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
Want the full guide for Where Is God When It Hurts??
Free Week 1 sample in 5 min · $24.99 for all 13 weeks · 7-day refund
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?
You're on Week 10 of 13
Don't lose momentum — get the rest of Where Is God When It Hurts?
All 93 questions across 13 weeks, with closing prayers and a downloadable PDF for your group.
One-time purchase · 7-day refund · Covers your whole group