Troy Hamby

Let me start off by saying that I love all of the Brennan Manning’s books that I’ve read so far…all 2 of them. Last year, I was at the the bargain book store and came across “The Importance of Being Foolish” and it blew me away! I love his writing style and the story behind his life is incredibly inspiring to me, especially in this time in my life. So, needless to say, I was extremely excited to be able to read his newest book, “The Furious Longing of God” and offer a review here.

The title kind of threw me off because coming from a Pentecostal, holiness or Hell background, the only time I heard the words “fury” and “God” used in the same sentence was when some red faced pastor was referring to the furious wrath of God on sinners. Never, ever did I hear a sermon preached on the idea that God ravenously searches for me, longs to be with me and furiously love me with an everlasting love!

I could say a lot of things but that is the essence of this book…God loves you…period, end of sentence. Manning spends 131 pages driving in the point that “I am my Beloved’s and His desire is for me.” (Song of Solomon 7:10) We, in the church, have become adept at a lot of things…worship/preaching/marketing/programs….but we seem to have forgotten that “the only thing that matters is the faith that expresses itself in love.“(p.88) Manning so eloquently argues that if we could get back to the simple, innocent idea of “Jesus loves me, this I know” and allow that love to engulf us, we could get back to the job of changing the world.

I want to end the review with this quote from the book: “The wild, unrestricted love of God is not simply an inspiring idea. When it imposes itself on mind and heart with the stark reality of ontological truth, it determines why and at what time you get up in the morning, how you pass your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, and who you hang with; it affects what breaks your heart, what amazes you, and what makes your heart happy.” Wow! I highly recommend this short but extremely powerful book!