Skip to main content

Hymns of the Heart





Hymns of the Heart: Discovering God in the Psalms by Adam Faughn

Have you ever needed a guide to reading the book of Psalms in the Old Testament?  Has it ever occurred to you that focusing on certain psalms will help you in your study of the Bible?  Adam Faughn helps his readers get in the heart of the psalms as he looks at 35 of them in his new book, Hymns of the Heart: Discovering God in the Psalms.  The book is designed to open up the prayer and worship book of the OT and help us discern the meaning for today.

Adam gets into each psalm by looking at the structure, theology, and message of each psalm for today.  With an appreciation for the historical context of each psalm, Adam weaves together scholarship, story and application that helps the reader understand each psalm in its context.  With most chapters being around 10 pages, you can easily pick up the book and learn more about each of the 35 included psalms.  One thing I really thought was done well in this book was Adam’s insistence in drawing out the emotional tenor of each psalm and how it has affected his own spiritual life.  The psalms are certainly meant to push us toward various emotions from anger to joyous celebration all the way praising the God who made us.

If you want an accessible guide to some of the Psalter, Adam’s book will encourage your faith.


Thanks to BookCrash and Start2Finish Books for the copy this book in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

God's Grace for All of Life

The Romance of Grace by Jim McNeely III To be honest, when I received this book in the mail I had visions of what it might be like with a title like, ‘The Romance of Grace.’  The emotional rollercoaster and one-sided perspective on how our emotions fuel our faith was my presumption about the book, but this was the furthest thing from the truth as I started reading.  The Romance of Grace by Pastor Jim McNeely III is a careful look at the movements of grace in the way God pursues us with his love and his desire to get us to love him back.  McNeely writes, “We are entering a cosmic romance with a passionate lover, and He is interested in our heart’s truest desire.  His deepest objective isn’t to make us more moral; it is to get us to love Him back.  Virtue is the fruit, not the root” (18).  Why is this helpful?  For one thing, beginning with God’s initiating grace frees us from starting out on the wrong foot in the way we tell the story and...

The Public Reading of Scripture

Devote Yourself to the Public Reading of Scripture by Jeffrey Arthurs Congregations are moved by song, challenged by sermons, and focused prayer, but very few services highlight the importance of Scripture reading.  Jeffrey Arthurs, professor preaching at Gordon Conwell Seminary seeks to counter this trend by penning his book entitled Devote Yourself to the Public Reading of Scripture.  Centering his writing around the theme of building an appetite for a special meal, Arthurs connects the importance of reading Scripture aloud with way in which the Bible ministers to people when read well (14).  To begin, Arthurs provides five reasons why we should orally recite the Bible: we are commanded to read the Bible (1 Timothy 4:13), God transforms us through the Word, we do what the people of God have always done when reading the Bible, the Bible was meant to be read aloud and hearing is quite different than reading the Bible (15-33).  What I thought was unique a...

Rainbows for Rainy Days

http://store.kregel.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=3008 Rainbows for Rainy Days: 40 devotional readings that reveal God’s promises by Catherine Campbell Holding onto the promises of God amidst a broken world full of pain and suffering is not an easy task.  Yet, these devotional readings, entitled Rainbows for Rainy Days, written by Catherine Campbell are a treasure house full of wisdom for the weary traveler on the journey through the Christian life.  Taking a Scripture, providing a short meditation alongside a beautiful photograph, these devotional readings bring to life the ways in which God pursues his people from beginning to end.  I found myself throughout the book saying out loud, “Yes, that is true, Amen to that!”  I would like to point out some reasons why this devotional is so valuable for those following Christ. 1    1.            Details of the Story Catherine takes great pains to draw us into ...