Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Book Review: When Trouble Comes

When Trouble Comes. Philip Graham Ryken. 2016. Crossway. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]

When Trouble Comes is a book about suffering. The book the journey takes us on is both personal (for the author, and most likely for us) and biblical. Ryken examines the lives of Isaiah, Elijah, Ruth, David, Jeremiah, Mary, Jesus, and Paul. The focus, of course, being on their 'dark' moments of pain and suffering--their "troubled" moments. The moments that perhaps they didn't plan for or "want." Nobody wants to suffer--physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. But trouble has a way of coming, not because God doesn't care, but because he cares so much.

When Trouble Comes is a strong, solid read. Each chapter is worth reading and contemplating. He asks tough questions of his readers. Questions such as: "What is the confession of your faith--not just the creed you recite in church, but the confidence you live by every day? In all your troubles, and in all the troubles of a fallen world, are you able to say that God with you like a mighty warrior?"

It's a weighty book because it's a weighty subject.

One of my favorite quotes:
Teach me to believe that if I would ever have any sin subdued I must not only labor to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and he must become more to me than the vile lust had been; that his sweetness, power, life may be there. 

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