Customer Reviews

Disappointment With God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is, hands down, the best treatment on the subject of the problem of pain that I have ever read. Where Yancy's Where Is God When It Hurts deals more with physical pain, Disappointment With God deals with the emotional and mental side of the problem. Every human being at one time or another will deal with this issue, to some degree. Why does God seem distant when we need to feel Him most? Why do bad things happen if He loves us? How come He was so present and vocal in the Bible, but not today? Is God fair? I only want a sign, a small sign; why doesn't He answer? Hard questions such as these plague everyone's mind at some time, and often drive a wedge in a person's faith. Does God care?

Yancey uses the book of Job in a way that many of us may never have seen to present God's case. He gives gentle answers; very important and human answers to these very human questions and hurts. He doesn't pretend to know all the answers and he refuses to give any canned or cliched replies. But he does give his best, and his best is remarkably worthy. You can see that Yancey himself has struggled greatly with these issues, and his empathy and experience show.If you've ever dealt with these questions, with the disappointment with God to any degre, or if you know someone who has, you must read this book. Five Stars (a rating that Yancey is very familiar with).

Years ago, Philip Yancey was contacted by a young theology student named Richard. One of his professors had encouraged Richard to expand an exemplary paper about Job into a book. Mr. Yancey was impressed with the draft, and even agreed to write the forward for publication. But by the time it reached the publishers, Richard had lost his faith. He no longer believed what he'd written. "Disappointment With God" was born out of several frank conversations between Mr. Yancey and Richard about the nature of suffering and what God should be doing about it.

Despite Richard's prayers and service to God, his life had come unglued. His fiancée dumped him, a job fell through, his health declined, and so on. Richard felt betrayed, and finally broke from God. Many people have shared Richard's anguish over what appears to be meaningless suffering. How is it that one can love God and do everything right, yet have his or her life crash and burn? In contrast, how do bad people seem to get away with, and even prosper, because of sin? Who wouldn't question God when children die in agony and dictators live to a ripe old age in opulence? Like Richard, some have lost their faith because they could not reconcile the idea of a loving and omnipotent God with the existence of suffering.

An atheist will say, "Of course you have disappointment, because there is no God." Others, like Rabbi Kushner, imply that God doesn't have the power to halt all suffering. And there are those who insist that an omnipotent God who allows suffering cannot be good. Mr. Yancey deals with these angles in chapters with provocative titles such as: "Why is God Silent?", "Is God Unfair?", and "Why God Doesn't Intervene." Using a Scriptural foundation, he makes a compelling case for reconciling the existence of an all-good and all-powerful God with a broken world. In addition, the author explores his own doubts, along with the stories of others who have suffered.

However, theology and anecdotes are small comfort when you're the one in the hurt locker. As the Psalms imply, only concrete intervention from God seems to matter when life has gone to hell. Along those lines, skeptics ask why God doesn't make Himself known, or intervene in an unmistakable manner. Mr. Yancey examines various Biblical examples to see if God's use of these tactics resulted in long-term faithfulness. For example, despite many signs and interventions, God's Old Testament followers routinely blew Him off in favor of idolatry and debauchery. In addition, Christ Himself was abandoned by those He healed or knew Him best. From these and other Biblical passages, the author postulates that it is not spectacular miracles that will help us in troubled times. Instead, we must freely love God and trust His character from faith to faith, even when things look darkest and God appears most distant. That's because God, like any lover, wants to be loved for who He is, and not for what He can do for us. Not an easy path, but according to Mr. Yancey it's a necessary one - especially in light of eternity.

Some may dismiss "Disappointment With God" as wishful thinking, preaching to the choir, or fundamentalist hogwash. But if you are hurting like Richard, check it out before you give up on Him. What have you got to lose?

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to have a fuller understanding of who God is and how we can view and work through those feelings of anger and disappointment when He doesn't do what we want him to do. It's not just for someone going through a dry period in their relationship with God (although it's GREAT for those dry periods). Phillip Yancey wrote Disappointment with God after he wrote Where is God When It Hurts which is about where God is in the midst of our physical pain. This is because he got a lot of letters from readers of Where is God When It Hurts who wondered "Where is God when it hurts emotionally?"

