Disappointment with God

Rating:
Summary: Very helpful and human work
Review: This book means a lot to me. I was going through a similar experience to the young author Yancey mentions in the opening sections. I decided to take a mini-retreat. I turned off my television, signed off AIM despite missing my dear chat buddies, read this book during lunch breaks and the Bible every night, & spent much time in prayer. It was really quite a remarkable experience. I saw my struggles with faith in a new light -- and a forgiving one. With calmness and clarity, Yancey addresses the very real arguments and anger even a believer may have with God, and points a way to healing. It helped me to remember, as Yancey has written elsewhere, to doubt my doubts as much as I may doubt my beliefs. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Appointment with God
Review: I have to confess that there was a time in my life that I was too proud to even pick up a book with this title. I was on a "happy pill" and just would not admit to such "blasphemous weakness". I was wrong. Philip Yancey has put words to questions I can not even utter and guided me to answer them using God's revelation in Scriptures. This book has challenged and changed the way I see things, and you do not even have to be disappointed with God to appreciate it.

Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Work Of Hope
Review: 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).

Rating:
Summary: This is a MUST Read.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Yancey is probably the best Christian author of our time
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Moving, Wonderful, Honest Exploration
Review: Rarely if ever have I read a book so quickly. This book is not afraid of the hard questions, and it woke me up. Yancey plunges into the Bible, offers beautiful conceptualizations of the Old and New Testaments, and attempts to reconcile some tough questions. The highest recommendation. Please, Mr. Yancey, write more books...

Rating:
Summary: A faith-saver
Review: At the time I read this book I was working my way out of a deep pit which I had allowed to be dug in my life by a legalistic, super-fundamentalistic version of Christianity. I didn't even know one could express disappointment with God without being struck down by God's lightning bolt of anger! God used this book in my life to save my walk with Him and make me truly know how much He loves his daughters and sons...how each of us are unique to him, just as each of my children are unique and loved by me.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Insightful and Comforting
Review: I have recommended this book to more people than any other book I have ever read. I've bought it for 6 people, and recommended it to at least a hundred. This book speaks directly to anyone who has ever felt that God didn't come through for her/him. And truthfully, it even speaks to people who don't realize they've felt that way (like me upon first opening the book). The first half is where the book really shines. It could be a book in itself that outlines God's character and love as displayed in the Old Testament. Yancey examines the character of God throughout the Old Testament so thoroughly, that I started to wonder why I had never realized those things before. And I did feel much less disappointed with God after reading this book. But the reason I only give this book 4 stars is because I kind of felt like the reason I felt better was not because I had a better understanding of God's character, but that because of this book I began to expect less from God (e.g., less of an intimate presence in my life, less clear direction of a path to take, less answers to my prayers, etc.)--and thus, am unable to be disappointed. But overall, this book is so worth reading that I can't begin to describe it. You won't be able to see God the same way afterwards.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't like this book very much
Review: I had high hopes for this book but it disappointed me! It was too wordy and hard to understand and I came away feeling like I had learned nothing and had no answers. I didn't like the way he "humanized" God.

Rating:
Summary: I've given this book away at least 10 times...
Review: 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!