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Finding God in the Ordinary
God is in the ordinary moments all around you. It's just a matter of seeing. Get ready to marvel at how God's presence pervades the ordinary moments of our lives! We tend to look for God in the grand and spectacular, but most of our lives are filled with ordinary moments and drinking coffee, reading a book, driving to work. Can we find God in the banalities of everyday life? In Finding God in the Ordinary , the author shows that we can, and that we must. Our world is not an ordinary world. Because it was spoken into being and maintained by the word of God's power (Heb 1:3), everything around us is always revealing the nature and character of the triune God. Our world is extraordinarily ordinary, always calling our attention to the God of glory and his work in the commonplace.
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90 pages, Paperback
Published September 19, 2018
10 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Pierce Taylor Hibbs
31 books34 followersPierce Taylor Hibbs is a wordsmith who builds things to bring readers closer to God. He's the award-winning author of Theological English, and has also written more popular works on theology such as Finding God in the Ordinary, The Speaking Trinity, and Struck Down but Not Destroyed: Living Faithfully with Anxiety. Download free ebooks and resources from piercetaylorhibbs.com.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 2, 2019
Pierce Taylor Hibbs beautifully depicts how God can be seen in the ordinary things in life. It truly inspires me to look at everyday moments in a new light.
January 9, 2024
Theologian touches grass (theologically) (2018, colorized).
September 3, 2019
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Hibbs, the associate director of the Theological English Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, has given us a great collection of thirteen essays (semi-inspired by an interview Hibbs heard with Karl Ove Knausgard on NPR but from a very different perspective) based on that idea. As you can guess from the title, Hibbs looks at the minutiae of life and sees how it testifies to the Triune God of the Christian Scriptures.
Some of the everyday, ordinary, common things that he muses on include:
* dust particles
* his son's laugh
* swirling coffee
* light
* wind
* shadows
* falling snow
Not your everyday subjects for short essays—particularly not from a theologian, are they? From these everyday things, Hibbs goes on to mediate and wax lyrically on God's nature, being, truth, care, light, providence, and grace (and other things). These are not theological treatises, but musings on small things around him. Yes, they are theologically-inclined and theologically-informed (and he slips in enough nuggets to make me want to check out his other work). I can't think of anything else to compare it to, which annoys me, because it'd help explain the volume.
I wondered from time to time if he was going to dance close to pantheism, but he never got that close, really. But he was clearly aware of the hazard, and addressed it in his Epilogue.
The prose is frequently poetic (and there are the occasional bits of actual verse), and gorgeously written. It's not often that you read theologically-inclined books that possess beautiful language—the ideas are often wonderful, sure, but the language typically fails to live up to it. Not Hibbs—he knows how to phrase things to make an impression, not just impart ideas.
Not only are these essays well-written and thought-provoking, they ought to train the reader to start to find God in the ordinary around them—which is probably the best use of the book. It's a little on the thin side, honestly, but I don't know if you could read more than this in a sitting (if you manage to only do one sitting of it) without it losing some power. An interview I heard with him seemed to suggest there might be further collections like this, if there are, I will jump on them. Recommended.
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In the greatness of God, the smallest of things is given tremendous weight.
Hibbs, the associate director of the Theological English Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, has given us a great collection of thirteen essays (semi-inspired by an interview Hibbs heard with Karl Ove Knausgard on NPR but from a very different perspective) based on that idea. As you can guess from the title, Hibbs looks at the minutiae of life and sees how it testifies to the Triune God of the Christian Scriptures.
Some of the everyday, ordinary, common things that he muses on include:
* dust particles
* his son's laugh
* swirling coffee
* light
* wind
* shadows
* falling snow
Not your everyday subjects for short essays—particularly not from a theologian, are they? From these everyday things, Hibbs goes on to mediate and wax lyrically on God's nature, being, truth, care, light, providence, and grace (and other things). These are not theological treatises, but musings on small things around him. Yes, they are theologically-inclined and theologically-informed (and he slips in enough nuggets to make me want to check out his other work). I can't think of anything else to compare it to, which annoys me, because it'd help explain the volume.
