Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud

by Philip Yancey

Is God Unfair? Is God Silent? Is God Hidden? These questions are asked with piercing honesty and biblical certainty. Step by step, Philip Yancey retraces the long journey toward understanding the answers to these and other questions. If God desires our love, why does he sometimes put obstacles in the way? Why does he seem so distant? What can we expect from him after all? No part of the Bible goes unstudied in the author's search for God's hidden nature in this compelling and profound book. A Gold Medallion Award winner, Disappointment with God has had an overwhelming impact on many lives -- it can change yours.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Religion, Theology, Faith, Christian Living

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Philip Yancey earned graduate degrees in Communications and English from Wheaton College Graduate School and the University of Chicago. He joined the staff of Campus Life Magazine in 1971, and worked there as Editor and then Publisher. He looks on those years with gratitude, because teenagers are demanding readers, and writing for them taught him a lasting principle: The reader is in control!

In 1978 Philip Yancey became a full-time writer, initially working as a journalist for such varied publications as Reader’s Digest, Publisher’s Weekly, National Wildlife, Christian Century and The Reformed Journal. For several years he contributed a monthly column to Christianity Today magazine, where he also served as Editor at Large.

In 2021 Philip released two new books: A Companion in Crisis and his long-awaited memoir, Where the Light Fell. Other favorites included in his more than twenty-five titles are: Where Is God When It Hurts, The Student Bible, and Disappointment with God. Philip's books have won thirteen Gold Medallion Awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, have sold more than seventeen million copies, and have been published in over 50 languages. Christian bookstore managers selected The Jesus I Never Knew as the 1996 Book of the Year, and in 1998 What’s So Amazing About Grace? won the same award. His other recent books are Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God’s Image; Vanishing Grace: Bringing Good News to a Deeply Divided World; The Question that Never Goes Away; What Good Is God?; Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?; Soul Survivor; and Reaching for the Invisible God. In 2009 a daily reader was published, compiled from excerpts of his work: Grace Notes.

The Yanceys lived in downtown Chicago for many years before moving to a very different environment in Colorado. Together they enjoy mountain climbing, skiing, hiking, and all the other delights of the Rocky Mountains.

Visit Philip online:
https://www.philipyancey.com
https://www.facebook.com/PhilipYancey

Catch his monthly blog:
https://bit.ly/PhilipYanceyBlog

Reviews

[Ti-Leigh Telford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this many years ago for someone else's benefit. You know, when you saw what they're problem was and bought a book to help them. It didn't really mean anything to me then. Of course, I was only 19 years old. Now at 42, I find myself disappointed. Actually, disappointed is too gracious of a word. Jaded, cynical at times. Sad, tired mostly. Waiting for this period of my life to be done and for things to return to normal with God. This book, I hope, was a small step in that direction.

[Katharine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phillip Yancey writes with such honesty and compassion. You get the feeling that there is nothing about the hard life of faith that could shock him or make him think poorly of you. In this book he tackles three questions he says aren't admitted or discussed enough among Christians. Is God unfair? Is he silent? Is he hidden?

Even though this isn't one of his better books, Yancey still wrestles with these questions well. He makes some points so well that although I had considered them before, it was obvious I needed to reconsider.

It's hard to write about doubt well. Despite some of the personal stories he shared at the end, I never could shake the feeling that he was writing from a place of a foreigner to the land of deep doubt. Without making a comment on his personal life, this book just doesn't convey the feeling of someone who has spent sleepless nights terrified that they might be wrong about this loving God they follow. Nonetheless, I'm grateful that people like him bring their voices to the topic of doubting God.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The major part I most admired about this book is the author's honesty. There are no shallow Christian cliches or well-intended remedies for those walking through grief. Disappointment with God is real and even the most mature of Christians come to experience the great well of anger or sorrow when stripped by the harshness of life. I truly appreciate the approach Yancey took to wrestling with this disappointment with God. He takes the reader through the history of mankind, from the OT when God was manifesting Himself day and night, to when Christ came in the flesh, to the age of the Holy Spirit. It is humbling to be reminded that God's miracles and face-to-face encounters never produced lasting faith or joy (we are no better than the Israelites!). And it also true that even God in the flesh as Christ, a part of our ordinary life, wasn't enough to secure our faith in Him. The Life of His very Spirit has to be reproduced in us in order to secure us with His abiding presence, promises, and love. The indwelling life of Christ is what births endurance, faith, and hope. Yancey, taking his readers through the book of Job and various Biblical accounts, anchors our faith, even in the midst of crippling disappointments and sufferings, in the knowledge of the true character of our loving and patient God. Each chapter of this book covered a different layer to our experiences of disappointment. Yancey isn't afraid to cover the raw questions we all feel inside when God seems "hidden" from us in our pain. This book was good counsel for my tender heart.

