Book
A SYNOPSIS – Every cloud has a silver lining. The glass is half full. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Bla, bla, yadda, yadda. Has anyone ever shared these little nuggets of truth with you while you were slap-bang in the middle of one of the greatest and most painful storms of your life? Now, speaking for myself, in those kinds of moments I am inclined to slap the pigmentation clean off the perpetrator’s mug. Whatever truth may reside in these kinds of statements, they are not the things that a heart broken with grief and discouragement wants to hear in the hurt of the moment. Sometimes it feels like the thing that doesn’t kill you does a pretty good job of leaving you thoroughly maimed and bloodied.
What do you do when the joy, peace and blessing you were sure would accompany your faith in Jesus seem nowhere to be found? What if a devotion to God seems to usher more trials and heartache into your life than you ever thought it could or would? These kinds of questions are humbly explored by someone who is often mystified by them himself. That would be me. Life is all too often far more mysterious and unpredictable than trite sayings and religious clichés will allow for. For the most part, the subject of hardship is ignored by the church. In a Christian culture that seems obsessed with prosperity and blessing, the anguish and sadness of believers caught in the grip of pain and disappointment all too often goes unnoticed.
This book is aimed at the Christian church with a focus on sustaining faith and devotion in the midst of testing. It aims to comfort and challenge Christians who have or are experiencing a severe testing of their faith as a result of suffering or hardship in whatever shape or form. In the absence of answers that make sense of the storms of life, it can be immensely encouraging to at least have the pain of the experience acknowledged. Sometimes, in the midst of ominous circumstances and overwhelming challenges the compassionate embrace of a friend can be immeasurably precious…without a word ever being said. That, in some ways, is what this book aims to achieve: as if to sit beside those afflicted, laying a caring hand on their shoulder saying, “I can offer no easy solution to your suffering, but I am here, and you are not alone.”
However, beyond acknowledging the struggles and trials, the book also aims to deal with the subject of suffering from a philosophical and biblical perspective. While it remains true that no easy answers exist when a life is visited by severe and recurring tragedy, the Bible does offer counsel with regard to how these experiences may be most healthily confronted and, hopefully, overcome.
The subject of suffering within the context of the Christian experience is explored, along with the proposal of an appropriate, biblical response. I share with you my personal experiences with suffering and disappointment, my disillusionment and despair as a result, and my attempts to navigate through them with grace. It is my belief that the subject of suffering is grossly misunderstood and neglected in a substantial portion of the church worldwide, and when Christians are inevitably confronted with it in the midst of a life dedicated to God, the result is often the same disillusionment and despair that I have grappled with. The central theme that is developed through the book is that of the untarnished beauty of God in the face of perplexing hardship, and the legitimacy of ascribing worship to him in any and all circumstances.
As challenging or even impossible as this goal may seem when considering the frailty and fickleness of our own humanity, its validity remains, as does the worthiness of the God in whom that goal is rooted. While the message is applicable to all Christians, it is the weary and despairing believer in particular that I wish to address and hope to encourage.
Though You Slay Me can be purchased for R80.00 (US$10.00 for international customers). Please contact me if you are interested in obtaining a copy.
