Andy Stanley does a masterful job of revealing the Grace of God in the old and new testaments. I have counseled many people who have struggled with understanding the God of the Old Testament in contrast with the God of the New Testament. Any amateur bible reader can quickly discover the differences in what appears to be a harsh, mean, impatient God of the old testament to the loving, kind, patient God of the new testament. While I have seen this disparity, I have been very careful not to attempt to understand the God of the universe with my limited mental capacity. This is where I think many people attempt to bring God on their level, attempting to understand him better.
Andy shows the Grace (unmerited favor) of God in the Old Testament, even though to our natural mind it appears that God is being unfair, to harsh, unloving. Andy takes Old Testament biblical stories and provides commentary and context that reveals the “big picture” of God’s love. God’s heart was and is to redeem his people to himself. Just as any earthly father disciplines his son or daughter, at the time it may seem harsh, unfair, overprotective, etc. As a dad, we are doing it because we have our child best interest at hand. Andy does a great job of painting the picture of Grace. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has been shaken in the their faith. Often times, circumstances happen and we don’t quite understand why God would allow such horrible circumstances to happen. This book will give you a perspective to help you understand God better. Bad things happen because we live in a broken world, contaminated by sin, as Andy so eloquently states.
Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review. The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment