A Shelter in the Time of Storm, Meditations on God and Trouble, by Paul David Tripp (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2009), 159 pp., paper $12.99
Whiter Than Snow, Meditations on Sin and Mercy, by Paul David Tripp (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2008), 154 pp., paper $9.99
These companion volumes are devotional meditations based on the Psalms. A Shelter in the Time of Storm draws all 52 meditations from Psalm 27 while Whiter Than Snow examines Psalm 51 in its 52 meditations.
Tripp’s insights are valuable and as devotional material these books are outstanding. His approach to these Psalms is different from most and is worth mentioning. Neither book is an exegetical commentary on the two Psalms. As the author explains, “I have approached the Psalm[s] like a wood butcher. The wood butcher cuts in a log, looking for boards with a particularly interesting or elegant grain, and cuts them out like a meat butcher would do a fine steak” ( A Shelter in the Time of Storm, p. 10). You will find many fine “steaks” in these studies.
The books are structured for the reader to meditate once a week on one of these devotionals letting “yourself be transformed by the mercy that is not only the hope of this Psalm but of your life” (Whiter Than Snow, p. 13). Using this method the reader will take a full year to go through each book. I am doubtful that many will actually follow this route (I read five each day), but if they did so it would prove valuable.
Reviewed by Gary E. Gilley, Southern View Chapel