Book Review - BRAVE BY FAITH
Alistair Begg
The Good Book Company
I don’t do a lot of book reviews. I don’t feel it's one of my stronger gifts. BRAVE BY FAITH by Alistair Begg however, is one of those books that immediately hooked me, dragged me in, and would not let me go until I had read every one of its 123 pages.
As books go, BRAVE BY FAITH is a small book-123 five by eight inch pages. I read it (the first time) in a little over two hours. It is small, and yet gigantic in terms of the personal impact - I mean smacked between the eyes impact - it has had on me. I’ve read it once, today. I have started a second read and I suspect that by the time I finish it again, I will have pulled out the yellow hi-liter to mark up almost every page.
It doesn’t hurt that Alistair Begg is one of my favorite teachers. His name on the cover drew me in right away. Sinclair Ferguson writes on the cover, “A book for our times from one of today’s stand-out communicators.” Understatement.
In seven chapters, marked by their brevity as well as their eloquence, Alistair Begg provides a brilliant commentary on the life of Daniel which is woven into the fabric of an astute assessment of the culture in which Western Christians now live. His goal is succinct: GOD-SIZED CONFIDENCE IN A POST-CHRISTIAN WORLD.
In his life as a young jewish man exiled in a violent, pagan land, Daniel and his three friends Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael provide us with powerful lessons about not only surviving in a pagan culture, but prospering in that culture. So many Western Christians are living in fear as we watch our society incessantly turn away from God and toward secularism. As it does, the animosity against Christianity and Christians grows right along with it. We see Christians growing more and more fearful and sadly, more and more angry. It is almost as if we believe the fall of America will mean the death of Christianity.
Begg skillfully demonstrates how the paganism of Babylon not only did not overpower or destroy Daniel and his friends, it had little to no impact on their faith and walk with God. In fact, it was just the opposite. These men lived without fear and without compromise in a society that did everything it could to turn them away from God or to destroy them altogether, and while they were doing that turned the hearts even of Kings toward the worship of their God.
I found BRAVE BY FAITH to be one of the most refreshing and encouraging books I have read in quite some time. I am so appreciative of my friend Ben for recommending it to me. It was a breath of fresh air that I needed at this time in my life. Book reviews are not what I do, but I kept thinking all the way through this little book the names of people I know that would be blessed and challenged by it. I highly recommend . . . No, I urge you to pick up a copy of BRAVE BY FAITH, pour a coffee or cup of tea and prepare to ingest some really good news for a change of pace.
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