Book Review: 90 Days of God's Goodness (Alcorn)

There are many books out there that address the problem of evil and seek to answer why difficult things happen.  90 Days of God’s Goodness not only addresses the theological implications spot on but is an amazing tool for a hurting person.  Grief usually lasts much longer than the time allotted to read a book on loss.  Alcorn breaks this book into ninety easy to read segments that allow a person a minimum of three months to process if they read one section a day.  What I like about this book is that it walks along with the reader as they slowly work through the feelings and questions related to the problem of evil.  I found this format encouraging to a hurting soul, allowing the reader time to read, digest, feel, and fight through what is true about God. Alcorn empathizes and allows room to ask questions and feel, but he does not shy away from the truth.   90 Days of God’s Goodness is a patient, but challenging process book, rather than a quick fix book.  As a counselor, I appreciate this perspective, as I believe grief and sanctification are processes.

"Truth matters.  To touch us at the heart level – and to keep touching us over days, months, years, and decades – truth must work its way into our minds.  Never seek comfort by ignoring truth.” (p. 12)

A theme that Alcorn weaves throughout all of his books is the idea of having an eternal perspective on life here on earth.  90 Days of God’s Goodness picks up on this theme, forging a way for the reader to understand (as much as we humanly can) how God sees His big story unfolding on earth and in our lives.  Alcorn continually points back to God’s glory shown through the Gospel as the ultimate backdrop.

“The Cross is God’s answer to the question, ‘Why don’t you do something about evil?’  God did do something…and what he did was so great and unprecedented that it shook the angelic realm’s foundation.  It ripped in half, from the top down, not only the temple curtain but the fabric of the universe itself…Evil and suffering formed the crucible in which God demonstrated his love to humankind.  His love comes to us soaked in divine blood.” (p. 75)

“Whenever you feel tempted to ask God, ‘Why did you do this to me?’ look at the cross and ask, ‘Why did you do that for me?’” (p. 92)

Alcorn also upholds who God is throughout the book and helps the reader wrap his mind around the problem of evil with God’s attributes at the center.  He never minimizes who God is or His attributes to attempt to explain suffering from the human perspective.  Alcorn is able to insert truth appropriately and point the reader to Scripture.  Overall, I would highly recommend this book to someone who is experiencing loss or to someone who wants to help a friend through it.  Alcorn does an amazing job of speaking heartfelt truth in these pages.


(Waterbrook Multomah Publishers/Blogging for Books provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.)