Jake: just learn to worship

Ups and downs

JAKE: JUST LEARN TO WORSHIP
By Terry Young
Paternoster. 90 pages
ISBN 0 900128 27 5

This book is a series of studies in the life of Jacob. It takes events that Jacob faced, and his responses to them, and applies them to modern day equivalents. The overall argument through the book is that God leads Jacob to stop trusting in his own efforts and scheming and learn to worship.

The strengths of the book are in its easy reading and down to earth style. It discusses real issues of everyday Christian living with lots of examples and no trite answers. At the end of each chapter there are insightful and thought-provoking questions about how our faith impacts on the nitty-gritty of life.

The down side of the book is twofold. Firstly, much of the content doesn't actually come from the chapters of Genesis under consideration but from broader biblical reflection. For example, when discussing success and money the main texts under consideration are from Proverbs and the gospels.

Secondly, most events in Jacob's life are used as springboards to discussing a topic and our thinking about it today. For example Jacob wrestling with God at Peniel leads into thoughts on hardship in life and disabilities.

Neither of these criticisms are to say that the content isn't helpful because it is; it is simply that to this reviewer's mind these topics are not the focus of the Genesis material. I would have preferred the author to either write a book on the big picture of the Jacob narrative (glimpses of which occasionally come through), or a book on living a life of worship in the modern world (and forgetting about Jacob).

Graham Beynon, associate pastor,
Knighton Evangelical Church, Leicester

© Evangelicals Now - July 2004
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