BookView Review

Few questions test religious belief as severely as the loss of someone loved. Porter addresses that crisis directly in God Doesn’t Do Evil That Good May Come, writing for Christians who have struggled to reconcile devastating events with their belief in a loving God. Porter refuses the familiar consolation that suffering must somehow be part of a divine plan. Instead, she asks readers to consider what such explanations imply about the character of the God they trust. Her inquiry ranges widely through Scripture, but its strongest current is pastoral rather than academic. Again and again, she returns to the person left behind after death, illness, or catastrophe—the believer searching for meaning while faith itself has begun to feel uncertain.

That concern gives Porter’s writing its emotional immediacy. Personal experiences mingle with biblical investigation, allowing the book to move between testimony, spiritual guidance, and theological argument. Her interpretations occasionally depart sharply from conventional Christian teaching and are likely to encourage reflection and discussion, but Porter remains firmly focused on the restorative message at the heart of her study. Above all, she wants wounded believers to stop seeing God as the hidden hand behind their darkest experiences and instead turn toward Him as a source of comfort, hope, and healing.

An earnest, reassuring reconsideration of suffering for readers whose grief has unsettled their faith.

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