Gentle & Lowly

Gentle & Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers  by Dane Ortlund

Review by Joanna Hoffman

“Gentle & Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers” is the book I didn’t know I needed to read. If asked, “do you know God loves you?” I would have answered, “yes”. But then I too realized that I suffer from a “chronic tendency to function out of a subtle belief that our obedience strengthens the love of God.”

What might make you question God’s love for you?

Dane Ortlund explores, the why, the how, the when of God’s heart towards us as shown through Scripture. His profound revelation renews our freedom, security, and confidence that only God’s love can give us. He dares to cover topics that some of us might not have considered or feel confident to discuss, such as the emotional life of God or how he really feels about our “unloveliness”.

Ortland delves deep into Biblical passages we may not explore on our own. The Father we find in Lamentations, Hosea, Jeremiah, and Isaiah is the same as the one in the New Testament yearning to love and connect with His children. The prophets of old, who beseeched the Jewish nation to truly know the heart of God, beseech us still today.

Lastly, Ortland gives voice to long-ago pastors and authors such as John Bunyan, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and especially Thomas Goodwin. Though they wrote around the 1700s and their writing style is quite different from ours, Ortland uses helpful quotations and clear language for our great benefit. He gives us ear and understanding to their profound insights into the Father’s heart that we share, and that is one of unconditional, irrefutable, unshakable love for us.