Angry with God: An Honest Journey through Suffering and Betrayal

Ask the Christian Counselor

by Brad Hambrick

Counselor Brad Hambrick provides a guided process to being honest with God about your pain to restore and deepen your relationship with him. No one gets mad at God for something small. When we’re angry with God, it is because we’ve faced something immensely hard. Anger is an often-overlooked part of grieving, and as such, is an appropriate response to profoundly painful events. While we are often prone to interpret our anger about intense suffering as being at God, this book is an invitation to process these intense emotions with God as a source of comfort, who is sturdy enough to support these turbulent emotions. Angry with God patiently walks you through the process of being honest with God (and others) about your pain. You will learn how to articulate your pain, alleviate the effects of this pain, contextualize your experience in light of the gospel, and begin to hope again.

Genres: Counselling, Nonfiction, Grief

160 pages, Paperback

Published September 26, 2022

Reviews

[Victoria Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is HEALING.

“Angry with God” is basically counseling in a book. It’s a very thorough walk through your pain and suffering alongside God.

I went through this book with a friend for over nearly a year which allowed us to reflect on our journeys, sit in the hard moments together, and support each other without rushing through the pain.

I have grown so much closer to the Lord in sharing the anger within my grief with Him, knowing that He too is angry about the great loss I’ve endured in this world. And He longs just as much as I do for things to be made right. This book helped me understand God in a deeper, more personal way and always left me on my hands and knees in front of the Lord.

I highly recommend this book to anyone experiencing anger from grief and would definitely encourage you to read this book alongside a trusted friend to get the most out of it.

[Shirley Alarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brad Hambrick’s Angry With God – An honest journey through suffering and betrayal is part of New Growth Press’s ‘Ask The Christian Counselor Series’. As such, Angry With God is a methodical, thoughtful, and professional walk through a dark journey of suffering and back into the light. It feels like a series of several hundred dollar counseling sessions bound into a book that the reader can explore at their own pace.

Hambrick skillfully walks readers through major elements of the healing process, while cautioning that they stop and take the time they need before trying to rush themselves. The journey through pain is an individual process that everyone handles differently. Angry With God acknowledges that fact and tries to meet the reader where they are, with no promise of a magical solution. The grieving and recovery process is broken down into stages, such as articulating your pain, alleviating the effects of pain, and resolving your grief. Each section includes questions for personal reflection. The answers to these questions are where real value and healing can happen for the reader.

Hambrick’s writing style sets a perfect tone for this topic. He uses stories as comparisons that give powerful insight and context to topics that are hard for people to see when they’re in the midst of hurt and anger. He adeptly helps the reader understand that being angry WITH God and not AT God allows Him to travel the difficult journey alongside them.

I highly recommend this book for those who are suffering through hurt and betrayal.

Who would benefit from this book:
Anyone who’s struggling through hurt, suffering, or betrayal would find value in Angry With God. Be prepared to keep an open mind and heart and actually do the reflective work that’s required for healing.

I read an advance copy of this book and this opinion is strictly my own.

[Caroline McGill · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've really loved other solid books from this series, but this one was primarily secular psychology with a few Christian things sprinkled in. I felt like it really minimized an acknowledgment of one's own sin, need for repentance, or basically the hope of the gospel. Definitely not biblical counseling. If you are looking for good resources on anger, I suggest looking to the writings of Robert Jones.

[Sydney Henkels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angry with God is like grief therapy in book form. It’s a lot—but it’s so good. Though short, it’s absolutely packed with wisdom. The goal is to help you articulate, heal, and contextualize your grief.

I actually started this book while healing from grief, only to be thrown right back into the thick of it. And from both angles, there was so much perspective to gain. It includes a good amount of “homework”—reflective questions, journaling prompts, etc.—but it’s worth doing and revisiting. Highly recommend reading it with a trusted friend or small group! I honestly don’t think I would’ve done the work without the accountability.

A few of my biggest takeaways:
* Anger with God reveals that God is important to us.
* Continuing to communicate with God through my anger/pain/detachment builds sustained hope and trust.
* Anger with God is often stunted grief over the loss of something good. You can be right about the goodness of what was lost without staying stuck. Let yourself be more sad than mad.
* “Interview” your pain. Move beyond the what and articulate the why—why was the thing that was lost so significant? This helps others empathize and care better, and helps us connect more honestly with God.
* Avoid the common tendency to allow anger from being hurt by God‘s people to be mistaken for anger at God.
* Stay grounded in primary emotions when you talk about your experience. When people focus on our primary emotions, we feel cared for and understood. When people focus on our secondary emotions, we feel judged and misunderstood (primary emotion: grief, secondary emotion: anger).
* We can affirm what is real within an emotional experience without embracing the untrue content that gets embedded in those emotions.
* Processing painful experiences leads to a less innocent faith (a faith that’s been tested), which is a good thing and allows us to nurture healthier emotions.
* Our grief journey is a reflection of the gospel story!

[Eleasa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, well-paced book on a commonly encountered counselling problem from an experienced & wise Biblical counsellor & pastor - I always love Brad’s insightfully down-to-earth analogies - very Jesus-like in his observations.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angry with God: An Honest Journey Through Suffering and Betrayal is part of the new Ask the Christian Counselor series published by New Growth Press. Angry with God: An Honest Journey Through Suffering and Betrayal by Brad Hambrick takes the reader on a journey of dealing with anger towards God. Thoroughly researched from a counseling and Biblical/Theological background, Angry with God is a book written from the place of compassion and understanding to help the reader walk through the topic being discussed. Angry with God is divided into sections that uncover levels of helping you cope with the anger being experienced. There is also examples and scenarios of how a person’s anger is being expressed/felt and how to deal with it and questions at the end of each chapter to contemplate.

