Book Review: You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado

You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado is an in-depth look at the life of Joseph and how much it can teach us about the goodness of God during our most difficult seasons. The subtitle for the book is “Hope and Help For Your Turbulent Times.” In the book, one of the first things that Lucado addresses is that God loves to use the word “through.” He doesn’t promise to lift us out of our mess and provide us with some kind of divine rescue, no matter how we may long for it. No… He promises to get us through. And as Lucado goes on to say, “it won’t be painless…it won’t be quick…but God will use your mess for good.” One of my favorite quotes from the book was the following:

“Let me be clear. You are a version of Joseph in your generation. You represent a challenge to Satan’s plan. You carry something of God within you, something noble and holy, something the world needs – wisdom, kindness, mercy, skill. If Satan can neutralize you, he can mute your influence… what Satan intends for evil, God, the Master Weaver and Master Builder, redeems for good.”

What power. What authority. We play an irreplaceable role in God’s master plan and the enemy is shaken by our calling and purpose.

Lucado goes on to explain the challenge in the world today…

“Forgotten destinies litter the landscape like carcasses. We redefine ourselves according to our catastrophes. I am the divorcee, the addict, the bankrupt business person, the kid with the disability, or the man with the scar. We settle for a small destiny….

Determine not to make this mistake. Think you have lost it all? You haven’t. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty – never canceled, never rescinded (Romans 11:29) Hear and heed yours… I am still God’s child. My life is more than this life. God will make something good out of this. I will work hard, stay faithful, and trust him no matter what.“

As we explore the life of Joseph with Lucado’s guidance, we can see so much evidence of God’s goodness in not just the good seasons, but the difficult ones as well. Additionally, we are given an in-depth look at Joseph’s faithfulness in times where I personally would have been quite challenged. Over and over we see Lucado reinforce the same messages with beautiful and brilliant examples of God’s love… He will use your hard for good. He is with you in the ugly. His silence is not evidence of His absence… you may be in His “waiting room,” but He is still working in the unseen. And if you stay steadfast and faithful during the crisis, He will see you through. What the devil intended to undo within you, He will re-weave to make something beautiful.

I really enjoyed this book and found several insightful takeaways. My personal copy had page after page of highlighted notes where something touched my heart or challenged me to dig deeper. Below is a collection of some of my favorites:

“Place a rock in the ocean and what happens? Its surface gets wet. The exterior may change color, but the interior remains untouched. Yet place a sponge in the ocean, and notice the change. It absorbs the water. The ocean penetrates every pore and alters the essence of the sponge. God surrounds us in the same way the Pacific surrounds an ocean floor pebble. He is everywhere – above, below, on all sides. We choose our response – rock or sponge? Resist or receive? Everything within you says harden the heart. Run from God; resist God; blame God. But be careful. Hard hearts never heal. Spongy ones do. Open every pore of your soul to God’s presence.”

“It is better to shake a fist at God than to turn your back on him.”

“We know what the bottom looks like, and we know who is waiting there – Jesus Christ.” (excerpt from a friend, JJ)

“Revenge builds a lonely house. Space enough for one person. The lives of its tenants are reduced to one goal: make someone miserable. They do. Themselves. No wonder God insists that we ‘keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time.’ (Heb. 12:15) His healing includes a move out of the house of spite, a shift away from the cramped world of grudge and towards spacious ways of grace, away from hardness and toward forgiveness. He moves us forward by healing our past.”

“Anger gives ground to the devil. Bitterness invites him in to occupy a space in your heart, to rent a room. Believe me, he will move in and stink up the place. Gossip, slander, temper – anytime you see these, Satan has claimed a bunk.”

“Forgiveness vacillates like this. It has fits and starts, good days and bad. Anger intermingled with love. Irregular mercy. We make progress only to make a wrong turn. Step forward and fall back. But this is okay. When it comes to forgiveness, all of us are beginners. No one owns a secret formula. As long as you are trying to forgive, you are forgiving. It’s when you no longer try that bitterness sets in.”