[BiancaElena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probabil dacă nu “trăgeam” de cartea asta atâta vreme aș fi putut scrie ceva mult mai complex, dar nu despre asta este vorba.
Culmea că aveam în plan să încep review-ul cu câteva citate de pe la începutul cărții, dar finalul ei m-a atins profund așa că probabil la el o să mă rezum:
“Mi se părea straniu să-mi imaginez că un om pe care, într-un fel nu l-am cunoscut niciodată, putuse să țină la mine atât de mult”. Aici, autorul făcea referire la tatăl său dar nu numai.. și nu pot să nu mă gândesc la Dumnezeu, deși El ne știe de dinainte să fim El a ținut așa mult la mine și la tine că și-a dat fiul să moară (chiar dacă poate uneori nu percepem sau uităm că El chiar ne cunoaște)

“Dezamăgirea noastră este ea însăși un semn, o tânjire, o foame după ceva mai bun. Iar credința, este, în cele din urmă, un fel de dor de casă - o casă pe care nu am văzut-o niciodată, dar pe care nu încetăm să o dorim”
Sigur am multe întrebări, unele pe care nici nu știu cum să le articulez și pe alocuri chiar îndoieli, mai ales înconjurată de persoane care “cred în ceva dar nu chiar” însă și fragmentul acesta (ca multe altele) este o piatră de aducere aminte. Dacă nu există cineva acolo Sus, de ce să existe atâtea întrebări? Atâta dezamăgire și totuși atâția oameni care și au pierdut viața pentru ceva ce credeau..

Cândva ar trebui să reiau cartea aceasta..

[Amir Lewiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.mediafire.com/download/zlc...

[Bishoy Beshay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phillip Yancey attempts to provide answers for three questions that can rattle the faith of any theist; Is God unfair? Is He silent? Is He hidden? Not through philosophy but through the Christian faith and how the Bible addresses these issues throughout the old and new testaments with a focus on the story of Job, alongside a few personal stories of the author's friends one of whom—Richard—lost his faith because of those same questions.

The book is wonderfully written in a way that's organized and easy to follow. The first half tries to analyze God and His actions seen through the lens of the Bible vs our own expectations of Him. The second half uses that analysis to try and answer those 3 questions. (I really liked how Yancey chose to use biblical verses in his chapters while leaving the refrences for the end of the chapter)

I found some of the arguments presented to be very beautiful, some others I already knew and agree with. I found a couple of arguments honestly irrelevant. And I really wished some ideas would be mentioned but weren't. Anyways, the book as a whole does a really good job of discussing these questions in light of Christian faith, yet I couldn't help but notice how this book is influenced by western culture and its problems, because although these questions plague every believer no matter their ethnicity, the entitlement of western society and their reliance on miracles as a proof of faith is itself an obstacle to profound faith thus the author had to state some basic concepts of Christianity that don't receive much attention anymore in the west and aren't a part of the rhetoric they regularly hear in sermons, which I completely understand. That's why I feel like these same topics would have been tackled a bit differently had the book been written by someone with an eastern Christian background. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed this book and learned from it especially that I have pondered the answers to those questions countless times before and still do from time to time.

[Linda B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yancy begins his book with examples of circumstances from several Christians who have suffered greatly and feel disappointed with or abandoned by God. The author chooses the situation of Richard, the person suffering the least of the examples (but a fellow author), to follow throughout the book.

Using OT scriptures, Mr. Yancy tries to explain the mind of God. His attempt actually turns eerie (downright creepy) when Yancy imagines himself as God questioning in his mind whether or not man would obey when created.

It is my opinion that Mr. Yancy conveys the message that those who are disappointed in God are pretenders. They are people who never had “real” faith so they never were true believers. Instead of helping a friend out of a spiritual depression, Mr. Yancy slapped him down and decided he just did not have enough faith.

