PILGRIMS UNDER PRESSURE:
Encouragement for Christians in Difficult
and Uncertain Times
By Alec Taylor
Evangelical Press. 400 pages. £14.99
ISBN 978 1 783 971 718
Pilgrims Under Pressure is a ‘through the year’ daily study and devotional book. Selections from some tricky books of the Bible are tackled, including Ezekiel, Ecclesiastes, Daniel and Revelation.
The choice of Bible readings comes with a desire to encourage Christians living today in a world of persecution, confusion and discouragement. Most of the Bible books covered were written in such times.
There is no consistency in the length of the Bible passage for each day, and occasionally a reading is repeated on a consecutive day. There is not always time in the daily comments to explain the details of difficult passages, especially as often whole chapters are read in the more challenging books.
Thought-provoking
As with all daily reading devotionals, some days are more thought-provoking than others, but there is usually an application for the reader from the passage. However, perhaps a surprising note to the book is that there are often evangelistic challenges in the application: this is surprising because it is doubtful how many non-Christians would be reading such a book day by day. Perhaps also surprising is the fact that the author often quotes other commentators on the passage which, in a short daily comment, does not allow much room for the author’s own thoughts. In summary, a mixed set of readings, but not without value.
