Why Isn't God Nice?

Trusting His Awful Goodness

Author: Kurt Bruner

God is with us, but we often dont see Him at work because we fail to understand who He is or how He works

Longtime pastor and director of Open Doors, Kurt Bruner explores knowing God as He is rather than as we wish Him to be. Doing so requires confronting some unsettling questions. We celebrate a God who is nice--who rescues, rewards, and redeems. But what about when He deserts, disciplines, and damns? Is God schizophrenic, moving in and out of opposing personalities? One minute, gentle shepherd; the next, angry judge? How does that reconcile with the image of God popular in evangelical churches loving, forgiving, and shepherding us?

When we worship only part of God we worship a false God. Below the surface--on the level of reality that goes deeper than sentimental feelings--we know that if God is only love, He isnt enough. He must also be absolutely just, dreadfully mighty, and perfectly holy. He needs to reward what is right. But He also must punish what is wrong. He needs to redeem the lost. But He must also thwart the wicked. Yet we seem to prefer the partial phony to the awful reality.

Why Isn't God Nice? unfolds why a God of love sometimes seems so unloving. And how a person going through hard times can learn to embrace a God who allows such difficult circumstances.

Author:

Kurt Bruner, a graduate of Talbot Seminary, is director of Open Doors International Resource Center and pastor of spiritual formation at the 10,000-member Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, Texas. A former vice president of Focus on the Family, he is author of more than a dozen books. He also serves on the adjunct faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary and is president of HomePointe Inc., a network of churches creating a culture of families around the country.

Add to wish list