Here is a book, written almost twenty years ago by a prominent psychologist who is a Christian. He has become well known for his efforts to communicate ways of counseling people from a Biblical Perspective. The title suggests that he is striking the rich vein of God’s truth in the way men and women are changed. However, he takes a long time to express the insights he has to offer. They hinge around the thought taken from Jeremiah’s prophecy that man has committed two evils, namely forsaken the Lord who is the true fountain of living water and then hewn out their own alternatives. He affirms that the basis of our life is thirst and that misdirected thirst has caused immense pain. He shows how this came about, seeking for satisfaction in the wrong places and the increasing demandingness which is the result of the profound frustration experienced when lasting answers are not found. He then seeks to expose the wrong directions by which persons seek to deal with their innermost needs. His insistence is that often the church, by some of its approaches to human heart needs tends to misse the mark and offers a shallow remedy which is no remedy in the end, only leading to disappointment. Instead he defines the problem as the issue of deep sin within that must be faced rather than avoided by the various mechanisms we habituate in our lives to deal with our pain. The power of the gospel is that by which the Lord is able to reach these pits of sinfulness present in the heart and repentance of the cisterns we have hewn for ourselves will open us up to deep change. He is clear that a false hope is often offered by the church in its approach to what the gospel presents, rather than a rosy life being experienced, there will be great need to accept inadequacy and a life that yet has gaps of need in it whilst yet we live on the earth. The epilogue of the book indicates the high cost of change. Readers of this book must remember that this is an effort to explain in partially psychological terms the processes of true salvation. In some ways it is a little disappointing in that the power of the gospel is in danger of being submerged under the terminology and ideas presented. Overall the book will be able to be a helpful pointer in the right direction if the caveats mentioned above are kept in mind.
