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readingwallflower's review
4.0
Thank you to Crossway and Netgalley for the early digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is an updated edition of Crossway’s ESV Devotional Psalter!
I am of the mindset that relying on a devotional, someone else’s commentary on scripture, shouldn’t replace one’s own careful reading and study of the Bible. However, books like this can be a helpful source of encouragement and provide clarification for the interpretations we come to. Each of the psalms is reproduced in the text, followed by Ortlund’s brief reflection on the content of the psalm. I think overall this devotional psalter makes for a solid companion to one’s reading through the psalms. Ortlund offers some helpful explanations about the individual psalm and raises questions to the reader for further contemplation and application. These reflections are meant to be digested quickly (only taking a few minutes to read) and as such, aren’t quite a complex deep-dive into context or analysis of the original Hebrew if that is what you’re looking for, but I don’t think that’s the purpose and that’s fine!
I’ve been trying to pray through the psalms each day using Donald Whitney’s method in Praying the Bible, and I found myself referencing Ortlund’s short reflections beforehand, especially for particular psalms that I initially thought were more straightforward or shorter psalms I was tempted to gloss over. I think on more than one occasion, Ortlund pointed something out I hadn’t thought of before, expanding my understanding of the potential intent behind the psalm, highlighting another aspect of God in the verses I may not have seen!
Thoughts on format: this is a book that probably works much better in physical print rather than as an ebook! There were some issues with the digital copy I received (missing headings for many of the psalm numbers, lack of table of contents which made referencing specific psalms difficult), but hopefully these were corrected in the final edition. The hardcover edition looks great!
This is an updated edition of Crossway’s ESV Devotional Psalter!
I am of the mindset that relying on a devotional, someone else’s commentary on scripture, shouldn’t replace one’s own careful reading and study of the Bible. However, books like this can be a helpful source of encouragement and provide clarification for the interpretations we come to. Each of the psalms is reproduced in the text, followed by Ortlund’s brief reflection on the content of the psalm. I think overall this devotional psalter makes for a solid companion to one’s reading through the psalms. Ortlund offers some helpful explanations about the individual psalm and raises questions to the reader for further contemplation and application. These reflections are meant to be digested quickly (only taking a few minutes to read) and as such, aren’t quite a complex deep-dive into context or analysis of the original Hebrew if that is what you’re looking for, but I don’t think that’s the purpose and that’s fine!
I’ve been trying to pray through the psalms each day using Donald Whitney’s method in Praying the Bible, and I found myself referencing Ortlund’s short reflections beforehand, especially for particular psalms that I initially thought were more straightforward or shorter psalms I was tempted to gloss over. I think on more than one occasion, Ortlund pointed something out I hadn’t thought of before, expanding my understanding of the potential intent behind the psalm, highlighting another aspect of God in the verses I may not have seen!
Thoughts on format: this is a book that probably works much better in physical print rather than as an ebook! There were some issues with the digital copy I received (missing headings for many of the psalm numbers, lack of table of contents which made referencing specific psalms difficult), but hopefully these were corrected in the final edition. The hardcover edition looks great!