When God Seems Gone

Adam Mabry describes well the feeling of God’s absence, but in those deep moments of sorrow, he digs deeper still—into God’s word and God’s promises, with a raw and unshakable faith in the goodness of God. This book will prepare you for the wilderness that may lay in your future or provide a stream of water for your desert experience today. | I love the honesty of this book. Adam is unafraid to voice the questions most of us have but aren’t brave enough to admit to. He doesn’t offer trite answers but rather urges us to name our doubts and bring them to God. If you’ve ever felt God’s absence in your suffering, you’ll find When God Seems Gone an able guide to help you navigate that bewildering experience and fill you with hope in the God who will never leave you. | Everyone will eventually face the question of why a loving, all-powerful God allows evil and suffering, and will have to decide whether to turn to God in trust and hope or turn away from him in doubt and despair. In this book, Adam gives us his defense of why he has chosen the route of trust and hope. May it inspire every reader to do the same.” | I love this book. As one who has had many sorrows of late, and as one who has a front-row seat at the trials of others, I’m always looking for books to commend to sufferers that will allow them to see the sun amid the dark clouds. When God Seems Gone gives us such hope as it leads us to reflect on various aspects of the encouragement-producing, hope-giving Scriptures. | As was the case with the psalmist when he cried out, ‘How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?’ we can know that the feeling of God's absence may be real but is not true, because the risen Christ will never leave or forsake us. From his own season of trial, Adam does a remarkable job of helping us see that. | As we suffer, difficult questions emerge in our relationship with God. I believe God gives his people fresh voices to answer these ancient questions in each generation. When God Seems Gone has the authentic resonance of an author who has experienced his own trials and suffering while serving God. This book is a helpful read for anyone struggling with their relationship with God during prolonged periods of emotional pain. | When God Seems Gone is exceptional. It’s deeply personal, intellectual, Bible-based, and real. I am grateful that Pastor Adam wrote this book, born out of pain, yet so very hopefuland helpful. This book can give you a new perspective on the ways of God, and your way through your valleys and trials. | Adam Mabry invites you into his pastor’s study for a series of soul-restoring sessions. Looking with raw honesty at the pain of human brokenness, including his own, through a variety of biblical lenses, he brings to us hard-won clarity rather than pat answers. | When you deal daily with the challenges of quadriplegia and chronic pain, you hunger for Christian encouragement that helps you actually live. Trite answers and thin-skinnedplatitudes don't cut it. When you hurt, you need firm and unshakable truths that carry you forward into the day with hope and courage. And this is what you’ll find in When GodSeems Gone. I'm convinced its wisdom will help hurting people find their way through the fog of pain and disappointment and into the embrace of the God of the Bible. | If you are in a dark season—hurting, in pain, discouraged, or alone—Adam invites you to embrace your suffering in such a way that it can transform you. He skillfully, warmly, biblically guides you to deeper understanding of yourself and God’s ways to sustain you in your suffering. Pain is real. God is there with you. May you be encouraged. | Adam Mabry cuts right through the typical Christian clichés by voicing the thoughts and feelings that most believers experience but are afraid to admit. If you know what it feels like for God to seem absent, wrong, unfair, or a disappointment, then this is for you. Bring your honest questions and find yourself refreshed with honest biblical encouragement. | Adam wrestles with the most fundamental question of human existence, a nagging doubt that afflicts us all, people of faith and agnostics alike: God, where are you? Why aren’t you speaking to me? Even if you’re not struggling with his question now, you probably have in the past and will again in the future—and you probably know someone who is in the moment. Let Pastor Adam guide you through those dark nights of the soul. Reading this book, you’ll feel understood, encouraged, and renewed. | Adam Mabry is Lead Pastor of Aletheia Church Boston, MA, a rapidly-growing downtown church. He is married to Hope and they have four children. Before planting Aletheia, they had planted two churches in Edinburgh, Scotland. Adam did his theological studies at Reformed Theological Seminary and is studying for a PhD at Aberdeen. Adam is author of Stop Taking Sides and The Art of Rest.