, the Truth We Must Hold
– Gender Ideology: What Do Christians Need to Know?
