I took a long while browsing through the library a couple of times before deciding on this book. Because I wanted a book less ordinary and yet not knowing exactly what I wanted (must be really getting old, sigh). The title looked interesting enough. After reading the summary behind and the preface, I was sold, especially when I read the author commented that the Psalms had always been the primary means by which Christians learned to pray everything they lived, and live everything they prayed over the long haul. I love the Psalms.
As it turned out, this book is the author’s fresh take on Psalm 120 to 134, where he summarized each of these Psalms into a spiritual discipline/attitude a believer should have, beginning with repentance and ending with blessing, blessing God and being blessed by God.
I particularly like his section on Joy, based on Psalm 126. He said joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship; it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ, it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience. Joy has a history. Joy is the verified, repeated experience of those involved in what God is doing. Joy is nurtured by living in such a history, building on such a foundation. Joy is also nurtured by anticipation, that what we have known of God in the past, we will know of Him in the future. Because God will not change His way of working with us. His ways are dependable, His promises sure.
The author wrote with the same two convictions which undergirded his pastoral work. He had been a pastor. The first was that everything in the gospel is livable and his pastoral task was to get it lived. The second conviction was that his primary pastoral work had to do with Scripture and prayer, helping people listen to God speak to them from the Scripture and answering God as personally and honestly as we could in lives of prayer. Living in this way is slow work, for the long haul. Hence the title of the book.
This book is certainly very readable. Do borrow it from the library to read and be blessed.
This book review was written in Jun 2018 by Elder Tah Wee.
