Yet Will I Trust Him: Understanding God in a Suffering World

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Summary: One of the greatest books on human suffering
Review: John Mark Hicks is a professor at the Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, Tennessee. His first wife died after 3 years; his son has a genetic illness that will bring his death at an early age. Mix these two elements together and you see a scholar with a heart that knows pain and all the questions to ask God. Most books that I have read on human suffering are wrapped in emotion, but contain all-too-little real answers from Scripture. Not so with "Yet Will I Trust Him." This book brings help and healing for the mind and the heart. It digs deep into the heart and mind of God in the search for answers. But it also opens up the hurt of the wounded, broken heart so that others can experience the pain. John Mark Hicks has written a book that can help the hurting. But don't expect easy reading. The Scriptural thoughts are deep and require full concentration and continued study. But careful reading will bring abundant blessing.

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Summary: A Must for Ministers & Counselors
Review: Most books covering the topic of suffering and God's involvement in His world and with His people can be placed in one of two categories. They are either (1) personal, experiential studies of the author's faith walk in a crisis or (2) reasoned, theological studies of the questions surrounding the existence of evil and pain. Experiential accounts or personal stories, although inspirational and effective witnessing tools, come up lacking in their limited scope and applicability to all readers. Theodicies and studies of pain and suffering, although sound teaching, come up lacking often as cold and impersonal in their aloof, clinical approach to the problem. John Mark Hicks' book Yet Will I Trust Him: Understanding God in a Suffering World is a rare work that does not fit into either of these categories. This book is neither a personal testimony appealing only to the heart and emotions nor a philosophical theodicy appealing only to the mind and reason. The work is a hybrid containing Hicks' personal experiences, emotional and faith struggles, and his search for understanding as a young theologian seeking to make sense out of tragedy and crisis in his own life and the lives of God's people. This book speaks to the heart and mind of the sufferer and those ministering to the sufferer. According to the author, this book is the product of twenty years of study and research in which Hicks taught graduate students, but behind each statement of rational, theological truth are the painful life experiences of the author. In April 1980 Hicks' wife of three years died at home of a blood clot following surgery. Hicks says at that time that his simple faith in God and scripture was tested as his and his wife's plans for missionary work and their lives together in service to God and God's people were destroyed. Hicks question was that of every suffering, lamenting Christian -- "Where is God?" (meaning the "good" God that he knew in his young faith). Hicks lists two other crises that have acted as faith-shaping experiences in his life: the death of his father in 1994 and the terminal illness suffered by his adolescent son. Fourteen-year-old Joshua is afflicted with a genetic disorder that has left him unable to speak and dependent upon his family for every need. It is obvious to the reader that his son's illness and the accompanying anticipatory grief over the loss of his only son have had the most profound impact on the author in his struggle to understand pain and suffering in the world. As he did at the loss of his wife Sheila, Hicks struggles again with destroyed plans. This time the destroyed plans are those he had for his son as a leader in the church. The author's thesis is that each person can only come to an understanding of the pain and tragedies of their individual life story by looking through the lens of what God is about: what God has done, what God is doing and what God will do. Hicks had originally named the book "What on Earth is God Doing?" By refocusing on God and His story, the sufferer can see how his or her story intersects with and is impacted by God's story. The result of this refocusing on God is peace, hope and a meaning in life that is not found in a fallen world reeling under the weight of unspeakable pain and suffering. Hicks goes through God's story using a series of eleven questions....