Evangelicals Now
Christian news worldwide
magnifying glass Search archives
home Home check the archives Archives Subscribe Subscriptions Advertising Information & booking of classifieds Adverts Find a local evangelical Church Find a church for the search engines and extremely curious! About us Contact us Site Map
Printable
Version

A sweet & bitter providence

John Piper on the Book of Ruth

Unseen sovereignty

A SWEET & BITTER PROVIDENCE
Sex, race and sovereignty in the Book of Ruth
By John Piper
IVP. 160 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978-1-84474-424-4

This book grabbed me, even though I had a beloved novel waiting. In the weeks and months following the A Passion for Life mission, I think many of us are looking to see the hand of God at work among those who heard the gospel clearly.

This book is a fantastic reminder of God’s hand always at work — his sovereignty so very clear in the lives of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. In the long term, of course, we have the character-revealing family tree God chose for King David and, ultimately, our Lord Jesus. What struck me anew about God’s sovereignty is that we don’t need to see it — it just is!

The format’s great. Lots of paragraph headings, which is brilliant if you’re interrupted, and it moves through the story chronologically and helpfully.

I am left with a question, though. John Piper talks about sexual purity, as part of ‘strategic righteousness’, to which he dedicates a whole chapter. Piper assumes that Boaz desires Ruth, and she him, that they are alone together under the beautiful stars, and that Boaz controls himself sexually for the sake of righteousness. In commending the righteous behaviour of Boaz and Ruth, and in identifying characteristics to emulate, I am not sure sexual purity as part of strategic righteousness was put there plainly for us to see.

Although this is a great story, often used for children and a well-known ‘Veggie-Tale’, it was good to be reminded that ‘the Book of Ruth was written that we might abound in hope — and in that hope live lives of Christ-exalting courage’, as Piper refers to Paul’s words in Romans 15. And I just love the way Piper uses the Bible — verses pour out of him.

Better than a novel any day, this book has refreshed me with a deeper knowledge of God’s unfathomable sovereignty.

Janet Burrowes,
full-time mother, Enfield Evangelical Free Church