By Shirley Crowder
I’m a bit—actually very—biased about anything written by my dear brother-in-Christ, ministry partner, mentor, and friend, Dr. Howard Eyrich.
Life Lessons from Ancient Prophets is the outgrowth of Dr. Eyrich’s inductive Bible study. For the past seven or eight years, it has been his practice to have an extended personal time with the Lord several days a week (most weeks). Then, after prayer time, he opens a document on his computer and begins to synthesize his notes from the study into a usable document.
From these study notes, at least four quarters of Sunday School lessons emerged. They were fun lessons for him to teach because they were very personal. They were, of course, edited, and he made frequent visits to good commentaries to keep him from promoting error and/or committing eisegesis.
Those meditations frequently were exactly what he needed for a counseling situation on the very day they were experienced. As a result, he began sending them to my counseling staff, who also found them apropos for their counseling cases.
Since I receive many of these study notes, I, too, have used them in counseling sessions, Bible studies, and Sunday school lessons.
Each chapter has a lesson, or teaching, based on an Old Testament passage. Then there is a section leading you to make Personal/Counseling/Mentoring Applications.
At the end of each chapter is a short synopsis of the biblical truths of each lesson. Here are a couple of examples:
- “True repentance leads to celebration and renewed interest in exploring the Word.”
- “It is wise to be wary of ungodly cultural norms less you fall prey to sinful stupidity.”
Some of the chapters include specific Counseling/Mentoring applications.
This is a wonderful book to use in your personal quiet time as you read it, enjoy it, and allow the Spirit of God to challenge you. As you read it may occur to you that a friend needs to read it, so get them a copy. It is a great study to do with a friend or small group. And, it would make a great birthday or graduation gift, stocking stuffer, or a “just because” gift for a friend.
