Surprised by Tozer #5 of 5:

But God remembered Noah.

(Genesis 8:1)

Tozer was my father’s hero. Dad always felt that if I could just get enough Tozer, my faith would hold tight. He would read portions to me, “Listen to this son…” Apparently I listened enough to hold on to the faith. Maybe it’s because Tozer was dad’s hero that I would seek others of my own — someone like Bonhoeffer or Lewis. Someone I thought bigger and better than dad’s. But I never got passed or beyond Tozer. He keeps weaving his way in and out of my life. Whenever I hear his voice, I hear my father’s as well—a duet. Every time I come back, I’m surprised by Tozer—surprised by how good he is. Always better than I thought.

In an editorial on “The Use and Abuse of Good Books”, Tozer concludes: “The book that leads the soul out into the sunlight, points upward and bows out is always the best book.” What a great sentence! Tozer knew how to write a sentence—so clean, clear and precise. And yet, so spacious and full of poetic wonder: “leads the soul out into the sunlight, points upward….”  Who but Tozer could write such a sentence? And then comes that little phrase: “bows out’? How good is that?

Great writers (teachers, thinkers, leaders), like Tozer, point to wonders beyond themselves; and free us for our soul’s own adventure into God’s spacious sunlight. Bad writers, narrow us down, and rob us of space. They claim us for themselves. Good writers, like Tozer, bow out. He gives us space—room for the Spirit of God to do his own unique work in our lives. The good author stays out of the way. He or she “bows out” and sets us free.

I’m not a Tozerite. He wouldn’t allow it—remember, he bows out.  But, I hope I’m Tozerisk. I hope that when the gathered gather, I too speak about God—about how he “remembered Noah,” and out of his freedom decided to place a rainbow in the sky as a promise that he will stick with his creation and somehow see to it that “it is good.”