There was no compassion in the book for the suffering Christian. Mr. Yancy has his own experience being a pretender as he explains in the book that he deliberately pretended to be a Christian in college until one day he began praying out loud and “had a vision of Jesus”. It is also my opinion that Mr. Yancy’s answers in this book are no better than the callous conversations the friends of Job had for his sufferings.

Mr. Yancy’s questions in the book were:
1. Is God unfair?
2. Is God silent?
3. Is God hidden?

My questions for Mr. Yancy are:
1. Are you trying to prove the old adage “Christians shoot their wounded”?
2. Do you have no compassion for a suffering Christian?
3. Did a tree have to die for this book?

I would never recommend this book to a Christian who is going through trials.

[Josephine Nabil · Rating 5 out of 5]

مش عادة بكتب review على اي حاجة بقراها بس الكتاب ده كنت بفكر اني لازم اكتب عنه وانا لسه بقراه
الكتاب بيناقش مشكلة الشر والالم اللي لخصها فيليپ يانسي في ٣ أسئلة..هل الله ظالم؟ هل هو صامت؟ أهو مختبيء؟.. لو بتدور على اجابات مريحة للأسئلة دي ماتقدش انك هتلاقيها في الكتاب ده
الكتاب مش بيجاوب على الاسئلة دي بالطريقة اللي انت عايزها وهتريحك بالعكس ده بيأكد ان الله ساعات كتير بيبقى صامت وان العالم اه ظالم.. لكن اللي الا حد ما بيعزي ويصبر ان في الله مصلوب بيحس بالألم اللي بنعدي بيه وفيه قيامة حتى لو المشهد كله موت
الكتاب ده زي حضن لواحد متألم لكن مافهوش حلول مريحة سريعة..
اه نسيت اقول اني في النص دمعت كذا مرة وانا بقراه

[Nahed.E · Rating 3 out of 5]

ضم الكتاب الكثير من التساؤلات
إلا أنه قدم القليل من الأجوبة المقنعة
انتظرت أجوبة بنفس قوة الأسئلة ، ولكن للأسف الحجج التي قدمها المؤلف لم تكن بنفس القوة
ويمكن للكثيرين أن يردوا عليها بحجج أقوي
الصور الإنسانية التي قدمت في الكتاب صور واقعية تحدث بالفعل حولنا
والتساؤلات نراها في العيون وفوق الشفاه في أوقات نادرة
إلا أن الإجابات التي قدمها المؤلف لا تكفي للرد بحزم وإقناع كاف
فضلاً عن أن المؤلف في النهاية قد أوضح أن الإيمان سينبع من الداخل مهما قدم من إجابات عقلية
وعنده حق في ذلك
فكل الإجابات الذكية والمقنعة لن تتجاوز قلباً موصوداً أمام الإيمان
القلب هنا صوته أعلي

[Ashraf Bashir · Rating 1 out of 5]

كتاب سئ للغاية ... طرح أسئلة ووعدك باجابتها علي مدار الصفحات ... ثم تتوالي الصفحة وراء الأخري ولا تجد أي اجابة علي الأسئلة، لا تجد سوي تطويل ومط وتكرار للافكار المستهلكة من قرون ... كما أن الكاتب سعي لتقسيم الكتاب بالنمط اللاهوتي المدرسي التقليدي، بتفصيص الثالوث في دراسته لثلاثة وجوه وودراسة كل منهم في تبويب منفصل، فصدر الكتاب بغير تسلسل واضح للمعني او ترابط بين الافكار فقط ليلتزم بهذا التقسيم العقيم، لم يكن هناك اي داعي لهذا التقسيم الذي لم يخدم الفكرة بل ادخلها في متاهة مضيفا صعوبة الي صعوبة الموضوع المعالج لم يكن القارئ في حاجة اليه ... الكتاب غير مفيد اطلاقا! ... لم يجيب علي شئ، ولم يطرح ما لم يطرح من قبل بل كرر الاسئلة المعروفة التي فلسفيا يصعب الاجابة عليها ولاهوتيا يستحيل اجابتها، حقيقة اتعجب لماذا استخدم الكاتب كل تلك الصفحات في قصص لا فائدة منها سوي اثبات حب الله وحزنه وجرحه، رغم ان هذا ليس موضوع الكتاب او عنوانه او حتي عناوين فصوله، ان كان يريد ان يكتب عن تلك المواضيع فلا مانع بالطبع، ولكن ماالهدف من اقحام قصة الاسئلة غير المجاب عنها والوعد باجابتها وكأنها الموضوع الاساسي عبر صفحات الكتاب ؟ اتوقع ان الكاتب فشل في الاجابة فما كان منه الا أن ملأ صفحات الكتاب ببضاعة لاهوتية مستهلة عن حب الله وحزنه دون اي اضافة فكرية او تأملية في الموضوع الأساسي ... الخلاصة ، لا تصدق وعود الكاتب بانتظار اجابات، انه فقط يريد ربطك بالكتاب منتظرا الاجابة) حتي آخر صفحة ... لا ينصح بقراءته)

