Hope in the Dark - by Craig Groeschel

Let me preface by sharing my bias: I’m not overly fond of Craig Groeschel’s brand. I don’t know him personally, but I’ve attended Life Church a handful of times and have found almost all of his sermons to be lacking in substance (ie, the Gospel feels like a footnote in his flashy churches). I appreciate his vulnerability, though, which I feel is a lost art in churches today. It’s this vulnerability that turned me on to his book, “Hope in the Dark,” during a season I was wrestling with theodicy. Groeschel walks us through a few examples (mostly from within his own church) of times when calamities occur, and the typical knee-jerk reaction for most people is to wonder if God really is a good God. Instead of using reasoning to make his point (which is a common tactic among apologists and rationalists), Groeschel largely relies upon Scripture to make his point that, sometimes, suffering is absolutely within the purview of God’s plan. Groeschel expounds on Habakkuk in particular, which I’ve come to recognize as one of the most under-appreciated books in the Bible. Groeschel takes Habakkuk’s positioning as a righteous Jew who is facing certain exile and likely death, and weighs this perspective against those who are enduring the worst types of suffering. The result is one of the best Christian books I’ve ever read and one of the most succinctly helpful takes on theodicy. “Hope in the Dark” presents better critical thinking than anything written by Timothy Keller or John Piper, is more satisfying than Harold Kushner and Richard Dawkins, more accessible than Oswald Chambers or CS Lewis, and is still loaded with a poignancy that is missing from most nonfiction today. If your theology is that God wouldn’t ever “will” suffering upon your life, then please pick this up. It’ll help you confront your assumptions and challenge you to rethink your theology until it’s a little more compatible with a God who sent some of His most beloved tribesmen to live miserable lives and die in horrific ways.

Excellent read! Recommend for anyone struggling with illness in life.