In full honesty, Angry with God: An Honest Journey Through Suffering and Betrayal was a difficult book to get through at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book and appreciated how it handled the sometimes delicate matter. As someone who deals with anxiety and has friends and family that either survive mental health issues daily or either work in the mental health field, I thought Angry with God was very well written. I appreciated how Brad Hambrick reiterated to the reader numerous times throughout the book to take their time with the book and to take breaks when it got too hard to read. This not only shows compassion from the Author, but the knowledge and expertise of some one working in the mental health field. I love that the subject of being angry with God wasn’t being brushed under the rug, but dealt with. I love that it was reiterated that being angry at God was ok, but that being angry at God can at times make God seem distant from us and that’s not the best. I love that it pointed out that being angry at God actually shows a sense of growth and depth in one’s relationship with God. I also appreciated that Mr. Hambrick reiterated that there is no time table to no longer feel angry with God and that it is normal to take steps back at times. If you work in the mental health field or are in Ministry, have dealt with anger toward God, or have in the past, then I highly recommend Angry with God: An Honest Journey Through Suffering and Betrayal. I will definitely be reading Angry with God: An Honest Journey Through Suffering and Betrayal again and telling those I believe will benefit from the book about it!

I would like to thank New Growth Press for giving me a copy of Angry with God: An Honest Journey Through Suffering and Betrayal to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is also on my blog, Leslie's Library Escape.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brad Hambrick skilfully leads the reader through an exploration and processing of their anger and grief due to suffering, betrayal or loss. With very small, bite sized chapters, the reader is encouraged to process the hot emotions of grief in a way that allows for self-reflection, honesty, discovery, and growth. Over time the goal is to move from angry grief to memorialising grief.

The multifaceted effects of anger is considered through emotions, thoughts, relationships, choices, and our view of God. Steps to resolution result from maturing faith, understanding suffering is part of life, and accepting that we only understand partially. He then returns to the gospel and how our pain can be viewed through the lenses of creation, fall, redemption, sanctification, and glorification.

Hambrick uses counselling skills and processes skilfully, and sensitively combines them with gospel truths. It is a counselling tool in your own hands. Additionally, a counsellor could use this to assist a client through a grief process. A very helpful resource.

For a more detailed review see: https://musingsinadelaide.blogspot.co...

[Reyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have seen and heard more times than I would like, accelerated judgments, in my opinion, of people, who I want to assume are well-intentioned, about other people, when they believe that others have "denied the faith", or are "in rebellion", various of those occasions it has not been so. It is understood that not all people are psychologists or counselors, that is why this resource is opportune so that anyone can understand that not only because someone is angry, confused, tired, disappointed, or annoyed by extreme situations that touch him or touched his life, does not require grace. Brad Hambrick does a good job of listening, going deep, and understanding the process of a person in the midst of betrayals, abandonments, and complex problems. I recommend this book for people who have not experienced anything like this and really want to help someone with their struggles and questions, as well as for experienced counselors/psychologists, there are important exercises and dynamics to work with your clients. Thank God for these resources.

[Kelsea Frazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with a group a few chapters every week, which was good for me because it made me accountable to finish it. I didn’t get to fully experience everything I read each week, but felt like I got A LOT out of this book. It does a great job at balancing the what was out of my control vs. what is within my control now? How do I grieve, move past anger, and still acknowledge that what I experienced was hard and wrong?

Each of us reading this have been grieving some aspect in life. If you are struggling with navigating struggles in your life with God and are tired of simply being angry at God, I do think this is worth a read.


“When we process painful experiences, our faith becomes less innocent. We are less satisfied with the simple answers that once brought us comfort. “ -96

“When we perpetually monitor our current progress based on where we want to be, we drain the encouragement and enjoyment we could get from seeing the progress we’re making”-113

[Alexandra Boyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is definitely great for people struggling with grief especially when it stems from anger. If the reader is expecting answers from this book they won’t get it. The author doesn’t suggest any answers but rather many teachings and questions to ponder on. It’s definitely a challenging book especially trying to put in timeline of events of grief. That was really challenging for me. But it definitely brings relief writing everything out. It’s one of those books I would read through first then do the questions. He really encourages readers to walk with God in our times of suffering. It can be impossible to understand the sovereignty of god in times of grief but the author does great job. I really liked the questions and his words of encouragement.

[Katelyn Friesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does your grief give you anger? Does somebody you know deal with anger brought on by grief of circumstances? Brad Hambrick helps you work through this or help others work through this in a Godly way. Through the Gospel, you will find ways that help you move forward and change your anger at God to anger with God as this fallen world filled with sin often makes him angry too. You are not alone and I feel once again, that God is with me in my suffering even in my anger.

[EJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I appreciated the questions asked in the book and the tone in which they were asked because it gave me a different perspective on how to think about my grief. I found the beginning of the book more useful than the latter parts. The latter parts were less practical and less strategy focused and also seemed a bit questionable theologically. Even though I didn’t like the narrator or the multiple numbered lists of the author, the book was worth a listen to gather more information on how to deal with my grief as a Christian.

[Mark Santana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Hambrick does a superb job of addressing grief and suffering though a biblical lens, offering grace to those who may be angry with God.

[Ky · Rating 4 out of 5]

decent resource that does its job