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is God unfair? Silent? Hidden?
Where is God when you need Him?

I know every Christian has fought this battle when things go wrong and evil seems to reign in the form of disasters beyond our means, but as I was reading this book- Phillip took me through the Bible and shed light on God, people and His hope and dreams for us as His children.

I did get to understand better- and have a new perspective on the Bible and the stories told in there, and this has prompted me to read the Bible again, by going through each story and taking in details that I was oblivious of.

It's a good book, one that you can read when it seems that God has let you down, or a friend. The down side about this book though is that- if you are truly angry at God, reading this will require you to sober up and be willing to listen to another point of view...and that I confess might be quite a challenge.

[Pat Roseman · Rating 4 out of 5]

pg. 236 - From Job, we can learn that much more is going on out there than we may suspect. Job felt the weight of God's absence; but a look behind the curtain reveals that in one sense God had never been more present.

pg. 245 - The Bible never belittles human disappointment (remember the proportion in Job - one chapter of restoration follows forty-one chapters of anguish), but it does add one key word: temporary. What we feel now, we will not always feel. Our disappointment is itself a sign, an aching, a hunger for something better. And faith is, in the end, a kind of homesickness - for a home we have never visited but have never once stopped longing for.

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult topic tackled with empathy and skill
19 November 2014

The topic of 'if God is good and all powerful then why does he allow suffering' is a difficult topic at best and when you need to tackle it emphatically it becomes almost impossible. Actually, anything to do with Christianity, where you are trying to balance the esoteric truth of the faith with people's feelings is, once again, a very difficult task. Mind you, if you want to write a Christian book that explains Christianity without offending anybody then, well, you might as well look for another topic to tackle because whatever way you approach the topic you are going to offend somebody.
The question of suffering is one of those questions that has plagued humanity for centuries, though I must say that the short (if unempathetic answer) to that question is 'if there was no suffering then we would be in heaven already'. Further, the reason why God does not intervene is because he is a merciful God. Basically, if God were to return in two minutes time and obliterate everybody who has upset another person then, well, there will be nobody left because I assure you that we all have done something, whether intentionally or not, to upset another person (and that is not going into the debate as to whether our actions were right or wrong).
Anyway, I believe that Yancy has tackled this topic superbly because I believe that he outlines the situation quite well. He also effectively tackles the the questions: Why is God Silent; why does God not reveal himself; and why does God not act. Well, the simple answer is, and he points to the book of Exodus to show us, is that if God did audibly speak, if God did make himself visible to us, and if God did perform miracles, then we would still spit in his face.
Basically, the book of Exodus begins with the Israelites enslaved in Egypt, and then God comes along. In a great display of power he obliterates the Egyptian army and guides the former slaves (along with all of the wealth that they had plundered from the Egyptians) out into the desert. Since deserts are well known for their lack of food and water, he then miraculously makes bread (and meat) appear, as well as arranging for water to gush out of a rock. All the time he is hovering in front of the Israelites as a pillar of cloud at night and a pillar of fire during the day. Oh, he also spoke audibly to Moses, and told them what they needed to do to be on his right side.
How did the Israelites respond? They complained about how bad their lot was, that they had been dragged out into the desert to die, and pined for a return to their life of slavery.
Talk about gratitude.
But, as Yancey points out here, and in other parts of the bible, just because God is visible, is audible, and performs great and powerful feats of magic (if you want to call it magic) does not mean that we will all bow down and worship him and dedicate our lives to him. So what that shows us is that if somebody comes up to you and says 'I'll only worship God if he revealed himself to me' you can, with a cheeky smile on your face, say, 'I bet you won't'.
That comment on a bet leads me to the next part of this dissertation because that is the main theme that runs through the book of Job, to which Yancey dedicates the second part of his book. The idea here is not so much looking at Job's predicament from a bottom up view, but coming to understand it from a divine view. Basically, as a lot of pastors have suggested, the thing about the Book of Job is that we see what is happening to Job from a heavenly point of view. Further, it seems to come about as a wager between God and Satan. Now, many of us baulk at this idea that God and Satan are having bets over our lives, and that God is bowing to Satan's demands, but consider that Satan does have a point – Job has been exceedingly blessed by God and Satan's argument is that the only reason that Job loves God is because God showers him with gifts.
And that is true – if you have money, and lots of it, you can get a lot of people to do things for you by showering gifts on them. I'm sure you have heard of the term Trophy Wife. This is where a wealthy man buys himself a wife, not in the sense that you go to an action house, or a third world country (or a people smuggler) but simply find a woman who is amicable to being showered with gifts and money, and continue to do so until you tire of her. While not everybody can be bought, there are certainly an awful lot of people out there who can.
So, what is the deal then? Well, the deal comes down to the question of love. God wants us to love him, and love him through thick and thin. However, love cannot be bought, and love cannot be induced by fear. God loves us unconditionally, and he wants the same in return, not a conditional love where we say 'I'll love you God, but only if you shower me with wealth and make my life a happy life with no problems' nor does he want a love that comes about through fear, because instilling obedience through fear does not generate love, it just generates resentfulness. Thus, because God loves us, and because he wants us to love him unconditionally, and because the world in which we live is a fallen world, God withdraws himself, and sometimes he will appear to withdraw himself even more, watching us, and waiting for that time when we will be remade in the image that we were supposed to be, not the image that we bear now.

