This book crossed my path several times recently, so I decided I needed to check it out. Hope in the Dark by Craig Groeschel is a book aimed at people who are in need of answers. Craig is a pastor of a charismatic megachurch Life.Church, which is a multi-site church with locations in ten states. Hope in the Dark is his newest book and is true to its title. Groeschel attempts to answer what to do in the dark times of life. Also, full disclosure, I listened to this on @audible!
While I definitely would not subscribe to some of the aspects of Groeschel’s theology, Hope in the Dark was a solid read. One of the ideas that he often mentioned is that we need to be willing to be honest with God about how we are feeling. When we are down and confused, we should confess that to God. God is able to handle our dissatisfaction. This is a really important idea, because this is where our spiritual growth comes from. When we hide from what we truly believe and life eventually gets better, our relationship with God will be in the same place the next time our lives are turned upside down. Plus, a relationship with Jesus is built on hearing from Him through His word and expressing ourselves to Him in prayer.
For a pastor of a megachurch, Groeschel definitely did not preach a prosperity gospel. However, one thing I noticed that he did not mention was the sinfulness of man. I have thought about whether he is being soft on truth in this area. However, considering the book is for people who are in dark times, it probably isn’t the best time to tell them about how evil their hearts are, true or not. Whether or not I agree with his choice, I think it’s reasonable.
Lastly, he has some generally good ideas at the end for dealing with despair and growing your relationship with God in the process. As I mentioned previously, he is charismatic, so some are going to dig it, others won’t.
Hope in the Dark gets a 2.5 / 5 for me. It is a short and easy read or listen, but honestly if you happened to not get to it, you won’t be missing out on a whole lot.