God's Message for Each Day: Wisdom from the Word of God

by Eugene H. Peterson

Few Christian writers today bring scriptural truth into everyday life like Eugene Peterson. As the creator of The Message series, the 20-million-selling translation of the Bible in contemporary idioms, Peterson has helped overly-familiar passages to be rediscovered in surprising newness. Now he brings some of his most thought-provoking meditations into a concise and captivating collection of daily devotions.

Genres: Devotional, Christian, Religion, Nonfiction

406 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Eugene H. Peterson was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. For many years he was James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. He had written over thirty books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language a contemporary translation of the Bible. After retiring from full-time teaching, Eugene and his wife Jan lived in the Big Sky Country of rural Montana. He died in October 2018.

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs]

This is the book I selected to help me survive the Christmas onslaught of the Black Friday Melee - Black Ice, Black Looks and Black Gimme's - and the grim defeated looks my poor wife bore on her Christmas shopping trips.

Peace on Earth to Men of Good Will? Few and far between those guys seem to have been last Holiday Season...

But the book blurb you see above is right. It rejuvenates the Gospel.

Peterson always brings new oxygenated life and red blooded fervour to faded truisms.

And irony is not unintended when apparent. When it falls upon the nasty, pushy sales clerks, it slices clean through them.

Where are you, Christmas, as the girl in the film lamented after the Grinch stole our good will?

Well, it's right here as we once knew it - and in its companion volume, God's Message for Christmas.

I am bipolar, and at the dawning of that awful dread within me, 53 years ago, I SAW the face of evil for what it always has been, a personal sales gimmick. To folks’ private, or corporate benefit.

That face has never changed, but the subtlety and variance of its sales pitches is the same at the Hopeful Time of the Year, when it is cynical sacrilege, in the Ordinary Time of innocence perpetually challenged.

It has challenged our old view of caring, loving families into panicked retreat. Our common love and respect has been exploded into space - our faith, our hope, our charity:

Whirled
Beyond the circuit of the shuddering Bear
In fractured atoms...
And an old man [like me] is driven by the Trades
To a sleepy corner.

But facile folks find themselves knocked willy-nilly and to no end, while those who are grounded in Faith stand firm, the world’s disasters notwithstanding.

And 53 years since that dread face of evil first turned up the heat I’m still right there in its purgatorial kitchen, my feet to the fire.

And so, next Advent - you too can make ready for that cynical swing of the Big Sell pendulum into mass chaos and confusion, with this inexpensive book.

It'll give you the Grace and Courage to do it well:

And it will return you to the gospel's simple peace and purity.

[Randy]

All of us have certain voices that we choose to listen to, to teach us, and those voices end up forming us to a very large degree. Eugene Peterson has been one of those voices in my life. This book is a collection of excerpts from his other books in small snippets for daily devotional use. They are short and provocative for reflection. Good for working folks who cannot invest a lot of time. The books excerpted are cited for those who wish to read more fully and I would recommend they do so.

[Mary Reilly]

Daily devotional with friends. Led me to read a couple more of his books. Peterson is a good combination of the academic and applicable for me.

[Mike Beranek]

Beautifully edited digestible snippets of passages from Peterson's books paired with a short usualy Psalm verse or New Testament quotation. This is a most accessible kind of devotional, which carries with it the lovely charisma of the great pastor. There are all sorts of editions now available of devotional compliations by Peterson - for instance the The Message Solo New Testament'Solo:' series, and Living the Message: Daily Reflections with Eugene Peterson but this possibly is the shortest and easiest of them all... an entry-level kind of publication, and most definitely a good way-in to further reading of his works of proper length i.e. 'A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, 'Traveling Light: Modern Meditations on St. Paul's Letter of Freedom et al

[Jeff]

Just a brief review of this devotional. It is 365-day devotional that is curated from many of the writings of the late Eugene H. Peterson, from Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer to Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of St John & The Praying Imagination to Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best. Each devotional takes barely a page, features a verse of Scripture, usually (but not always) from The Message version. The excerpts are quoted directly from the various sources and each source is noted at the bottom of the reading.

It's a delightful collection of Peterson's writing, and good food for thought for each day.

[Ian]

Peterson's writings require chewing on, meditating and reflection. It's one of the wonders of Peterson's writing that I so enjoy. As a result, this very truncated daily 'wisdom' taken from his many works comprising a handful of paragraphs based on a Bible verse misses some of that wonder.

Don't get me wrong there are some nuggets and perhaps for someone new to Peterson perhaps a useful introduction but I often simply read the words for the day and moved on with my day.

[Matt Maples]

A Year with Peterson will help you walk closer with Jesus!

A Year with Peterson will help you walk closer with Jesus! This is a very nice devotional. It’s short enough for you to likely to stick with it every day, and even though the entries each day are short they are profound. This book could be a nice companion for you in the new year!

[Chris Davey]

Classic Compilation Of Eugene Peterson’s Writings

This devotional is an excellent of compilation of Peterson’s writings and wisdom. There are so much wisdom in these pages that are presented in a humble and simple way.

[Paul H. Rogers]

Needs depth

A good meditation book for every day living. Well chosen passages i found it lacks depth. A good book nevertheless

[John Lewis]

Today's msg

Good daily perspective based on years of experience as a pastor, as a scholar and well lived example of the Christian life!!

[Stanley Turner]

A very good devotional from Eugene Peterson. Most scriptures are from the Message, a translation of the Bible into modern language from Peterson…SLT

[Sheila]

I struggled with the snippets that were pulled from books. I like his style of writing but it felt too random.

[Otis]

good, but a different type of devotional.

[Peter A. Hayes]

Lived up to headline: wisdom each day

This is a really cool devotional. Peterson pulls nuggets from all of his published texts to deliver a tight and salient series of God-honoring insights. This is not a prayer guide not is it a deep dive on any given subject. I found it useful as a reminder of God's truths presented in such a way as to make them fresh, compelling and contemplative.

[Gavin Stephenson-Jackman]

As with any daily devotional there were moments of inspiration that resonated with me and others that did not. Generally a very good devotional, certainly better than others that I've read. It took me longer to finish than expected as the year I started got so busy I had to set it aside and start over this year.

[Russ Skinner]

Another excellent devotional. The downside to having started this and Lewis' book at the same time this time last year is that I now have to find new morning reading material.

Reread throughout 2016, and highlighted passages I hadn't on the previous reading (through June 24, 2014.

[Jaime]

A nice daily devotional.