[Lonita Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for you if you've struggled with quantifying the brokenness and evil of the world with a supposedly good God. Yancey looks at three questions: Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden? from the book of Job.

I must say that reading his memoir has given me a greater respect for this book.

[JJ Waggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This--everybody who has ever even tangentially been connected to Christianity should read this. Yancey does a phenomenal job in this two-part book (one book but really two halves: how we are disappointed and a case study of disappointment via Job) of never glossing the real anger and pain we can feel toward God. He says he's not going to be an apologist for God, but he kinda is--and that's okay, because he does it in such a way that it's not "buck up because God's God and that's that." He acknowledges sorrow, and loss, and uncertainty, and gives them space in the life of faith because they are absolutely part of the creations we are.
Yancey expects certain things of his readers: you have to be familiar with the Bible at least a little and he's not going to help you with chapter-and-verse-specific references. He puts in Scripture and expects you to connect his endnotes. And he's certainly not shy about his own background and influences, so if you're offended by authors like C.S. Lewis and the idea that God is truly omnipotent, you're just going to get frustrated with this.
But it's a great read and my neck hurt from nodding so much; it resonated strongly, clearly, and I'm going to go buy my own copy so I don't steal this one from the friend who very kindly loaned this to me.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It deals with the topic of how sometimes (or most times) we feel like God isn't near us. We go through tough times and wonder where God is in all of that, but really, another way to view it is where are we in all of this? What is our response to God when we endure heartache or disease?

Many people want to see God, to have miracles happen all the time, to have every prayer answered. Philip Yancey gives some good arguments as to why God doesn't do this. It's not because he doesn't care or he's not powerful. It's because back in the day, when he did those things with the Israelites, they turned away from Him. It's like a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. A really interesting way of thinking about things, though.

[Karen Wingate · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a classic treatment of a generations long issue. Why me? Why doesn't God answer me? Phillip Yancey is incredibility honest and thorough in his look at a question most of us have wondered but been afraid to ask. I read this book many years ago but I was at a point in my life that I needed to read it again. I had just finished reading the Biblical book of Job so that was fresh in my mind and Yancey gives a different perspective on the theme of Job. Disappoint With God gets rather heavy and didactic in the middle but I encourage readers to hang in there and plow through. Get what you can from this reading and read it again in six months or a year. You will gleam new truths each time.

[Bee Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't recommend more highly for anyone struggling with questions about God's character, choices, etc.

