Yes, Providence is a long book. This book is also filled with real hope, joy, encouragement, and valuable teaching about living fully and confidently. I am convinced that our age is one of self-worship, anxiety, and angst. What better alternative could we find than a God who is patient, gracious, in sovereign control of every detail in a vast universe, and bestows dignity and value to humankind?
John Piper lays open the neglected biblical understanding of providence in three parts, nine sections, and 45 chapters. He does so methodically, carefully, thoroughly, even devotionally. I appreciated the fact that the book includes scripture references printed out fully in the text, rather than simply referred to. Another strength of the book is narrative illustrations showing that these understandings of God’s providence have been lived out in real lives, rather than being theological or philosophical abstractions.
I firmly believe that good doctrine undergirds and leads to good living. That will be proven true by reading Providence. Whether living in abundant satisfaction, persecution, grief, or mundaneness, Piper can be read as a map to discovering new vistas of living in a God-centred confidence, caught up in glorious hope.
I would highly recommend Providence to anyone from seminarian to pastor to teacher to teenager to uncle or aunt. This is valuable stuff.
I am grateful to Crossway for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. To get your copy of Providence by John Piper, click here.