North Laurel's Musings: Book Review: The Goodness of God by Randy Alcorn

ISBN: 9781601423436

August 2010

Cost: $12.99

Assurance of Purpose in the Midst of Suffering:

Sometimes when we endure tough, heart breaking moments in our lives we often wonder if there really can be a God. In this book, The Goodness of God, Randy Alcorn brings another great book to those who are in search of God's goodness in a world that is full of misery.

There are definite times in life when we are searching simply for hope, other times we are looking for something deeper. In this book, Alcorn travels alongside those who are or have suffered and are searching. Sometimes, Alcorn says, when we go through the terrible trials we lose our faith- and he posits that it can be good. Here is a glimpse of the language in this book:

But that’s actually a good thing; any faith that leaves us unprepared for suffering is a false faith that deserves to be abandoned. Genuine faith will be tested by suffering; false faith will be lost—the sooner, the better.

I personally have only suffered to the point of digging deeper into the goodness of God in adverse times a few times in my life, but this book is helpful even to me. I believe that it is good to arm ourselves with knowledge before we need it. I have never doubted that God is good, but sometimes it is difficult to understand why things happen the way they do, why God would allow bad things to happen. Chapter 6 (Why so much evil? Questioning why God allows evil and delays justice) was very helpful to me.

This book was an easy and a difficult read. Easy because it is short and there aren't words and concepts that are above the average reader. Tough because of the issues that are being dealt with. The language really isn't all sweet and soft. Alcorn doesn't sugar coat the issues. Some people will read these and it will cause them renewed pain, perhaps it will open our mind again to something that we didn't wish to think on again. But it also heals, I believe. All the while by taking us to the goodness of God. The back cover definitely puts it correctly:

The issues are far from simple, the answers far from easy- but Alcorn shows how the way of suffering- a path that Jesus himself followed more than anyone else- can ultimately become a journey into wholeness and even logic-defying joy.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.