[Michael K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phillip Yancey discusses in great detail about many aspects of our disappointment with God. But is it true disappointment or just our inability to understand God and what the Bible teaches us? I would lean toward the absolute belief that we have a tough time understanding the teachings from the Heavenly because we are so worldly. Colossians 3:2 says "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." Yet, even with such a caveat, we still lean toward the world in which we live. He spends several chapters discussing Job and many people with whom he had discussions or interviews. Well worth the read for those who seem to misunderstand God and His teachings.

The Bible never belittles human disappointment (remember the proportion in Job — one chapter of restoration follows forty-one chapters of anguish), but it does add one key word: temporary. What we feel now, we will not always feel. Our disappointment is itself a sign, an aching, a hunger for something better. And faith is, in the end, a kind of homesickness — for a home we have never visited but have never once stopped longing for. ~Phillip Yancey, DISAPPOINTMENT WITH GOD

This book also serves as a study guide for discussion, self or group, with a list of questions for each chapter.

[Read1000books · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book (my first by this author) after a friend had questions about it. Somewhat in the same vein as Charles Swindoll's "The Mystery of God's Will" and James Dobson's "When God Doesn't Make Sense", Yancey discusses questions all Christians eventually wrestle with, such as "Why are some prayers answered and others not"?, "What is the meaning/purpose of undeserved suffering"?, and "Why does God seem far away at times"?. A lot of the discussion centers around the book of Job, with many quotations from other authors such as C.S. Lewis. While no one book can solve these problems, reading this one will cause you to think, and may at least give you more options to consider. Note however, that for those who consider themselves weak in the faith, this book may do more harm than good.

[Sameh Maher · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب جميل عبارة عن قسمين القسم الاول منه لا يستحق اكثر من 3 نجوم او اقل فهو مجرد سرد عادى لاحداث وتهيئة للقسم الثانى ولكن القسم الثانى جميل جدا رغم ان الكاتب لم يقدم تبصراته الشخصية ولكن اعتمد على كتابات سى اس لويس وبدونها لم يكم الكتاب ليقدم جديدا
ورغم ذلك يبقى اجابة جيدة جدا على الثلاثة اسئلة الاصعب والذى اعتقد انهم سؤال واحد فى النهاية وهو اين الله فى الضيقة
لماذا يختفى الله فى وسط الضيقات و
يقدم الكاتب الثلاة اسئلة فى اطار حياة شخص اسمه رشيد ويقدم امثلة من اشخاص اخرين لهم نفس الاختبار
الكتاب عامة جيد وسهل القراءة بدون تعقيد يحمل العديد من التبصرات وصادق الى ابعد حد
ولكن بعض الاراء فيه تحتاج الى مراجعة او ضبط ابائى حتى يستحق نجمة اخرى
ولكنه يقدم اجابة صريحة لمشكلة الالم فى اسلوب شيق وبسيط
ومن الكتب التى يمكن قراءتها مرات عديدة بدون ملل

[LeAnne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book worth multiple readings. I went back to it because the emotion has come up several times in recent conversations and I have known it in my own life. The other day in Sunday school one of my 6th grade students asked, “Why doesn’t God do stuff today like he did in the Bible?” Having spent much of my adult life as a missionary in the developing world, I am aware that God intervenes supernaturally much more in contexts where he is just beginning to be known than he does in places like North America. I was very interested in Yancy’s review of Old Testament history where God showed himself in plagues and in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. His presence was undeniable, yet his people still rebelled instead of believing. God gave Solomon everything he wanted, yet Solomon squandered those gifts and wandered spiritually later in life. Despite God’s clear instructions (no doubt about what was expected with a choice between blessing and cursing), the Israelites ignored God’s law and then complained about the consequences. Yancy takes comfort in looking back. “We may see the ‘disadvantages’ to God’s closeup interventions: his Presence, too bright for us, leaves scorch marks; it creates distance; and worse, it doesn’t even seem to foster faith”(p. 100). I was especially struck by the idea that miracles don’t foster faith. The image that came to my mind was a trainer who helps you lift the weights. Your own faith muscles will never develop if it is too easy.

Yancy paints a God whose desire is love not domination, hence the incarnation. “What could not be won through power, he would win through suffering” (p. 100). Christ empties himself of the ‘disadvantages’ of infinity. We say God is silent, hidden, unfair, but Jesus says, “Follow me,” he shows us the father and he participates in our suffering because his kingdom is not of this world. The Temptation shows Jesus refusing to take shortcuts, perhaps because he know such obvious miracles short-circuit faith and don’t allow it to grow. “He is a king who wants not subservience, but love. Thus, rather than mowing down Jerusalem, Rome and every other worldly power, he chose the slow, hard way of Incarnation, love, and death. A conquest from within” (p. 115).