So Yancey secluded himself in a cabin for a couple of weeks and read through the entire Bible, and during that time he realized many profound things about the character of God as it relates to our emotional suffering. The first half of the book deals with the character of God in the Old Testament; and Yancey theorizes(in the context of the people of Israel) why God might seem/be more hidden or silent to us. His theory makes so much sense, that when you read it, you'll wonder why you never put the pieces together before. The only bit of advice I would offer about you reading this book would be for you to make sure that you are not becoming less disappointed with God as a result of expecting less from Him.

And this book "Disappointment with God" is a great read. You have to love an evangelical Christian who would even dare to write a book with a title like this.

Christianity MUST BE a "thinking man's faith" and BECAUSE OF THAT, we can't be afraid to ask and answer the hard questions.

Elijah Lovejoy, first martyr of the free press, (look up his life story if you don't know this name - he's a fascinating historical figure!) is quoted as saying "Truth has nothing to fear from investigation."

Yancey investigates God, Truth and does it in a way that really brings the reader along and opens up dialogues that are a wee bit scary. It also digs deep into the story of Job and explores that whole conundrum in a new light. Lots of food for thought there.

The opening story - about the young man burning his religious books - paints an indelible scene in my thought that I will not soon forget.

On the down side - I don't think this is Yancey's best work. His number one best book (and my favorite book of the DECADE! ) is:

"What's so amazing about Grace."

I've given away four copies of that book SO FAR!

My number two favorite Yancey book is "The Jesus I Never Knew." Another GREAT book, but not as good as his "Grace" book.

"Disappointment with God" is in third place, but any book that makes you think deeply about God, and draw closer to God, is well worth five stars. This book certainly does do that.

This book helped me to understand why God does things the way he does them. I had never considered God as an emotional God except in terms of wrath and compassion, but Yancey shows us a God who loves his people deeply and has done everything he could possibly do to prove his love for us and that he is worthy of our love in return. He delivered his chosen people from bondage in Egypt through a parted sea in front of them and a pillar of fire behind them, and no sooner than they stepped onto dry land they began complaining. Time and time again God showed his might, his miracles and his faithfulness to his people, and time after time his people lost interest and turned to idols and immorality, but they would not return his love.

After thousands of years of displaying his might and grandeur God went silent for 300 years. No one heard a peep...until that star appeared in the East and angels announced the coming of the Messiah, the one who was prophecied to come to earth and build God's kingdom...and so here we are with a God who challenges us to love Him because of faith, not because he can flood the earth or speak through a burning bush.

God knew it would come to this, but he provided a sacrifice in our place through Jesus and that created a narrow gate where people all over the world have set aside their idols and selfishness in order to journey there and enter through that narrow gate, which is Jesus Christ. People now choose to love God by faith, not because of demonstrations of his power.

All he ever wanted was to be loved and praised by his creation and this book chronicals God's attempts to win the hearts of his people and how he got around our stubbornness. I highly recommend it!

Philip Yancey has obviously been recording my thoughts, because I found many of them written down in _Disappointment with God_. Mr. Yancey asks many questions that are probably considered "sacreligious" in most Christian circles. It was so refreshing for an author to finally tackle these questions instead of skirt them and point the blame back at the Christian asking them, i.e., "you need more faith," "just trust God and everything will be OK," or some other cliche. At times Mr. Yancey would discuss something, and I'd think, "Yeah but..." and then he'd ask the same "yeah but" question. It gets so tiring hearing all the "if you're not hearing from God something must be wrong with your life" cliches, and I so enjoyed a BIBLICAL perspective on the questions and thoughts that I have had during times of God's silence. Theologically I'd have to ponder on some of the comments that Mr. Yancey makes, but overall this is a MUST READ for anyone experiencing any sort of trial and wanting to know where is God and why won't He answer me???

