Knowing God, Knowing Myself - Book Review

 I'm delighted to tell you about a book I just finished reading. I think it's an excellent book for personal enrichment, but it's also appropriate for gift-giving too.

 

About the Book  

Behind the scenes of his successful career, Cecil Murphey is on a personal quest for a deeper knowledge of God and himself. Out of this thirst for the transcendent comes Knowing God, Knowing Myself, a collection of reflective statements captured with Murphey’s inimitable style. These aphorisms are often surprising, meant to startle the reader out of “common wisdom” into uncommon meditation; the goal is God- and self-discovery.

 

Whether readers begin with a desire to know God or to know themselves, Knowing God, Knowing Myself will invite them to discover how these two longings are inextricably entwined. As they reflect and journal through this unforgettable book, readers will experience a growing awareness of God’s presence and a deepened inner life.

 

My Review

Cecil Murphey is a master at transparency. In Knowing God, Knowing Myself, he isn’t shy about revealing his own struggles and how he’s working through them. That’s what makes this book touch the hearts of readers. Each short chapter is based on one of Cec’s aphorisms, a reflective statement that reflects some truth he has learned.

Readers will be encouraged and inspired by the stories Cec tells, and they will likely see themselves in the book. They are Cec’s stories, but our lessons, too. Readers could use the book for daily meditation with a chapter a day for 68 days, or for inspirational reading in a shorter period of time.

Examples of some aphorisms:

“God answers after we ask; sometimes God answers before we ask.”

“ My negative feelings are emotions; my negative feelings are not reality.”

“When I try to show others I am perfect, they see me as less perfect than I am.”

“It’s impossible for God to love me more tomorrow than he loves me today.”

Towards the end, some of the chapters seemed redundant and covered topics that had similarly been covered earlier in the book. But, sometimes we need repetition. I know I needed to hear a lot of what was in this book.

Note: I received a review copy of the book from the publisher.

About the Author

CECIL MURPHEY, known as “the man behind the words,” is an award-winning writer who has collaborated on a number of bestselling books, including 90 Minutes in Heaven and Heaven Is Real with Don Piper, Touchdown Alexander with Shaun Alexander and Rebel with a Cause with Franklin Graham. He is a recipient of the Gold Medallion Award, two-time recipient of the Silver Angel Award for Excellence in Media, and the inaugural recipient in 2007 of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. Dr. Murphey is the author of Christmas Miracles, I Choose to Stay and The Immortality of Influence. He writes a weekly devotional for Crosswalk.com.