When God Seems Gone
What do you do when it feels like God isn’t there―when the state of the world, our own suffering, or the struggles of those we know suggest that God is absent? When you’ve experienced soul-crushing silence from heaven, despite your fervent supplications? Using the book of Habakkuk, as well as his own personal experience of deep suffering, Adam Mabry examines the art of lament―how to cry out to God in desperation from a place of faith and hope. Readers will learn that God is big enough and good enough to handle hard questions and that his sovereign silence is filled with purpose for their lives. They will be encouraged to keep trusting God even when he seems silent, slow, unfair, different, or wrong. There are video introductions for each chapter as well as very practical suggestions for what you can do to keep faith even in times of darkness and doubt. This book is a great encouragement if… • you are going through hard times, or walking alongside those who are. • you are deconstructing your faith. • you are involved in counselling/pastoral ministry. • you want a gift for a brother or sister in Christ who is struggling.
About the Author
Adam Mabry is Lead Pastor of Aleithia Church Boston, MA, a rapidly-growing downtown church. He is married to Hope and they have four children. Before planting Aleithia, they had planted two churches in Edinburgh, Scotland. Adam did his theological studies at Reformed Theological Seminary and is studying for a PhD at Aberdeen.
During rough seasons it is often hard to see God working in and through your life. Even if you are not going through a hard season it is often difficult to hear God’s voice amid the busyness of life. I constantly fall into the busyness of life and I often forget to thank the Lord for the simple things of life, or I even forget to spend time with Him. It is in these moments that as soon as I take a moment to slow down I start to question where the Lord is at. Why can I not see or hear him?
Throughout the book Mabry’s voice is clear and he quickly grabs the reader’s attention. Personally, I have always found it helpful to start a book by reading the introduction but this is honestly the first time that I have fallen in love with it. This introduction was unlike anything I have ever read. Mabry starts out by being vulnerable and sharing his difficulties with silence. It is through this that I think that most readers cannot only connect with the book but they also can feel as though Mabry is directly talking to them.
My favorite quote from this book actually came from the introduction, “Silence is merely an aural experience of absence-the sound that is made when no one is there.” As soon as I read this quote I was shaking. I could hear the silence as I sat alone in my dorm. I quickly felt alone in this little room of mine but I quickly had to remind myself that even when I cannot see or hear Him the Lord is still with me. Starting the book this way, in my opinion, helped Mabry show the reader what it is like to experience silence, because of this I think that they were able to clearly see all the other points that the author would talk about. It also was a perfect way to start the story and a perfect segue into Mabry’s topic.
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When God Seems Gone: Finding Hope When Nothing Makes Sense By Adam Mabry |
I am not paid to write good reviews. My thoughts are my own.
