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The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken

I finished The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken recently. My mother told me to read this book as I was dealing with my own frustrations in ministry (thank you mom for telling me to read this book). Let me highly recommend this book for everyone to pick up and read. This book will have parts that are very difficult to read, but The Insanity of God will help you realize what some of our brothers and sisters in Christ are going through in parts of the world that are hostile toward Christianity. The stories will break your heart, and make you cry. However, I pray you will be comforted that God is still working things out for his glory today. You may even have to put it down between chapters in order to think through the stories of persecuted Christians that are being explained. In fact, I put down this book at one point and went to the grocery store (I knew Katie and the kids were there) to give all of them a hug.

However, true followers of Christ know that suffering for righteousness' sake brings rejoicing and gladness because our reward is in heaven (Matthew 5:10-11). This book will let you see what real faith looks like in the face of adversity. When I completed this book, I sent a text to my mom and wrote, "Oh Me of little faith." Would I have faith like our brothers and sisters in Christ dealing with some of the situations they deal with on a daily basis? I have never suffered in the same manner that other brothers and sisters across this globe have, but their faith remains not only strong but exponentially growing. May this book cause us as Christians in the land of the free to drop to our knees and pray for those being persecuted daily.

I was feeling sorry for myself because ministry was not looking the way that I thought it would look. After reading the book, I realized the way my ministry looks is exactly how God wants my ministry to look. I began to realize, "Lord, who am I to question what you are doing just because I can't see it?" The stories of these brothers and sisters in Christ really exposed my lack of faith in what God is doing for his glory. Things that you and I cannot or maybe will not ever see does not matter because the Holy Spirit is still alive and working in this fallen world (even right now).

Will you take the challenge to read a book that could potentially resurrect your faith like the title says? I am convinced that the Holy Spirit remains active and alive in today's society. God is doing things that we may not be able to see, but God works all things out in his own timing for his own glory. May we be reminded of Psalm 37:7a which reads, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him." Read about what God is doing in hostile areas of the world in The Insanity of God.
  
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