Reaching for the Invisible God: What Can We Expect to Find?

by Philip Yancey

Book Overview

Why does God feel so distant so often, and how do I bridge the gap?

Does your hunger for God often seem more frustrating than satisfying?Have you sensed a disturbing disparity between God's promises and life's realities?Have you seen God's promises work, but you've stumbled and want to believe again?

Award-winning author Philip Yancey articulates the fundamental questions that confront us all: "How do I relate to a...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0310247306
• ISBN13: 9780310247302
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly Challenging

I would like to use this forum to personally thank Yancey for another great and challenging book that left me asking more questions when I was done reading it than when I started. Bravo, Phillip! Christian authors continually bombard us with ways to live a better life, three easy steps, or prayers, and here is Phillip Yancey telling us that the stages of development in a life as a follower of Christ get more difficult as you mature to the point where God will leave you on your own to help your faith grow. I read this book during a time of immense personal trial. This book taught me to have ambidextrous faith, able to take the good with the bad, equally. I cannot say that I have mastered this concept, or if I ever will, but thanks again to the author for challenging me to do so.Yancey never gives "easy answers." That is why he is so good. In an era where postmoderns are not satisfied with "easy answers," Yancey is forcing anyone who reads his books, if they are honest, to ask tough questions and journey towards an answer, rarely do you see authors do this with as much skill as Yancey.I look forward to the next book by Yancey, it is always a good and challenging read for anyone.

Addressing the Real Issues of the Christian Life

I am not surprised that some find this book hard to accept. Many writers seem to think it necessary to market Christ. Yancey tells it like it is - the every day struggles to follow Christ in a world where things don't work out the way we expect. So many Christians do well when life is smooth, health is good, and the economy is booming. The reality is that jobs are lost, health fails, kids rebel, friends and loved ones die. Yancey is not afraid to face the real issues and ask the tough questions. I have been blessed by several of his books - The Jesus I Never Knew, What's so Amazing About Grace, but this book really challenged me. If you don't want to face reality, skip this one, but if you want to really live for God in the real world, get it and be prepared to spend some time on your knees with God. It will force you to dig the foundations of your faith deeper and allow you to weather the storm that is coming in your life. I seldom have time to read a book more than once, but I read this one a second time and it was even better the second time around.

Maybe Yancey's Best Yet

Rarely do I reread a book--there are just too many good books yet to read--but I am on my second reading of Reaching for the Invisible God. This is a tremendous book and Philip Yancey at what may well be his thought-provoking best. Not only did it encourage me, but it simultaneously challenged me in a very profound manner. I am planning to give this book as gifts to friends who are agnostics or seekers as I believe it presents a very real view of the hopes and fears of those who pursue a relationship with God, and an intelligent response to many common questions about the Christian faith. This isn't supposed to be a "scholarly work" in the sense of the one critical review found elsewhere here, but it is intelligent and well-written.

What It Means To Know God

"How do I relate to a God who is invisible when I'm never quite sure he's there," Philip Yancey asks.One of my favorite things about this man is that he shows no fear in asking the tough questions that many in Christian circles would prefer to pretend were non-existant. The enigma of how physical beings can know a spiritual God is one that has plagued humankind since the fall of Adam. In life's most difficult moments God more often than not still remains silent and apart. Why does this happen? Is this normal, and does the fact that I feel so distant mean that there's something missing in my relationship with Him? These are some of the hard questions that Yancey tackles in REACHING FOR THE INVISIBLE GOD. Some of the material here was reminiscent of DISAPPOINTMENT WITH GOD, since both deal with faith in the midst of hardship. But here Yancey elaborates and breaks new ground, emphasizing the journey and nature of a maturing faith in God.Perhaps the most helpful thing for me about this book was how he dealt with that questions of "feeling" and intimacy, on a personal level. Most Christians usually have at least one "mountain top" experience in their life where they feel a deep sense of God and His love. But those feelings always fade and eventually the mountain top gives way to hills and valleys. Yet for some reason we tend believe that a person who is walking closely with God will also FEEL close to Him. And when we lose that feeling and live without it for some time questions can arise; especially in times of crisis. Yancey carefully peels back those misconceptions and replaces them with a realistic picture of what it truely means to know and walk with our unseen God. His words shatter the myth of feelings and I found an incredible sense of renewal and freedom, knowing that what I was feeling, or not feeling, was in no way abnormal or wrong. In a modern culture of Christianity that too often emphasizes emotions, here is a book that will tear away the false conceptions and breathe life back into those who may be disillusioned. Here you will find insight and answers about the nature of God, man, and what true faith on our part consists of. While WHAT'S SO AMAZING ABOUT GRACE continues to be Yancey's high water mark, REACHING FOR THE INVISIBLE GOD is a powerful work that once again showcase's his incredible ability to summarize and present the profound in ways that anyone can understand and absorb. Five Stars.

A honest book

This is a honest book of a honest pilgrim in this world. A lot of christian books seems to create a fantacy world for christians. This book picture a real christian life in a real world. It does not make God a lesser God but a real God. A God that never let us down, but also a God that does not deliver us from all kind of pain when we live here in this world. A God that does not play along with western cultures easy life thinking, bot a God that lead us through real life such as most of us experience it.