I wondered from time to time if he was going to dance close to pantheism, but he never got that close, really. But he was clearly aware of the hazard, and addressed it in his Epilogue.
The prose is frequently poetic (and there are the occasional bits of actual verse), and gorgeously written. It's not often that you read theologically-inclined books that possess beautiful language—the ideas are often wonderful, sure, but the language typically fails to live up to it. Not Hibbs—he knows how to phrase things to make an impression, not just impart ideas.
Not only are these essays well-written and thought-provoking, they ought to train the reader to start to find God in the ordinary around them—which is probably the best use of the book. It's a little on the thin side, honestly, but I don't know if you could read more than this in a sitting (if you manage to only do one sitting of it) without it losing some power. An interview I heard with him seemed to suggest there might be further collections like this, if there are, I will jump on them. Recommended.
April 15, 2023
“Do not mistake the sunlight for sunlight, or the trees for trees. Do not mistake wind for wind, or sound for sound. Do not mistake the ordinary for the ordinary. In this world, there is no such thing as the ordinary. God is present here. Everywhere we look are testaments to divine presence”
Not what I expected, but enjoyable still. A series of the author’s observations about where he sees God in the ordinary. Less about your seeing God and more about seeing where the author has seen Him. A bit off-putting at first but I was mostly won over by the end.
Not what I expected, but enjoyable still. A series of the author’s observations about where he sees God in the ordinary. Less about your seeing God and more about seeing where the author has seen Him. A bit off-putting at first but I was mostly won over by the end.
July 15, 2019
This is a delightful little book of meditations about the phenomena of creation. There is nothing ordinary in God's world. This was a good read in light of an earlier book I read by Gerald McDermott, Everyday Glory. They pair well together.
Hibbs helps the reader to open his eyes to look past the mundane stuff of earth to discover the marvelous revelation of God in the world around him from shadows to starlings to thumbs. We are interpreters of a highly personal God revealed world.
Hibbs helps the reader to open his eyes to look past the mundane stuff of earth to discover the marvelous revelation of God in the world around him from shadows to starlings to thumbs. We are interpreters of a highly personal God revealed world.
May 22, 2021
This is the book I've been searching for. I'm obsessed with the idea of God being reflected in all things, and seeing Him in every day beauty. The dilemma here has often been where does biblical truth end and Pantheism start... This book was IT, and overflowing with rich truth and insights. I also loves the special attention to the role of language and how it relates to the Trinity... such a fascinating idea that I want to study more!
June 18, 2019
These essays were great reflections from every day experiences. The author does a wonderful job of connecting deep theology with ordinary life and models a deliberate, meditative style of reflection we all too often fail to do in our busy, harried world of endless distractions. It's good to take a step back and ponder that cup of coffee :).
November 20, 2022
"This world is a treasure chest beneath our feet; we tread over it thoughtlessly."
Given to me by a friend, this little book has been a timely gift God has used to awaken my senses, heart, and mind to His revealed presence in all things. Wendell Berry-esque, infused with slightly philosophical-poetical musings, but all done in a heart of love for the triune God. Beautiful.
Given to me by a friend, this little book has been a timely gift God has used to awaken my senses, heart, and mind to His revealed presence in all things. Wendell Berry-esque, infused with slightly philosophical-poetical musings, but all done in a heart of love for the triune God. Beautiful.
March 31, 2023
Read the epilogue first?
This book was a great encouragement to meditate,live in God's presence.
Yet though I knew the author to be faithful to Scripture I had questions and uneasiness at many points. These are answered,quelled as I read the epilogue . Will plan to reread this book again soon
This book was a great encouragement to meditate,live in God's presence.
Yet though I knew the author to be faithful to Scripture I had questions and uneasiness at many points. These are answered,quelled as I read the epilogue . Will plan to reread this book again soon
March 13, 2019
Short but deeply insightful. Hibbs will make you see that our world is still enchanted as long as we're able to see that there's a personal triune God active and present in it all.
June 6, 2019
Find my review here: https://joylotoole.com/2019/06/06/fin...
November 30, 2019
a sweet little book used as a devotional last summer.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews