I have this ideal vision of winding down before I go to sleep by reading a book. This goal is often defeated by my children or myself. Sometimes I’m actually in the position to lay down and read a book, but I can’t decide what to read. I know I’m too tired to think incredibly deeply or for very long…I find myself cycling through the books on my Kindle app, not wanting to read any of them…but recently I came across one book that works perfectly for this situation.
John Piper’s A Godward Heart consists of several short chapters, each a few pages, with meditations on God and Scripture. They range in topics, from dealing with loss to meditations on God’s character to how to talk to different kinds of people. Each chapter finds it origin and inspiration in a passage of Scripture that Piper shares his reflections on. In general I’ve enjoyed and been enriched by what I read in this book. Piper has a way of expressing his adoration of God in poetic but understandable prose that brings me to a place of worship. He’s also able to express the implications of the gospel in ways that make complete sense, yet haven’t occurred to me. This book is a great assemblage of his writings and thoughts, and a perfect resident for your nightstand.
In describing his design for this book, Piper writes:
“Perhaps some evening your soul is hungry. Not for anything in particular, just a soul-hunger. A longing. Something is needed beyond what television is going to give. Something about God, or about the meaning of your life, or about eternity. You’re tired and you know you probably can’t stay awake to read twenty pages. So you pick up a book that you know focuses on eternal things, a Godward book. And three minutes later you have seen something, and you will never be the same again.”
If you can read that paragraph and identify with what he’s talking about, this book will scratch that itch.
Full disclosure: I received a copy of this book for reviewing purposes.
