Not by Sight is divided into 35 chapters that can be read alone or together. They're not long, and each covers a short passage of Scripture, mostly well-known stories throughout the Gospels and the Old Testament, like Jesus walking on water, the feeding of the five thousand, the calls of Zacchaeus and Levi, the raising of Lazarus, David and Bathsheba, Joseph, and the adulteress woman, just to name a few. These chapters share a snapshot retelling of the story and then a few reflections and lessons from it.
Bloom is clear about the purpose of Not by Sight:
The purpose of this little book is to imaginatively reflect on the real experiences of real people in the Bible in order to help you grasp and live what it means to "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and ... not lean on your own understanding" (Prov. 3:5). Its goal is to help you believe in Jesus while living in a very confusing and painful world.
And Bloom winsomely accomplishes this. He knows the necessity of calling sin out, not willing to shy away from identifying errors in biblical characters' lives. After all, they were real sinners, just like we are. Both they and we are proud and idolatrous and frustrated and desperate individuals. But Bloom always showcases the beauty of Jesus' grace that paid for those real sins, and the reality that that grace inspires - faith, in His Word and in His power. For we are often distracted by the world. As Bloom says,
It is crucial that followers of Jesus learn to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). In other words, we must learn to trust God's promises more than we trust our perceptions.
Not by Sight also reawakens us to the wonder and mystery of how God works and saves. Our hearts must never grow cold at the miracles in the Gospels, or the changes God has wrought in depraved hearts. Don't be calloused by familiarity. Jesus walked on water. He defied His own created laws of gravity! Think of the storm howling, and just pause. Peter got out of the boat and walked toward Jesus - and he didn't sink. How can we have lost the wonder? Bloom does a brilliant job of bringing us back to the wonder.
I would heartily recommend this book to you. Beautifully imaginative, staunchly biblical, both convicting and liberating, full of grace and faith and truth, Not by Sight is a book for all Christians in any walk of life. It's theological, but not thick with technical terms, written for the lay-Christian but applicable for pastors. It's for all of us, irrelevant to none of us, and convicting and encouraging to each of us. So pick one of these books up and then pass it along!
Buy Not by Sight here.