Where Is God When It Hurts? by Philip Yancey
Week 10: Chapter 9 — Where Is God When It Hurts?
Read Chapter 9 of Where Is God When It Hurts? Key Scripture: John 1:14; Hebrews 4:14–16; Isaiah 61:1–3
Previewing Week 10 of Where Is God When It Hurts?
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 13-week guide when you’re ready.
Yancey arrives at the heart of the book's answer: God is not observing our pain from a distance — he entered it, and his answer to suffering is a person, not a proposition.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.The title question of the book is finally answered here, at least in part. In Yancey's view, where is God when it hurts? How does his answer differ from what you might have expected when you first picked up the book?
2.Yancey argues that the incarnation — God becoming flesh in Jesus — is the decisive event in answering the problem of suffering. He is not saying it resolves every philosophical objection, but that it changes the nature of the question. How so?
3.Read John 1:14: 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.' Yancey calls the incarnation God's ultimate response to human pain. In what sense is Jesus God's answer to suffering — not an explanation, but a presence?
a.How does it change your theology of suffering to know that God has a body — that he has experienced hunger, exhaustion, grief, betrayal, and physical agony?
b.How does it change your prayers when you are hurting?