The Shack

I’ve just finished reading The Shack. I really liked it. Really liked it. I know that many thoughtful Christians, some whom I greatly respect, despise the book. That saddens me, but it doesn’t change my opinion – of them or the book. But it does push me to pose the question, ‘Why?’ Why do I like the book?

I think that I like the book for two reasons. First, the main character, Mack, is like so many people today. His life is hard. He is struggling. It’s not just about what happened to his daughter. So much of what he has experienced throughout his years has been hard. He’s not doing well – able to function but not thriving. There are just a lot of people like that. They’re just not thriving. What adds to the difficulty is that there isn’t much hope. People go from day to day not expecting much more than brief reprieves (distractions?) from the weariness. Some are more aware of this and others less so, but we all feel it. Something just isn’t right. And Christians aren’t excluded. Mack is a Christian, but it’s not really working. His greatest troubles have not been touched by his religion. And my sense is that this is also true for way too many Christians today. So, Mack worked for me. In this sense, the novel is true to life.

The other reason that I like the book is that its portrayal of God is so inviting. I know that this is where so many have a hard time with the book. And yet, I don’t. The author knows that the Father is not an African-American woman, nor is the Spirit an Asian woman. He even explains this within the story. God interacts with Mack using these personalities for Mack’s sake – something very much in keeping with how God cares for us and accommodates Himself to us. And the interaction between God and Mack is so warm. Now, there is lots of theologizing going on. After all, this is a book about how a Christian deals with evil. But it’s nothing like reading some systematic theology text. It’s not supposed to be. It’s a story, a parable. The book pictures how our God draws near to us as a real Person and in ways that are so helpful. And He does that so that we can enjoy Him and be changed by Him.

So, I think that some of what is going on is tied up in the question, ‘What is God like as He reaches out to us?’ Key to me is the thought that He reaches out differently to different people. His expression of Himself to a Medieval Christian will be different from how He relates to a modern Chinese Christian. And that will be different from how He speaks to an older American Christian. Our experiences and the perceptions we have of our lives are all different. So, what we need from God is also different. And so, He expresses to us different aspects of who He is – according to what we need. Elijah expected God to act dramatically after the contest on Mt. Carmel. He expected God to explode on to the scene and change everything. He didn’t. Elijah, confused and dejected, fell into despair. So, God reached out to him, revealing some new aspect of His nature to Elijah, the aspect that he needed to see more clearly. So, He did not come to him as a strong wind, nor as an earthquake, nor as a fire. This is what Elijah expected of God – and He can be like that and has been. But what Elijah needed was to see God as ‘the sound of a low whisper’. At one point, Mack needed the comfort of a mother. At another point he needed the strength of a father. God gave him both – each at the right time. That is how He reaches out to us.

For all of my emotional reserve and melancholy, I am a romantic. I like stories that have happy endings. It’s a treat for me to watch people falling in love. True peace, ‘shalom’, within a group thrills me. So, the thought of a warm and inviting God, a God who knows what I need and gently cares for me with that in mind – images of that kind of God touch something deep within me. I’m sure that this is because I carry my share of hurts and sorrows and longings. To think that one day these will all be gone, replaced with deep satisfaction and happiness, is sometimes more than I can take in. And that’s what I saw in The Shack.