Yancey has once again taught me by both his words and his example. To know God, we need to read His love letter to us. Philip Yancey did exactly that, and came out with deep insights into at least one aspect of God's view of the nature of His relationship with mankind. At the time I read this book, I was experiencing a deep disappointment with my life, and, while not exactly feeling disappointed with God, I certainly wasn't feeling trust. However, inspired by Yancey's exploration into the Word, and by the insights he derived from that experience, I began my own, similar journey, and found the same deeply loving God that Yancey so ably introduces. And now, some non-God-believing friends are being introduced to Him through this book. I thank you, Philip Yancey. And, I recommend this book without hesitation to those who have simlilar questions.

I read a lot books, but there have only been a few that I believe God made sure got into my hands so He could speak to me through them. This book is one of the few.

Philip Yancy repeats many times in this book that he does NOT know and understand it all. But his intention is to help some things make at least a little more sense. When I read this book, I was full of anger and bitterness toward God, although I had been a Christian since my teenage years. My problem was that my mind's understanding of God and the things that my belief and faith were rooted in were things that I had heard preached and taught over years about God, but were really not accurate in terms of who God really is, what He is like and how He operates. Therefore, I had unrealistic expectations about Him and that caused me to be "disappointed" with Him over and over again.

This book is not perfect, but I believe that after reading it, my understanding of who God is and how He goes about things is, at the very least, quite a bit more accurate. When you have been taught to believe that God is basically a "sugar daddy" who will give you anything you want and do for you anything you want done... it leads to hurt and disappointment because God will not pretend to be something that He is not just because you were taught that He was. This book helped me to love God just the way He is... and not according to the "genie in a bottle" perception that I had of Him.

I read this book about 4 years ago and I have NOT felt angry, bitter or dissappointed in Him since. It really helped me to love Him for who He is and not because of all the amazing things He can do for me.

(I don't believe it's a coincidence that when I learned to put far greater emphasis on Him and far less emphasis what I wanted Him to do FOR ME... He has done far more me. Including the physical restoration of my hearing, in spite nerve deafness and allowing my wife and I, who had been barren for the first 9 years of our marriage, to have 3 beautiful children since I read this book 4 years ago.)

Not all books speak to all people though. God may not choose to speak to you though this book, the way He chose to use it to speak to me. I gave my brother a copy of this book and it didn't do anything for him. God uses what He wants. But, I do suggest that you read and see if God does speak to you through it.

I will never finish this book (in the sense of setting it aside and forgetting about it). I will never quit reading it, ad-infinitum, but never ad-nauseum. I pick it up again and again, especially in those times when the circumstances of life seem to have let me down. Yancey has such an unforgettable, gentle and profound way of revealing the staggering puny-ness of the fist that would shake itself toward God... and all the while he reminds us of the importance of that fist to God. Where is God when we are experiencing our most profound disappointments? Is He blind? Or maybe deaf? Too busy? These are the kind of legitimate questions that this book is addressing. Specifically, the three questions no one asks aloud, and these are: Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden?

I've been reading theological books for over 17 years and I have yet to come across one that addresses these type of questions in a more sensible and Biblically sound way. The modest author would probably be the last person to guarantee some sort of miraculous breakthrough to any reader of his books... so I must do it for him. One thing is for certain... reading Disappointment With God will cause you to consider at least one other angle to questions that were previously seen as one-dimensional and unanswerable. And sometimes it's that one angle or fresh insight that can give us the strength to put our foot down on something that was all the while, (though we knew it not) solid enough to hold us.

Very rarely does a book come along that addresses such controversial and important questions as: Is God Fair? Is God Hidden? Is God Silent? Christians today often view such topics as blasphemous and inappropriate; as a sign of weak faith. Yet Phillip Yancey boldly asks and answers these in his book Disappointment with God, and does so with a reverence, respect, and love for God that rings true throughout. Step by step Yancey illustrates where disappointment comes from and more importantly how to address it. Written in clear, direct language Disappointment with God is a "must-read" for any believer who finds themselves questioning the "goodness" and "fairness" of God. While other books have inspiried my faith to new levels, this book may have just saved it.