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Trusting God in the Darkness: A Guide to Understanding the Book of Job Paperback – April 20, 2021
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It’s easy for us to trust God when life is going well.
But when suffering comes, trusting God’s goodness, his attentiveness to what’s going on in the world, and his justice becomes far more difficult. In times of intense suffering, many of us ask, Why does God allow these things to happen?
In the Bible, Job is known for facing intense personal suffering. Yet, upon closer examination, we find the book of Job is about more than just Job’s calamities; it’s a story about God and his relationship to Christ and his people in their suffering. In this helpful guide, Christopher Ash helps us explore the question, Where is God in the midst of suffering? As we read, meditate, and pray through the book of Job, we will find assurance that God will be with us in Christ through every season and trial.
- Print length160 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCrossway
- Publication dateApril 20, 2021
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-101433570114
- ISBN-13978-1433570117
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“We find here the work of a wise veteran pastor, of one who knows life and who knows the Scriptures. Ash’s exposition is brief but meaty, profound but accessible, and clear without being simplistic. I can’t think of a better introduction to the book of Job, and Ash rightly reads Job in light of the entire Bible, in light of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Readers will be instructed, challenged, comforted, and wiser from reading this wonderful exposition.”
―Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“Christopher Ash is an astute scholar of the book of Job and a seasoned minister of the gospel. Writing clearly and with great pastoral sensitivity, he leads us through one of the most difficult books of the Bible. Those struggling with Job and its theme of suffering will find much help here.”
―Eric Ortlund, Lecturer in Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew, Oak Hill College, London
“If like me you have neglected Job, finding it too long and too confusing, knowing that it contains comfort but unsure about how to find it, help is at hand. Christopher Ash unfolds what is tightly packed, unravels what is knotted, and makes plain what is obscure. Immensely helpful and thoroughly enjoyable.”
―Alistair Begg, Senior Pastor, Parkside Church, Chagrin Falls, Ohio
“The book of Job refuses superficial treatment of its deep agonies or easy answers to its hard questions. In this succinct study, Christopher Ash eschews both and instead draws us into the contours of this rich book with the keen mind of a scholar and the warm heart of a pastor. In a world full of suffering, we need Job. We need the pain-marked grappling; we need the faith-filled longing; and we need, ultimately, the Christ-centered hope. Ash helps us to find and feel these with tremendous skill and sensitivity, and we are indebted to him.”
―Jonathan Griffiths, Lead Pastor, The Metropolitan Bible Church, Ottawa, Canada
“In a time weighed down by warring nations, a global pandemic, religious persecution, and broken relationships all around, Trusting God in the Darkness is more than a timely message. Christopher Ash is to be thanked for pulling our hearts back to the rich truths of Scripture in Job. I appreciate his pastoral reminder that our worship continues, even in the yawning gap between our expectations and experience. In my growing concern that the church has more welcome for Job’s friends than for Job, this book is a needed salve. Neither Job’s pain nor a good God should scandalize us anymore.”
―Andrew J. Schmutzer, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Moody Bible Institute; coauthor, Between Pain and Grace
“Think of Christopher Ash’s Trusting God in the Darkness as a handbook―a manual to take up in one hand―to be read at first straight through to begin grasping the crucial insights for daily life that the book of Job can convey to God’s people, and then to be read again one chapter at a time with a Bible in your other hand in order to learn what to look for in Job scene after scene. This book, like the book of Job itself, prompts us to lift our eyes from the world’s suffering and rest them on who God―the God of Jesus Christ―is. It is the finest short work on Job I have seen.”
―Mark Talbot, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wheaton College; author, Suffering and the Christian Life series
About the Author
Christopher Ash is writer in residence at Tyndale House in Cambridge. He previously served as a pastor and church planter and as the director of the Proclamation Trust Cornhill Training Course in London. He and his wife, Carolyn, are members of a church in Cambridge, and they have four children and numerous grandchildren.
Product details
- Publisher : Crossway (April 20, 2021)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 160 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1433570114
- ISBN-13 : 978-1433570117
- Item Weight : 7.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #65,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #27 in Christian Wisdom Literature (Books)
- #42 in Christian Poetry (Books)
- #162 in Christian Pastoral Resources (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Christopher Ash is Writer-in-Residence at Tyndale House in Cambridge. He is a full-time preacher, pastor, teacher, and writer. After working in the telecommunications industry and as a teacher of maths, Christopher studied theology at Oxford, where he was awarded the Denyer and Johnson prize. He was ordained and served as an Assistant Minister in St.Andrew the Great in Cambridge, before leading a church plant to All Saints, Little Shelford, in 1997. In 2004 he and Carolyn moved to London where Christopher served as Director of the Proclamation Trust’s Cornhill Training Course until July 2015.
Christopher’s wife Carolyn served on the Board of London City Mission for sixteen years and previously led the teams that ran three annual Proclamation Trust conferences for wives of pastors. She and Christopher have been entrusted with three sons and a daughter (all now grown up) and ten grandchildren.
Christopher’s major writing project is a four-volume commentary on reading, preaching, and praying the Psalms in Christ, to be published by Crossway in July 2024 ("The Psalms: a Christ-centered Commentary").
