Wonder Full: Ancient Psalms Ever New

Marty Machowski, Illustrator Andy McGuire | New Growth Press, 2020, 272 pp., $29.99 | Re-viewed by Sam Spear

This children’s survey of the Book of Psalms is full of surprises and delights. Its structure, visuals, tone, and content are unusual and well conceived. Many authors have attempted to create an introduction to a subject that invites the reader to dig deeper, but this volume encourages curiosity and engagement in a way that most don’t.

Marty Machowski, author of The Ology (also illustrated by Andy McGuire), is pastor of family life at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pa. While not part of a psalm-singing church, Marty has developed an appreciation and understanding of the “Treasury of David” that is made clear through the book. Marty acknowledges the influence of O. Palmer Robertson and Charles Spurgeon, among others, in his writing and thinking.

The structure of the book is built around the structure of the psalter. Each of the five main sections of the book is surrounded by an episode of a brief fictional story of a young boy who is dealing with his grandfather’s failing health and the sickness of his own heart. The story provides an entry point into the richness of the 150 psalms and their use.

Within each section, each psalm is quoted briefly, and a paragraph or two presents the psalm’s theme or describes its spiritual use and benefits. Although most psalms are just briefly dealt with, the very brevity of each reference calls the reader to read more and think further. The last section of the book is a deeper dive into 25 selected psalms. Illustrations from the text of the psalms are interspersed throughout the book, but with only enough context to make you want to figure out why it is there or what it might mean.

The author connects psalms that work together thematically, deals directly with imprecation, shows Christ as the subject and singer of the Psalms, and connects theology to doxology. For a children’s book, this is a rich resource. It might be challenging to find the right age to start an exploration of this book. Some might find the images and illustrations appeal to an age group that is too young for the scope and depth of the material. Perhaps this book would be a good read-aloud for ages 8–10, though its usefulness would extend into the teen years.

Wonder Full is engaging, unusual in its breadth, and contains treasures to be explored. Your family would benefit from having it as a resource.

Teach Them to Work: Building a Positive Work Ethic in Our Children

Mary Beeke | Reformation Heritage Books, 2021, 217 pp., $9 | Reviewed by Meg Spear

As the world began to shut down in the spring of 2020, Mary Beeke began to write this helpful guide for parents on teaching children to work. In an honest but appropriately self-deprecating manner, Beeke bases her own qualifications on the fact that she was a child who resisted and resented work, trying to wriggle out of it without directly defying her parents.

Through God’s grace, she has learned many lessons on the value of work and has, along with her husband Joel, raised three hard-working children. As a grandmother, a teacher, and a registered nurse, she brings to bear helpful life experiences throughout the book. Additionally, she interviewed a number of parents and has included wide-ranging suggestions from them.

I really enjoyed the overall tone of this guide. Firmly rooted in Scripture, Beeke draws clear lines, but she does so with tenderness, gentleness, and patience.

The book is divided in two sections. The first section, Parental Principles, is full of foundational truths for parents as they affirm the intrinsic value of work. One especially helpful concept in this section encourages parents to pay attention to children’s learning and work styles and to adapt work assignments accordingly.

It was good to be reminded of the importance of parents exercising self-control and setting good examples for their children, including bathing stressful situations in prayer. The chapter on minimizing and monitoring children’s screen time is important, and the wise advice she offers would be good for all parents to consider.

The second section of the book, Practical Principles, gives more hands-on advice for implementing the truths explained in the first half of the book, with the goal of bringing out “the best in [our children] so they experience the joys and rewards of work.” Beeke touches on topics such as working first and playing later, getting started and finishing well, overcoming obstacles, caring for our pos-sessions, and allowing natural consequences.

The final three chapters are dedicated to the rewards of a job well done and the importance of rest. God did not design us to be workaholics, so learning to enjoy the fruit of our hands and learning to rest at appointed times are important aspects related to the subject of work.

Study questions, a chart of age-appropriate chores, and a bibliography of suggested reading close out this timely resource.

