Book Review - If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil

If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil
Randy Alcorn
Multnomah Books (September 15, 2009)

In short: Pastoral in tone, this comprehensive treatment of the problem of evil and suffering will strengthen your faith and deepen your theology.

Suffering is inevitable. In some form or fashion everyone will experience some form of suffering in their life. Whether it is physical, mental or emotional suffering, none of us will escape it. As I’ve mentioned before, having your theology straight before it happens is important – because it will happen. A shallow or superficial faith will leave you unprepared for that eventuality.

“A faith that leaves us unprepared for suffering is a false faith that deserves to be lost.”

“Suffering will come; we owe it to God, ourselves, and those around us to prepare for it.”

This book will strengthen your faith and help you in getting your theology in order. Reminiscent, to me, of the old Puritan books in its structure, Randy Alcorn gives us an outline of how to think about the problem of evil and suffering. While orderly in its structure it is pastoral in its tone. Full of stories and illustrations, yet with ample scriptural support, it feels like you are sitting down with a trusted pastor to discuss and work through the problem.

“We cannot see the end God has in mind. If we could, we would likely see that the hardships God allows [now] prevent even more debilitating hardships [later]…His acts of good may seem cruel [to us].”

He then provides an illustration of a three year old that accidentally swallows poison. The hospital tells the father that he must get him there as quickly as possible and, more importantly, if he falls asleep, he’ll die.

“The boys head starts to drop. His father slaps him in the face. The boy cries. His head starts to nod again. The father slaps him again and again, all the way to the hospital…The child doesn’t understand but his father loves the child by acting in his own best interests.”

So it is with us and God.

He tells of Howard Hendricks visiting a leprosy center and of a woman;

“…raising both of her nearly fingerless hands toward Heaven, [saying] ‘I want to praise God that I am a leper because it was through my leprosy that I came to know Jesus Christ as my Savior. And I would rather be a leper who knows Christ than be completely whole and a stranger to His grace.”

Shocking at times, but never depressing, the cumulative effect of scripture, reason, and experience for the philosophical and logical problem of evil is staggering. He also provides plenty of counsel and help for the emotional problem. All of this requires a robust theology of the character of God, Heaven, Hell, free will and divine sovereignty, all of which he covers appropriately to help us come to terms with a biblical understanding of suffering. In the end, we know, however, that only God knows the ultimate reasons for what we experience.

“Insisting on knowing the unknowable dooms us to frustration and resentment toward God…If we insist we have the right, or even assume we have the capacity, to understand the hidden purposes of God, we forfeit the comfort and perspective we could have had in kneeling before his vastly superior wisdom. He is infinite; we are finite. He is the Creator; we’re the creatures. Shouldn’t that say it all?”

This is a book to read again and again and I highly recommend it for all.

“My prayer is that [readers] will see the spiritual power and reason of Scripture, learn sound theology, and develop a truly Christian worldview to replace their superficial one that will never survive either the arguments or the tests that await them.”

To learn more about the book or pick up a copy visit here.

Rating: Hardback