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One of the biggest questions I had, as I read Job, is how does it point to Jesus? The events of Job occur at a curious point in the story of Scripture as they fall between Genesis 11 and 12. It is clear from Job 42:2 that even Job’s suffering couldn’t stop God’s plan and we understand from Genesis 3:15 that ultimately, God’s plan was to send Jesus. I found it fascinating to learn that Job served as a foreshadow of Jesus or what theologians commonly refer to as a type of Christ. Regarding this, Ash wrote, “. . . two thousand years ago another blameless believer was with three friends, in the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42). And as he suffered in anticipation of the agony of the cross, he too was deeply alone. ‘Could you not watch one hour?’ (14:37). But they could not. And then on the cross he too was in deep darkness. Deeper than the darkness of night. Deeper even than Job’s darkness. And from his lips came the cry of dereliction, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mark 15:34). And this believer has so plumbed the depths of human sorrow that he alone can walk with human beings in their sorrow,” (pg. 43).
Trusting God in the Darkness helpfully brings to light many of the details of Job’s story that are obvious but often missed. Learning that he was unaware of the conversations between Satan and God and that he never had his questions answered was new to me. It was especially interesting to read about what Job’s friends had right as they counseled him and what they had wrong. As I process through my loss and grief, I’m thankful that Ash highlighted the importance of speaking the truth in love to sufferers and doing so in a manner that is gentle and timely.
The book concluded with Ash encouraging readers to leave their questions at the feet of Jesus. It was helpful for me to learn about a saint who went before me in suffering and who had also experienced what it is like to have questions that went unanswered. My heart was filled with hope as Ash drew many parallels between Job and Jesus that I hadn’t observed before. I quickly devoured Trusting God in the Darkness and was sad when it came to an end. This is an incredibly helpful resource that I look forward to reading again.
I received Trusting God in the Darkness compliments of Crossway in exchange for my honest review.
One of the biggest questions I had, as I read Job, is how does it point to Jesus? The events of Job occur at a curious point in the story of Scripture as they fall between Genesis 11 and 12. It is clear from Job 42:2 that even Job’s suffering couldn’t stop God’s plan and we understand from Genesis 3:15 that ultimately, God’s plan was to send Jesus. I found it fascinating to learn that Job served as a foreshadow of Jesus or what theologians commonly refer to as a type of Christ. Regarding this, Ash wrote, “. . . two thousand years ago another blameless believer was with three friends, in the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42). And as he suffered in anticipation of the agony of the cross, he too was deeply alone. ‘Could you not watch one hour?’ (14:37). But they could not. And then on the cross he too was in deep darkness. Deeper than the darkness of night. Deeper even than Job’s darkness. And from his lips came the cry of dereliction, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mark 15:34). And this believer has so plumbed the depths of human sorrow that he alone can walk with human beings in their sorrow,” (pg. 43).
Trusting God in the Darkness helpfully brings to light many of the details of Job’s story that are obvious but often missed. Learning that he was unaware of the conversations between Satan and God and that he never had his questions answered was new to me. It was especially interesting to read about what Job’s friends had right as they counseled him and what they had wrong. As I process through my loss and grief, I’m thankful that Ash highlighted the importance of speaking the truth in love to sufferers and doing so in a manner that is gentle and timely.
The book concluded with Ash encouraging readers to leave their questions at the feet of Jesus. It was helpful for me to learn about a saint who went before me in suffering and who had also experienced what it is like to have questions that went unanswered. My heart was filled with hope as Ash drew many parallels between Job and Jesus that I hadn’t observed before. I quickly devoured Trusting God in the Darkness and was sad when it came to an end. This is an incredibly helpful resource that I look forward to reading again.
I received Trusting God in the Darkness compliments of Crossway in exchange for my honest review.
A large portion of God's Word addresses evil, suffering, and humanity – in the book of Job.
The author, Christopher Ash, has put forth a helpful resource in understanding Job, his 3 friends and the God who is sovereign and trustworthy.
This resource sheds light on the literary nature of Job as well as the theological nature of the book. Perhaps you've Job multiple times and are familiar with the story, but are you familiar with the one the book is about – God? The overall point of this book is to draw near to the Lord and not from Him. That is an overseen aspect of the book of Job, his drawing near to God, and God being supreme to handle Job's questions...while humbling Job to a place of utmost trust.
At last, that is the title of this book – Trusting God in the Darkness. It is possible to do just that and this resource is a great tool for encouraging those who wrestle with just that.
Thank you to Crossway. I received this ebook for the purpose of an unbiased review.
The problem of evil and suffering is one of the most practical issues confronting all thinking human beings. Many times people blame God for the awful things that occur in the world. The book of Job is one of the many portions of His Word that deal with this difficult question. Yet many believers shy away from this large and difficult book.
Happily, Christopher Ash’s short book unpacks Job in an eminently clear and understandable manner. He spends a good amount of time detailing the errant theology of Job’s three friends, showing that due to their shallow-yet-dogmatic view of the world they drew unwarranted conclusions about the protagonist. He also explains Satan’s role, while defending God’s righteousness and sovereignty. Ash makes the helpful distinction between “armchair theology” and “wheelchair theology”: i.e. one who takes up this subject out of intellectual curiosity regarding hypothetical suffering versus someone who is confronted with actual suffering. There is much difference between the two categories, and Job represents the latter. In the end, this short book presents excellent keys for studying Job in greater detail, as well as devotional insight into the Lord’s ways in permitting and using suffering. I highly recommend this well-written work.
This book moved me closer to God in many ways. My understanding of the purpose of suffering and who God is has deepened. There are not many books like this out there. If you want to grow closer to God and want help in your suffering, get this book. It will help your biblical perspective be clearer.
I did receive this book free of charge from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.