“Miracles attracted crowds, yes, but rarely encouraged long-term faithfulness” (p. 116) Yancy points out. When Jesus healed, he often said, “Tell no one.” Skeptics are always quick to explain away or suppress evidence. Yancy sees Jesus’ miracles as “signs of his mission, previews of what God would someday do for all creation” (p.118).

In Gethsemane and on the cross Jesus experienced the ultimate disappointment with God—God subjecting himself to the same suffering and darkness we suffer. He never forces anyone to believe. He makes possible an intimacy with God that powerful proof never could. Yancy quotes Hebrews 2:8-9 admitting, right now we can’t see it, but we do see Jesus and that makes all the difference. When Jesus returned to heaven, he delegated the kingdom of God to his disciples and gave us the Holy Spirit. Someone looking for God should be able to look at us and see him.” Sobering.

As Yancy looks at the book of Job he sees that lots more is going on behind the scene than we can possibly know from our human perspective. Life is unfair, but God does not equal life. “We need more than a miracle. We need a new heaven and a new earth, and until we have those, unfairness will not disappear” (p. 186).

He quotes Paul Tournier, “Where there is no longer any opportunity for doubt, there is no longer any opportunity for faith either.” Psalm 23, the Shepherd Psalm, describes childlike faith, but the psalm right before it, Psalm 22, is about fidelity—faith in the fog (p. 206). Rabbi Abraham Heschel says, “Faith like Job’s cannot be shaken, because it is the result of having been shaken” (p. 208).

Yancy begins the book with a friend who abandons his faith because of his disappointment with God. He comes back to that friend’s struggle many times, even discussing the ideas of the book with him. This is a book that takes our doubts seriously even as it concludes with faith.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philip Yancey tackles three problems a lot of people have with God when they're in pain: God's apparent silence, hiddenness, and unfairness.

While his eventual conclusion is kind of the same as what one reaches at the end of the Book of Job--that sometimes we just don't know why suffering occurs, from a human perspective--I appreciated his respect for people who struggle and his honesty that even his exploration of this topic yields no satisfying answers for some.

As to God's apparent silence or hiddenness, Yancey submits that even when God doesn't "show up" in our lives, he has shown up in history in the person of Jesus Christ, and in so doing defeated death and suffering on a cosmic scale. This theme is echoed in my favorite novel, Silence and a book of literary criticism I read on it, Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering.

Yancey also suggests that even if God performed great obvious miracles, in our modern time, many people would choose not to believe in him anyway. I think that's probably true, although I don't necessarily believe that God used to do that either. I have trouble believing literally in much of the early part of the Old Testament.

I think it's the unfairness that I have the most difficulty with personally--not that I expect my life to be fair, but it's so hard to attribute good things to God unless we attribute bad things to him, too. Yancey tries to explain this, once again, through the ending of Job--that spiritual warfare exists, and we can't know what's happening on a grand scale, but that ultimately God isn't the one who subjects us to evil, although he created a world in which it is allowed to exist.

This argument is similar to the one in the book I read recently Lord Willing?: Wrestling with God's Role in My Child's Death.

Ultimately what I found compelling about Yancey's book was his treatment of his friend Richard's ideas as nothing to be sneered at. Yancey explains that he understands how his friend's conclusion of agnosticism could be valid, but that Yancey himself still chooses to believe because of some early religious experiences he interpreted as being from God.

I loved this very honest take on faith in the face of suffering. Keeping one's faith can be a choice when we suffer, a choice we can make despite our lack of understanding. I can identify with this type of "fidelity" rather than "childlike" faith--a faith that can't accept things unquestioningly, but hangs on tightly when life gets impossibly harsh.

"...we time-bound creatures have only the most primitive manner of understanding: we can let time pass. Not until history has run its course will we understand how 'all things work together for good.' Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse. I have a friend who bristles at such a definition of faith: “You never blame God for the bad things and yet you give him credit for the good things!” In a curious sort of way, my friend is right. That, I believe, is also what faith sometimes requires: trusting God when there is no apparent evidence of him—as Job did. Trusting in his ultimate goodness, a goodness that exists outside of time, a goodness that time has not yet caught up with."

