Deep Simplicity by Emily Darnell: A Book Review

Honestly, I hadn’t heard of Emily Darnell until I was approached about reviewing this book. However, I think she’s written a book that would benefit all of us in this current cultural climate. Our news feeds are packed with headlines that seem to only be creating division in our world. Our social feeds are doing much of the same. If you’re like me, you can leave these spheres feeling anxious and stressed. There is one solution that will truly give rest to the heart when you feel this way—abiding in Christ.

Emily Darnell’s book Deep Simplicity: Meditations on Abiding in Christ isn’t anything new, but instead is something very old. Abiding seems to be a lost art these days. Darnell says, “Abiding is simple, though it doesn’t always seem easy” (7). How true this is. It’s hard to slow down and to focus our minds on the God we can’t see. It can be so hard to stop and rest in him in an age where we keep the world in our pockets, but it really is what we need.

Darnell says this book “is written with the desire that readers will run back to Scripture, dig deeper, cling to it, write it on your own hearts, and think upon it throughout every day of your sojourning” (9). Our lives would be quite different if we did this. Our attitudes and mental states would experience a dramatic shift. If we aren’t currently abiding then this is certainly a book worthy of our time.

In the book Darnell walks the reader through the simple process of abiding. She says, “We seek, and we find that He all along was seeking us, setting His affections upon us” (17). I love that her book is so focused on God and the Scriptures. I could easily see a book on abiding focusing on the reader, but Darnell points the reader Godward time and time again. I love this quote from her toward the end of the book. “Dare we look for more, for what some would call a ‘more personal’ word? Is His Word not personal enough, the Word of His cross? And His resurrection?” (158). God has given us what we need and it’s not about us—it is about him and us finding our solace and rest in him.

In this book the reader is reminded that life is a journey. We are never done abiding. There is always more of God to be had. We can always go deeper with him. We are always being conformed more and more to be like Christ until the day we are with him.

This is a book for our weary age. It is a book that will refresh us if we practice what Darnell advocates. I definitely recommend you check out her book. In closing, I’ll leave you with these words from her. “Look to Christ rather than grow weary, for He is our life, He will minister to our every need. We need time to soak in the joy and wonder of His choosing us, all to His glory, and according to His kindness and good pleasure” (158).

You can pick up your copy of Deep Simplicity on Amazon. (affiliate)

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Christian Focus in exchange for a fair and honest review.