Dumbfounded Praying
Ebook
Overview
Dumbfounded Praying is a book of no-limits, uninhibited praying-dumfounded praying. It is a confessing book, an idea book, a wrestling and praise-filled book, and like the Psalms, intensely personal, but certainly not private. These prayers are for everybody who is thirsty and hungry, who doubts, who might be unsure of the value of prayer; they are for anybody who wants to question, confess, praise, lament, imagine, and speculate. This book is open to all who love the richness of speech with God and want his everlasting richness to flood their minds, hearts, and circumstances in return. Prayer is more than a narrow, tidied list of “proper things” to talk to God about. Nothing is off-limits with God, for he intimately knows what fills our minds, stirs in our hearts, and frames our circumstances. God invites us to talk everything over with him, honestly, fearlessly, even imaginatively. Out of sheer love, God has eternally befriended himself to us and asks us into his confidence and in turn invites us to confide freely in him. God wants us to know that while we would rather talk than listen, he always listens before he talks, and when he does, it is always with his Word, strongly yet sweetly offered to us by his Spirit and made eternally sure by his Son. This Word is inevitably filled with mercy, love, grace, forgiveness, correction, and unblemished wisdom.
”Everyone will wrestle with these prayers--even as we rejoice in
them--for they tug out truths about ourselves that we don’t want to
face. However, God will use these pieces powerfully in our lives to
mature us as saints and, meanwhile, will reveal to us illimitably
sweet Truths about the Triune’s healing Love, redeeming
forgiveness, and mysteriously multiplying Grace. You need this
book--as do we all!"
--Marva Dawn
author of Being Well When We’re Ill and Keeping the Sabbath
Wholly
“It is rare to find someone so dexterous in the art of music and at
the same time so eloquent, subtle, and poignant with words. With
their searing honesty and biblical depth, these prayers take
us--with all our foibles and faithlessness--deep into the heart of
our triune God, whose love provokes, embraces, and transforms every
prayer we utter."
--Jeremy Begbie
Thomas A. Langford Research Professor of Theology, Duke
University
"As they plead and praise, prod and provoke, Harold Best’s prayers
come to God in a spirit of broken-hearted gratitude. Their concerns
run the gamut from the fresh, revelatory language of children to
the incomprehensible vastness of the universe. With profound
insight into the depths of the human heart and with a keen ear for
the language of the scriptures, Harold Best talks with the triune
God about his deepest fears, his strongest hopes, and his greatest
longings. We, his readers, are privileged to hear such rich
conversation."
--Roger Lundin
Blanchard Professor of English, Wheaton College
Product Details
- Title : Dumbfounded Praying
- Authors:
- Best, Harold M.
- Peterson, Eugene H.
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Publication Date: 2011
- ISBN: 9781621892960
Harold M. Best is Emeritus Dean/Professor of Music, Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, and a past president of the National Association of Schools of Music. He is the author of Music through the Eyes of Faith and Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts. He remains active at the national level as a speaker and workshop participant in the areas of curriculum, worship, church music and the arts.