A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original review appears below. John Vaudry is the minister of St. Andrew’s, Wingham, Ontario.
Up Against It. James Philip, Christian Focus Publications, 1991, 207pp.
The Christian life is not made up of an unending series of mountain-top experiences; there are also valleys, some of them very dark indeed. For such times the believer needs encouragement and wise counsel in overcoming spiritual difficulties.
James Philip, minister of Edinburgh’s Holyrood Abbey Church of Scotland, has written a most perceptive and helpful book on dealing with spiritual depression and other problems in Christian experience. Originally written as sermons, these chapters look at various biblical figures and how they handled bitterness of soul, discouragement, doubt and disappointment with God. Philip’s gifts as an expositor are very much in evidence as he brings out the way the Word of God speaks to each situation. He is also able to draw on a lifetime’s pastoral ministry in examining and illustrating each theme.
If there is one note that is sounded again and again in his book it is the crucial importance of faith in a sovereign and loving God. “it is all a question of having a right attitude to our recognized weaknesses and fragilities, and to have spirit enough to wrestle with them, refusing to give in to them, wresting promises from God in the darknesses we face.”
Truly an eloquent, moving, comforting book to build up Christ’s people.