By Ravi Zacharias
Word Publishing
Nashville Tennessee
1998
Reviewed by John M. Fowler, Associate Director, General Conference Education
Ravi Zacharias writes with philosophic passion. He owes his philosophy to his roots and his passion to his confrontation with Christ. Born and brought up in India, he is no stranger to the riddles of life or to the strange route philosophy takes in interpreting those riddles. But when he chose to study theology in Canada and prepare for the ministry, he had a strange meeting with his Lord. And ever since he has been speaking and writing on what life is all about—outside of Christ and within Christ.
The contrast comes through clear in this work. He lets history, his own personal experience, and his public ministry inform him of the various cries of the human heart: the cry to know God, to feel the pangs of faith, to understand suffering, to interpret guilt, to excel in freedom, to suffer in silence. Each of these cries is illuminated by stories—real stories involving real people, such as Lewis, Eichmann, Freud, Muggeridge, Wesley, Luther and many more. No pastor can miss the thrill these stories can bring to his or her congregation.
But the author does not stop just with an exposition of the cry. He offers a solution, not from his philosophic cup or theological jar, but from God’s Word. The message is clear: the cry is for the moment, the joy is forever. In Jesus. So the last chapter of the book turns to God’s cry for His people. From the first chapter’s quest, Where is God? to the last chapter’s answer God is Always There for His People, the book completes the circle.
In so defining life, with all its majesty and mystery, with its pain and joy, Zacharias challenges the Christian to seek, find, and hold on to God—in whom alone we can live, move and have our being. Contentment, courage, and confidence ring through the book, and each of the seven chapters is a mighty sermon that shouts hallelujah even as it celebrates the unlovable and the mysterious in life.
