How do you worship when you're depressed? Where do you find words to express inexpressible joy? What do you pray when you need hope?
Soul Anatomy is a biblical guide for working through emotional turmoil in a gospel-centered way. It shows how the Psalms serve as a God-authored script by which to express every category of the human experience.
The Bible's inspired hymnbook guides believers through the highest summits and lowest troughs of life and invites the not-yet believer to a Redeemer who ultimately experienced all of the emotions of these prayers in his incarnation.
Author George Robertson enables readers to find a sympathetic Savior in the Psalms who experienced every human emotion, and he helps men and women see the God-inspired vocabulary for expressing every feeling to the Father.
Soul Anatomy helps men and women respond to the love of God in all the ways the psalmists do: spiritually, vocationally, physically, and volitionally. As divinely inspired prayers, God offers the vocabulary he welcomes from us when we do not know how to pray.
Discover the heart of Jesus through the prayers of Jesus, the high priest who can sympathize with us.
AUTHOR
George Robertson earned a bachelor's degree from Covenant College; a master's of divinity and master's of theology from Covenant Theological Seminary; and a doctor of philosophy degree in historical and theological studies from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Currently he is the senior pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, TN, and a council member for The Gospel Coalition. He previously served as a lecturer/adjunct professor at Covenant Theological Seminary. He is married to Jackie and they have four children: Taylor, Anna, Abbey, and Caroline.
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George Robertson
Paul David Tripp
David Powlison
Josiah D. Bancroft IV
Michael Gembola
This study book consists of twenty-four chapters, focusing on twenty-five psalms, with each one highlighting a different theme. The author is a Pastor and theologian who has preached on all one hundred and fifty psalms, twice over, in the last twenty years. This book clearly reveals his lifelong love of the psalms. In the introduction he discusses what has brought him back to the psalms again and again. There are five points, that they invite us to understand ourselves; they can increase our boldness in prayer; they voice our grief and help process suffering; they are a poetic expression of faith and teach us to grow in community. These thoughts underlie the book. The chapters all follow a similar format, with the author’s introduction to the theme, followed by a systematic exposition and commentary on the psalm. The final point links back to the theme title and then there are three to four questions for personal reflection or discussion. The chapter concludes with examples, guidance, and prompts in how to pray through the psalm. This is the application, and the focal point of each study, that the psalms deepen our relationship with God. In the author’s own words: “Being convinced God loves you is perhaps the greatest key to finding peace, hope and joy in him.” How this book affected me: I appreciated the author’s honesty in sharing his own struggles and the personal stories that he included for relevance. The commentary refers to and quotes extensively other historical theologians, Wesley, Spurgeon, Calvin, and Luther to name a few, and more recent figures such as Bonhoeffer, H.A.Ironside, and C.S.Lewis. The quotations added weight to the message, but were not always necessary, as the author’s words had a validity of their own. Who would enjoy this book: Soul Anatomy is a study book, almost a series of mini sermons, with extensive knowledge, insight, and a love for exposition of the psalms. It would appeal to the bible teacher, or student, looking to do a thorough study, with the belief that the application of God’s word is essential. The book shares a clear love for God’s word that it is indeed our life, and health, providing food for our souls. The book reviews at Finding God Among Us focus on Christian books – adult and children, fiction and nonfiction. Our specialty is books on faith and new Christian book releases. We’re proud to be included in the Top 50 Christian Book Review Bloggers. Our publisher partners include New Growth Press, Shadow Mountain Publishing, and Revell and BakerBooks, divisions of Baker Publishing Group. I chose to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This review was written by reviewer Sharon Hazel.
The Psalms have been a part of worship and human expression for centuries. They help us understand ourselves in the light of God's truth, Robertson says. He takes us through twenty-five psalms with a running commentary on their content. He includes questions for thought and a prayer at the end of each study. The text is more in the style of a commentary than a devotional reading. This is a book where readers might look to chapter headings and read about a psalm addressing a particular concern. When one is feeling abandoned, turn to Psalm five. Robertson reminds us God delights in paying attention to us. That is something we might not naturally believe so need to be reminded often. When being accused, Psalm 26 will help us experience God's peace. When we are waiting for God to move while we are facing difficulties, go to Psalm 27. And in Psalm 37 we find encouragement to change our focus to delighting in the Lord when life gets us down. This is a book for Christians who are dealing with emotions during troubled times, such as depression. Robertson shares his own struggles with it and how the Psalms helped him. Reading about these Psalms will help readers learn how to give voice to their deepest emotions. One word of caution, however. The Psalms are poetic expressions. The writers used many literary techniques such as hyperbole. I think we can get into trouble when we take poetic expression as doctrine. An example is Robertson on Psalm 5:11,12. “These are truths we can live by: God's protection and provision of grace is certain.” (Loc 469/3899) What does that truth of protection mean practically? How does that certainty of protection work for Christians being martyred today? We must remember, I think, that the Psalms are poetry and are to be treated as such. I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.