Sifted

I've been seeing the book Sifted by Rick Lawrence in a lot of bookstores lately, and it looked really interesting, so I jumped at the chance to review it! The subtitle reads: "God's scandalous response to Satan's outrageous demand." It focuses on the story of Luke 22:2034 and Jesus' conversation with Peter when Jesus reveals some tough times ahead for Peter.

The themes of this book must be something God is trying to pound into my head because it seems to be recurring a lot lately. Byron is also teaching a series with the students this month called, "The Big God Questions," and of course, the biggest God question most people have is, "Why do bad things happen to good people." The author does an amazing job really digging into these kinds of questions. He really analyzes scripture and comes out with some great insight.

I love this quote from the book promo; "If we believe that Christians are still sifted today, why do we so often judge those who are experiencing hardships? They must have done something wrong. God must be punishing them. But suffering is inevitable, whether it comes in the form of life-shifting catastrophe or the drip-drip-dripping of daily troubles. Sifted will encourage those who are facing trouble now and those who will face it in the future. It will encourage us to see our pain as a means to greater knowledge and intimacy with Christ. Lawrence offers a rigorously honest, deeply challenging, yet powerfully comforting exploration of the trials that beat us down, the good God who allows our troubles, and the incredible beauty the process of sifting can reveal in us."

It's such a hard truth -this concept of Sifting. I think it is a passage of scripture a lot of pastors even avoid. It is a hard thing to talk about with students because in their narrow minds it just doesn't seem"fair." They struggle to see the down the road benefits of trails we face now. I am really enjoying Sifted, I really feel like I have really gained a lot by reading it. I would highly recommend this book, it is a complicated concept; yet it is readable and enjoyable. I think it is a book that I would like to have 3-5 copies of on my bookshelf to give away to those with these kinds of big questions. You can buy it HERE for $9.97. Rick Lawrence has a site with more information on the book, and a video of him talking about it HERE.

I was given a copy of Sifted by B&B Media and David C. Cook for the purpose of review only.