** Practicing Thankfulness: Cultivating a Grateful Heart in All Circumstances**

Sam Crabtree | Crossway, 2021, 138 pp., $16.99 | Reviewed by Pastor Daniel Howe

Practicing Thankfulness is an excellent little book. Alongside mindfulness, gratitude is a self-care buzzword, but Sam Crabtree doesn’t spill much ink correcting all the errors to be found in social media theology. Instead, he concentrates on what gratitude is and how to be thankful: Gratitude is the divinely given spiritual ability to see grace and the corresponding desire to affirm it and its giver as good.

Gratitude is the right response to the whole of our existence, and it’s not an open-ended feeling. We are grateful to something or someone. As G. K. Chesterton put it, “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.”

Our thankfulness must be rooted in sound theology and, specifically, the truths that God is always working and He is always working for the good of those who love Him. It is right for us to be thankful in everything and for everything. Thankfulness is an indication of faith: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6–7). The flesh cannot give thanks to God as it should. Christ died (in part) to create thankful hearts in us.

In a provocative chapter titled “The Dangers of Ingratitude,” Crabtree writes that “idolatry itself springs from thanklessness toward our Creator” (see Rom. 1). Idolatry then gives rise to a host of sins, including homosexuality and murder. Ingratitude fosters many maladies, from bitterness to suicide. When our expectations for ourselves don’t match God’s plans, we get bent out of shape, perhaps angry or sullen—or gender dysphoric. But God’s plans for us are better than ours, and they are truly for our good, even when they unfold through hardship. When we see this, we be-come grateful and wise. As Crabtree says, “The doorway to joy is opened by putting to death a spirit of entitlement.”

An overblown sense of what we deserve is not the only reason we don’t give thanks as we should. Sometimes we don’t think we’ve received something worth giving thanks for. Sometimes we don’t believe what we have came from God. And sometimes we simply fail to “take stock of blessings, but leave them ‘uncounted,’ taken for granted.”

Creative people are observant. They see ways the world could be better, and so easily become complainers. Contentment flows from thanking God for all things, even our problems, but that doesn’t stop us from looking for solutions. The Bible draws a very hard line against complaining. But how are we to “do all things without grumbling” (Phil. 2:14)? (This verse prompted a friend from New Jersey to ask, “What else are people supposed to talk about?”) Crabtree suggests that there is a difference between grumbling and groaning. Groaning is involuntary. A mother in labor groans. Grumbling happens when we reflect on the situation and are discontented. We would do better to be silent or, better, to find something to give thanks for.

Like fertilizer, Christian suffering produces fruit: “affliction is always temporary, and it never ends in destruction but in fruit.” All afflictions are from God, including famine, sickness, and death. We can and should work to end suffering. But in this world, it will never entirely go away. It’s hard to feel thankful in the middle of misery. Is it hypocritical, then, to give thanks? Crabtree says maybe it is a bit, but you sometimes have to start by just giving thanks. Besides, a “hypocrite who from an imperfect heart expresses gratefulness is better than a genuine demon who doesn’t express any.”

There are many reasons we are not thankful, some within us and some without. If we are not thankful, then to some extent we are spiritually blind: blind to see what God has done for us and around us. In addition, we see ingratitude modeled all around us. But gratitude can be cultivated. We need to ask God to help us with that habit and open our eyes. When our eyes are open, thank-fulness will encourage wonder, and wonder feeds joy and happiness. In these ways thankfulness is a foundational virtue.

The last chapters of the book are a Q&A about thankfulness and a list of 100 Ways to Be Thankful, some of which are excellent, including #6: Say aloud, “I don’t want to take [the act, the person] for granted.” Then act. Some are odd, some seem a little silly, but so what? Crabtree recognizes that we live in a world of abundance by the gift of God, and thanks is the only proper way for human beings to respond.

A good book should leave you wanting more, and I found myself wanting more at several points. More importantly, I found myself moved to give thanks and praise for some things that it had never occurred to me to be grateful for. Practicing Thankfulness is short, thought- and praise-provoking, and highly recommended.