To open the Book of Psalms is to enter the world of God. To read the Psalms is to read the words of God and hear the words of these ancient people in response to this God who has graciously drawn them into an eternal covenant. The Book of Psalms is one continuous conversation that ranges over many centuries--perhaps nearly a millennium--between the God of Israel and the people of Israel; or more accurately, the God of glory and this particular people who have been called to live life on the edge of glory as the people of God. There is no mystery to this conversation. It is all an embroidery of grace. Modern day readers may find themselves caught in the nexus between personal experience and the desire to live a life of faith on the other. These will find a voice in the Psalms. Ancient Israel strove to put their trust in the One God of All--in the face of myriad challenges throughout her long history. What we find here is a bold witness to their hard-won faith and confidence in the sheltering presence of the One God of All. This is a message that is especially timely for people who may desire the deeper dimensions of life and faith amid the inescapable incongruities and anxieties of postmodern life. ""Weaver finds in the Psalms amazing affirmations of trust in God in the midst of personal disasters that today drive many people away from the Church. While Weaver bases his readings on scholarship of the Book of Psalms he nonetheless pierces through the many conjectures about their forms, origins and provenances and finds what the lay person today faces who often lives on the boundaries of modern existence, the soul who quietly endures the worst that life can throw at a person. This book speaks to those who often quietly suffer pain and doubt to the point of despair. This is the book that speaks to those who ask the desperate question, ""Why did God let this happen?"" --from the foreword by James A. Sanders Lorne E. Weaver is a retired priest and rector in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Gordon College, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, and did post-graduate work at The Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California. He lives in Upland, California. This is his first book.
