This book is suprisingly thin for Piper, it may be his shortest. At only 110 pages I was thinking that it would be a easy read that I could just blow through in about 2 days or so, but as I began to read I found otherwise. Eventhough it is a short read, Piper fills it full of meat and it took me a while to chew each bite. Piper explains some of the hardest verses in the Bible that deal with God and his character. If you are looking to hold on to the God of your imagination and not willing to confront how he has revealed himself through his word, then this is not the book for you. Piper explains, "The aim of this book is not to meet felt needs, but to awaken needs that will son be felt, and then to save your faith and strengthen your courage when evil prevails," and "My aim is to show that sin and evil, no matter how spectacular, never nullify the decisive, Christ-exaliting pruposes of God. No, my aim is more than that. These spectacular sins (such as the fall of Adam, The Pride of Babel, The Sale of Joseph, Judas, and finally the Crucifixtion of Christ) do not just fail to nullify God's prupose to glorify Christ, they succeed, by God's unfathomable providence, in making his gracious purpose come to pass. This truth is the steel God offers to put in the spine of his people as they face the worst calamities." Some of the things that Piper explains in this book had me wondering for a minute, "could this be true? does God really say this?" but as I read further, Piper would always show the reader the plain text from the Bible. This book helped me along the proccess of accepting who God really is instead of who I want him to be. Piper shows how even Satan and evil are not out of God's control. One of the verses that Piper uses that I think defines this book is from the mouth of Joseph, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." If you are looking to put some "steel in your spine" then I would recommend this book.
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