Walk His Way: Following Christ through the Book of Psalms

This warm and wonderful book will be a tremendous help to very many Christians seeking to understand and to pray the Psalms in Christ. In my experience books about the Psalms tend either towards dry scholarship lacking in the richness of Christ or to popular devotion lacking in depth. This book is built on careful scholarship and grapples with the text in the context of the whole Bible with Christ at its centre. But it combines these scholarly foundations with a warm pastoral tone and an understanding of how the Psalms engage with the life of faith in Christ today. I am so thankful for it and warmly commend it.

Having had the privilege of hearing the talks on which this excellent book is based, I am delighted to be able to study them further in written form. This book will be a blessing to all who read it carefully and will draw you closer to the Lord.

With an ease that belies the expertise behind it, Shead fits each of his selected psalms into the grand history of Israel and into the grander history of those who follow Jesus. Satisfying to both scholar and common reader, here is a series of exquisitely crafted meditations that will delight the mind, nourish the heart, and quicken feet to Walk His Way.

The psalms are always spiritually refreshing, but it is easy to read them superficially. This book shows us how to read the psalms deeply, in their Old Testament and biblical context, as poetry full of imagery and emotions. It brings scholarly understanding (of course) but more than that, it takes us through a spiritual story and shows us how walking in Christ's way is deeply satisfying and worth any sacrifice. Reading this, we are brought to the God who walks every step of the way with us. If you want to be the tree whose leaf does not wither, this book shows you how.

As I read the Psalms I often wish to have a spiritual tutor next to me, showing me the deeper meanings of what I am reading, how the Psalter is prayed by Jesus and with Jesus, and how some difficult texts may be reconciled with my own Christian experience. This small book by Andrew Shead serves the role of such a tutor. Through a selection of key psalms, the author offers a valuable lens through which to reflect on the Psalter theologically and prayerfully!

In Walk His Way, Andrew Shead shows himself to be the best of travel guides. Wise and superbly informed, but also compassionate and companionate. Recognising that the Psalms rate as many people's favourite part of Scripture, Shead unveils for us with clarity and sympathy the riches of God's 'hymnbook' for his people. One finds oneself continually refreshed and delighted by sparkling insights, not least of all concerning God's King, the Christ, the promise of whom is fulfilled in Jesus. The Psalms selected for in-depth exposition (the chapters were originally given as talks) traverse the breadth of human experience, and the tension of living (or walking) by faith in a world wrecked by sin. The volume is worth having for the chapter on Psalm 88 alone. Here is a book on the Psalms that will cause you to treasure, and meditate upon them, all the more.