In the modern West, we live with an abundance of written resources. We have access to more books than any other civilization in history. Yet often we take this abundance granted and opt for mindless entertainment on television or our smartphones. As Christians, we should see this abundance rightly as a gift from the Lord. We have been richly blessed, not only with an abundant access to books in general but to God’s word in a variety of translations as well as a treasury of biblical-focused material. In our busyness, however, we too opt for entertainment and neglect our spiritual well-being. The way to remedy this is to take the time to read the Bible and material that will point us to treasure it deeply. Two such resources have been published this year. Both are devotional books, one for men titled Daily Strength and the other for women titled Daily Joy (Crossway, 2022).
Daily Strength is a collection of daily devotions for men written by leading pastors, teachers, professors, and theologians. The devotions were originally published in the ESV Men’s Devotional Bible (2015), which is now out of print. They have also been recently republished in the new ESV Men’s Study Bible (2022). Each devotion is based on a biblical passage and are arranged in canonical order. They do not, however, cover each chapter of the Bible. As expected from Crossway, the devotions are biblically faithful. While they are brief, they are by no means shallow. Each contributor does an excellent job of being concise, yet biblically rich. Contributors include: Sam Storms, R. Kent Hughes, Miles Van Pelt, Paul House, Alistair Begg, Bryan Chapell, Greg Gilbert, Dane Ortlund, and Julius Kim, among many others.
In the same way, Daily Joy is a collection of daily devotions for women written by leading pastors, teachers, writers, and authors. The devotions were originally published in the ESV Women’s Devotional Bible (2014), which is also out of print. As with the men’s devotions, these too have been republished in the new ESV Women’s Study Bible (2020). Similar to the men’s devotional, the devotions are biblically faithful yet concise. Contributors include: Sam Storms, Jen Wilkin, Jani Ortlund, Kristyn Getty, Nancy Guthrie, Joni Erickson Tada, and Ann Voskamp, among many others.
Given the fact that the devotions comprised in these new publications have been published in other resources, some readers may not find them useful. However, for anyone who does not already have the previously published ESV devotional Bibles these resources would be excellent for personal devotional. In addition they would make great resources for small group Bible study. A great way to use these devotionals would be to discuss the material read individually with your husband or wife. This would be a wonderful way to strengthen marriages. As we approach the advent season, these two devotionals would make excellent Christmas gifts for someone on your list.
Photos courtesy of Crossway.
Editor’s Note: The resources discussed in this article were provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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