One of the things I thoroughly enjoy doing on my leave is to take a pile of unread books to read at my leisure. As good fortune would have it Anand Mahadevan presented me with a copy of his debut book the title of which is given above a week before I went on my annual holiday. And what an engaging treat of a read it has been. As the title suggests this book is about God and His interplay in the lives of 3 OT stalwarts : Abraham, Isaac and Jacob .

I’m in the habit of underlining words, insights, stories , concepts that strike me as I read. But no sooner after I started reading I had a problem. I was smitten : the book is dripping with sharp new insights – at least for me – and I found myself continuously underlining sentence after sentence .

Reading this book began to give me a complex. Had I really read Genesis? Anand has literally stripped these 3 men of God bare or should I say naked. All their flaws including their patterns of lying, self centeredness, deception, sexual lusts etc., amplified in one chapter after another makes it stark.

Refreshingly God’s lavish and mysterious grace comes to rescue them over and over again. The interplay of flaws and grace is provocative to say the least. And the dazzling beauty of the gospel as Anand puts it is clearly expounded in all its glory.

Anand is an outstanding story-teller. Story tellers know how to grip your attention. To this narrative skill Anand brings his writing ability, honed as a journalist and editor to the table. The result is a feast of tight precise language. One carefully chosen word has the content of a sentence. This and other literary nuggets like memorable alliterations makes the book a delight to read.

One can’t help notice that Anand has thought hard and deep,  or should I say agonised over the scriptures. Not as an academic exercise but as a reflective practitioner. Letting the scriptures speak into his life. He’s refreshingly if not disarmingly open about his own flaws and weaknesses. Therefore making the read doctrinally engaging yet pastorally handy.

I’m not surprised that the likes of Ravi Zacharias has written the foreword and Tim Keller has highly recommended this book.
May I venture to say it’s heading to be a best seller in the Christian world.
I humbly suggest you rush to get a copy.