On this last day of 2018, I spent part of my morning finishing up my two devotional books that I have been reading this year.
I began this year with an ambitious devotional plan. I decided to read two devotional books that I wanted to read. I saw that my life and work situation favored taking this opportunity to read more devotionally than I have in the past, and possibly more than I will have in future situations. It has been a difficult project at times, but in the end worth it and life defining.
Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon: I picked this book because of my on-going reading of “Lectures to my Students“, also by Spurgeon. I had heard about this as a devotional so this year, I saw that it was revised by Alistar Begg and decided to go through the “morning” readings this year. The daily text is deeper than I’m used to and, in some ways, more challenging to read. But, the book has helped my develop my devotional thought life and my preaching. One of the biggest ways that I have seen this influence has been in my enhanced skill at taking a single verse and unpack this into a coherent and meaningful message. I also was encouraged to explore deeper into the world of hymns that eventually evolved into my Wednesday Devotional series on hymns as poetry and the scripture related to them.
God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life by Timothy and Kathy Keller: In many ways, I would say that this was the most important book I read all year. Tim and Kathy Keller’s solid analysis of Proverbs and wisdom literature in the Bible is life changing. Through this year of reading I have become more convinced of the practical ways in carrying out a Godly life. Each day, I was greeted by a challenge to include wise thinking into every area of my life like I never have. Some of it seems like common sense, but the repeated themes shows that it is not as common as you would think—but also much more important than you would think.
After a year of reading these two books, I would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for a devotional book to work through the year. I would caution about doing both—at times this got to be a little much, and I would have desired to spend more time dwelling on the truths presented in each book. Depending on how God is leading you to spend your devotional time this, I hope that you would consider taking one of these along for your daily devotions this year.