John Mark Hicks

[My book on the Shack is now available on Kindle.] The first time I encountered the phrase “The Great Sadness” in The Shack it immediately resonated with me.  I knew exactly what my own “Great Sadness” was though I did not as yet know what Mack’s was or what Young’s own personal sadness was. Grief Renders […]

[My book on the Shack is now available on Kindle.] William P. Young’s The Shack became a national bestseller in 2008. It touched the hearts of many and generated hostile theological disagreement from others. I read the book last January.  Moved to tears several times, I was emotionally and intellectually engaged by Young’s storytelling.  This modern parable […]

When I think of the dramatic story of Scripture in terms of divine presence (as I did in my previous post on theological hermeneutics), my mind always turns toward the absence of those whom I have loved and lost. This may seem a strange twist, but it is a natural flow for me because divine presence […]

With this post, I will lay down my keyboard for a few weeks on this topic as I leave Friday or Saturday for a week vacation without electronics.  But I will continue this series again upon my return.  I envision six or seven more articles on “theological hermeneutics” and then a new series on “applied” theological […]

My previous posts in this series have examined the mistakes of Eliphaz and Bildad in their first responses to Job’s laments. Now I turn my attention to Zophar (Job 11) and Job’s reaction to his “comfort” (Job 12-14). Zophar’s Counsel Zophar is seething. He can’t stand it.  Who does Job think he is that he […]

In my first post, I enumerated Eliphaz’s pastoral mistakes (Job 4-5) and Job’s response to his “friend.” In this post Bildad responds to Job’s rejection of Eliphaz’s counsel (Job 8 ) and Job reacts to Bildad (Job 9-10). Bildad’s “Counsel” Whatever God does is just. God destroyed your life. Therefore, you deserved it. With shocking pastoral insensitivity […]

Sometimes life gets to be “too much.”  Given some personal and painful meditations yesterday, some talks with several different people about their hurtful situations…it is too much. Intellectually, I know my losses are fewer than some and greater than others. I know it is all relative.  But my emotional gut–as I get in tune with it more […]

It almost never fails. Every time I raise the question of “Why me?” I hear the kind, mild and well-intentioned rebuke that perhaps I should ask the question “Why not me?” I understand the point–I think. Of course, why should it not be my child that dies? Why should it not be my wife that […]

When a cyclone kills over 130,000 in Myanmar and an earthquake snuffs out the lives of 80,000 more in China, I have little interest in defending or justifying God. When my son (Joshua Mark Hicks) dies of a genetic disorder after watching him slowly degenerate over ten years and I learn of the tragic death of a friend’s son (John Robert […]

The Lord’s Prayer is our pledge of allegiance to God and our assurance of God’s allegiance to us. The prayer is part of my morning, noon and evening meditations.  I also recite the prayer at other times in the day, including thee times while I shower (yes, I do shower).  I have found the prayer […]