[Theunis Snyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually six stars. I have never read a book which goes so deep in the questions of pain and suffering as this book by Philip Yancy and I have read quite a few. He poses three questions which many unbelievers and suffering Christians ask. Is God unfair? Is God hidden? Is God silent? To answer these questions he gives an amazing overview of the Old Testament and ends with an examination of the book Job. He plainly shows that the Bible does not teach the prosperity gospel, namely that all suffering and poverty will disappear if people believe in God and obey his commands. He does not give cheap answers to the problems of life. He shows that suffering won’t necessarily disappear. Our only hope lies in the future on the new earth. And all that God asks of us is not to reject God when everything around us is darkness and despair. Of course he doesn’t examine all the reasons for suffering, but that goes beyond the scope of this book. I differ on some of his views on certain persons and situations but that doesn’t spoil the fact that this book is a masterpiece.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things I most admire about Yancey is his honesty. He answers three questions about God using teachings from the book of Job. Faith is at the centre of this book with Yancey producing valid questions and concerns.

[Jerrica Yoder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The author does a good job with addressing some questions that may pop up when we have disappointment with God and i felt like they went over that in a clear way. It was overall a really good book

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good. It looks at case studies of disappointment with God and in summary one has a choice to make. Experience disappointment with God or experience disappointment without God. Our hearts are homesick for a home it’s never known.

[Taylor Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit rambly for my taste but a few solid ideas to mull over and hang on to.

[Alfie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yancey does what I can only feebly describe as weaving hard-hitting stories of pain and suffering gathered (notably, none of which magically morph into a happy fairytale ending) and a systematic yet accessible theological/philosophical treatment of the difficult subject into a brilliant tapestry of a book. The relatively short treatise (300 odd pages), borne out of approximately half a decade of study and many more years of experiencing the subject for himself, is also accompanied by a linguistic and stylistic flair, which few, at least those in the genre of Christian literature, can emulate; and that I suspect, has much to do with Yancey's professional experience as a journalist.

Chances are, you, like me, have been disappointed with life at some point in your life or perhaps too many points at that. Many tears have been wept and equal amounts of ink have been spilt both living and examining the ponderous subjects of disappointment and suffering. Yancey considers three main questions in this work: (1) Is God unfair? (2) Is God silent? (3) Is God hidden? In many respects, his work stands squarely on the shoulders of giants such as Augustine, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, Kierkegaard and T.S. Eliot, to provide innumerable metaphors and allegories to illumine our understanding of suffering. Yancey also devotes about a third of the book to discussing the story of Job and does a remarkable job of highlighting relevant principles before relating them back to real life scenarios. Rather than provide pat answers, the author equips the inquirer with many general principles, which should be worth revisiting. As a matter of fact, I found it helpful to read some segments twice or perhaps thrice instead of hastening to complete the book.

What, for me, is the most evocative quality of the book is its unvarnished treatment of the personal stories of brokenness that the author himself has witnessed through his kith and kin. In this limited regard, I think Yancey's work stands apart from Timothy Keller's Walking with God through Pain and Suffering. What is also enlivening is the inquisitive spirit that undergirds Yancey's investigation into the subject, which I trust, is again a function of his journalistic endeavours. In the round, a great book.

[Fee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've learnt so much from this book. There was a time in my life when I felt that it's not OK to feel disappointed with God, especially after hearing that other people around me say "have more faith" or "pray harder" or "stop complaining" or things happen because I'm not good enough, not Christian enough, not praying hard enough, not having a bigger faith, got giving my best to God. All these while I remain sceptical about how people around me define faith and prayer, as if those who are broken and disappointed have so little faith.

I love how the author of this book directs every main point to a Bible passage and cites some works of other authors that have written about the same issue. He writes with such compassion and from his personal stories that he shared, I can sense that he's the kind of person I would like to approach when I feel disappointed about life. He tries to understand and listen to a question or situation first before he concludes about how it relates to a certain Bible character or passage. There are no "feel-good Christianity" elements, which to be honest I happen to really hate after experiencing my first major disappointment in life. This is the kind of book that I would recommend to friends who share the same questions. This is the kind of book that makes me realise that the Bible never belittles human disappointment. Although all of the questions may be hard to answer, God is there, doing something in my life that I may not be able to understand yet.