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 PrintableVersion Be still, my soulSanity for the sufferingBE STILL, MY SOUL Why does someone else always have the good ideas? Nancy Guthrie, who has herself experienced severe loss, has here brought together 25 shortish extracts from well-known Christians, past and present, on pain and suffering and what the Christian responses ought to be. An excellent idea. Short, pertinent pieces, a book to pick up and put down. The writers are living and dead, mostly pastors and preachers. From Augustine to Tim Keller, Calvin to Don Carson. They are varied, lively and thought provoking. A natural response to suffering is to turn in on oneself. Nancy Guthrie has a refreshing God-centred approach and so the selections are collected under the headings, God’s Perspective on Suffering, God’s Purpose in Suffering and God’s Provision in Suffering. The God’s eye view is not the only point of view on suffering, of course, but it is the chief one. At times of severe stress and anxiety, considering our plight in this way should help us to reorientate. The selections on God’s purpose are especially helpful, (though nothing on Job), countering the tendency to think that in suffering we are abandoned by God, and that our pain represents God’s failure. Our attitude to suffering is sometimes due to false expectations, so it is good to have a selection on contentment from the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs. Amid an avalanche of books of all sorts on the topic of evil, pain and suffering, written from all manner of perspectives, I would certainly recommend this one, and hope that many will find it useful. Paul Helm, © Evangelicals Now - August 2010 |
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