Book Review – Sheltering Mercy – Prayers Inspired By The Psalms by Ryan Whitaker Smith & Dan Wilt

Sheltering Mercy – Prayers Inspired By The Psalms by Ryan Whitaker Smith & Dan Wilt

Sheltering Mercy – Prayers Inspired by the Psalms by Ryan Whitaker Smith & Dan Wilt

Synopsis:

Sheltering Mercy helps us rediscover the rich treasures of the Psalms–through a free verse prayer rendering of their poems and hymns–as a guide to personal devotion and meditation.

The church has always used the Psalms as part of its prayer life, and they have inspired countless other prayers. This book contains 75 prayers drawn from Psalms 1-75, providing lyrical sketches of what authors Ryan Smith and Dan Wilt have seen, heard, and felt while sojourning in the Psalms. While each prayer corresponds to a particular psalm and touches on its themes and ideas, it is not a new translation of the Psalms or an attempt to modernize or contextualize their content or language. Rather, the prayers are responses to the Psalms written in harmony with Scripture. These prayers help us quiet our hearts before God and welcome us into a safe place amid the storms of life.

This artful, poetic, and classic devotional book features compelling custom illustrations and foil-stamped hardcover binding, offering a fresh way to reflect on and pray the Psalms. (Taken from GoodReads page)

Review

Inspired By

This book is not Scripture and it does not take the Pslams and rewrite them for modern audiences. What this book does is what we should see being done by a greater number of Christian artists – being inspired and using the inspiration of God’s revealed Word to communicate truths from the outpouring of His revelation.

Devotion

We used this as a family devotional of sorts. We would read the Psalm and communicate that the Psalm in question was God’s inspired Word to use. We would talk about what that Psalm meant for the reader and author at the time and what its implications are for us on this side of the Cross. We would then read from this book with the understanding that this was inspired by God’s revelation but it was not the inspired Word.

For young kids who haven’t experienced the full perils of the world yet, the first 75 Psalms make for a good introduction of what can come about in the world and where we can turn to. The Christian experience isn’t to just smile through the pain of life, shrug our shoulders at the unfairness of those who do wrong, or have no complaints when we face hardships. Our goal is to rely on God and His Word as the source of making sense of those evils. What is evil without an objective truth or ultimate good? It is nothing more than preferring chocolate ice cream over vanilla.

Poetry Sub Poetry

Like all books of poetry, there are some you’ll like and some you won’t. There will be some that help at the time and some that will help later. What is really nice about this book is that there isn’t a one-to-one correlation between the Psalm it’s inspired by and what’s written. The theme(s) of Psalm in imbued in the section but it’s a new thing, a new prayer, that follows the keystrokes along the path of the Psalm. It also doesn’t stick to just the words of the Old Testament but weaves in verses, themes, and theology of the New Testament – exactly what you would expect from Christian art being inspired by the Word of God.

While this book wouldn’t be for everyone, it is a book worth considering especially for those who want to produce good Christian art. Not everything has to be an altar call message where the atheist either comes to salvation or rues the day He ever challenge God and His People. This is the Christian art we need to see based on living in God’s Word and being renewed people of worship.

Final Grade

A-