My Soul Waits: Solace for the Lonely in the Psalms

by Marva J. Dawn

"An overwhelming number of us are lonely," writes Marva Dawn. "Sometimes we are lonely for a specific our spouse has recently died or left us; our children have just gone from home or have been tragically killed; we are fighting a particular battle against illness or suffering the ravages of chemotherapy; we are new in the neighborhood; our values are different from those of our work colleagues; it is a Friday night and all our other single friends have dates. Sometimes our loneliness is a general, pervasive we just don't feel as if we belong in our place of work, in our community, in our family, even in our church."Our struggle with loneliness often results in a lament directed at God. We might say something like "How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" When we cry out words like these, we find ourselves praying the words of the Psalms.In My Soul Waits, Dawn guides us through psalms that reveal the burdens of our souls to God, and in turn reveal God's profound, intimate concern for our pain and a promise to abide with us in it.Readers feeling the sting of loneliness will take great comfort in this very personal book. Those who strive to support the lonely among them will take wise counsel from the Scriptures it expounds. All will encounter a renewed hope in the One who lists our tears only to wipe them all away.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Old Testament

268 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2007

About the author

Marva J. Dawn is an American Christian theologian, author, musician and educator, associated with the parachurch organization "Christians Equipped for Ministry" in Vancouver, Washington. She also serves as Teaching Fellow in Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Dawn is generally perceived as a Lutheran evangelical.

Reviews

[Byron Fike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marva Dawn is one of my favorite theologians. Her insights in the biblical text are rooted as much in her personal struggles as they are in her scholarly approach to scripture. I find such honesty immensely appealing and spiritually formative. "My Soul Waits" is written in a devotional type format to help readers find God in the midst of their loneliness. Each chapter is built around a specific text from the Psalms and offers insight into the text itself as well as application of the truths contained in the psalm. Using the tools of scholarship and personal testimony, Marva Dawn humbly offers helpful pastoral guidance and counsel.

[Heather]

Interesting concepts. The author goes into the direct translation of the hebrew a lot. Sometimes that is helpful, other times it is hard to grasp her point in the translation. I've been able to go away from each chapter with a phrase or idea that hit home. She splits up the psalms in different chapters so there is not as much variety in the scriptures as I was hopeing for, but still well put together.

[Liza]

I pick this up every once in a while and read a chapter or two. I always enjoy it when I do. But I'm not very consistent with it. The good thing is, each chapter can stand on it's own, as it's meditations. So if it takes me two years to get through it, that's ok.