Excerpt
We Cannot Control God's Hand
“As powerful as we are, we have no control over God’s hand.” That’s all the sheriff could say to
explain why Stan and Beth Jones and two of their three children died in a freak accident. “As powerful
as we are, we have no control over God’s hand.” Given the circumstances, what else could he say? The
odds against a ten ton, one hundred year old tree suddenly uprooting itself at the precise moment a family
of five drives by in their Lincoln are astronomical. And for the tree to strike neither the hood nor the trunk,
but to land squarely on top of the passenger compartment crushing four of the five people inside, defies imagination,
especially when the car was traveling forty miles an hour. Standing on the scene, watching rescue workers struggle for
over an hour just to move the tree off the car, one could only say, “We have no control over the hand of God.”
As I sit in the quiet of my study, typing out these words two weeks later, my mind still struggles to believe Stan is
gone. Attending the funeral didn’t help. I keep expecting a chime to sound on my computer, and I’ll click the envelope
on the corner of the screen to find some lame joke in my email inbox. Stan was always forwarding some joke or inspirational
thought to me. Half the time I found it a little annoying. I don’t like forwards. At least, I didn’t.
I guess when I go out next week with the surviving members of our group of pastors who eat lunch together on a regular
basis to encourage each other, it will sink in because Stan won’t be there. He was always the steady member of the group.
The highs and lows of life didn’t knock him off balance. Perhaps raising an autistic son kept things in perspective for
him. He and Beth worried about the day they would not be there for their son. But that day will never come. They died
together because they could not control God’s hand.
The question of why they died reverberated through the funeral home last week. Why would God take the life of a
pastor and his wife and their ten year old son and six year old daughter? And why would He leave a four year old
girl to grow up with nothing but fading memories of her family? Thankfully, no one offered any answers. Four caskets
lined up across the front of a room made any answer seem insignificant and thoughtless.
-- Out of the Whirlwind
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A 2004 Gold Medallion Award Finalist!
Should we accept only good things from God...
And never anything bad? Job first asked his wife this question, but all of us must come to grips with it as well. We live in a world filled with suffering and pain. Bad things happen to all people. Out of the Whirlwind doesn't ask why God won't prevent tragedy. Instead it focuses on a much more troubling question, how can I accept difficult days as readily as I embrace good times.
In the Media
Pam Glass of Christian Book Previews sat down with Mark not long ago to discuss Out of the Whirlwind. Click here to read the interview. You can also hear an internet rebroadcast of Mark's February 13 appearance on the national radio program, For Faith and Family. The March 3, 2004 issue of Pastors.com's Minister's Toolbox featured Out of the Whirlwind as its book of the week for the second time. The Toolbox goes out weekly to over 100,000 pastors via email. Pastors.com and the Minister's Toolbox are internet ministries to pastors by Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
What Others are Saying
"Tabb's extraordinary study of God and human suffering deserves to become a classic. . ."; "[His] approach to Job and suffering is unswervingly honest about the personal and theological struggles Christians face in times of great pain and tragedy, yet it remains faithful to the Gospel message. . . Out of the Whirlwind is one of the best books of its kind to be published in many years." CBA Marketplace, November, 2003. Click here to read the full review.
This is by far [Mark's] most insightful work. He tackles the book of Job with depth, clarity and brokenness like no one I've ever read on the subject of trials and suffering. John Yeats, The Baptist Messenger, November 6, 2003
"The best part of the book, however, is Tabb's advice: to trust God even when we can't "figure him out", be honest with him about how you feel, and to try to learn from these experiences as they can develop faith." Katy Gerner, Insights Magazine (an Australian publication), Feb. 9, 2004.
"Tabb's book is remarkable. Like most of us, I avoid thinking much about the message of Job because I fear what it might mean in my own life. As a result I miss out on many of the message that Tabb has successfully woven into this text. I have been taught many good things." T. Davis Bunn, best selling author of Drummer in the Dark and Winner Take All
"Mark Tabb admits that he can relate to a man whose fear of God drives him closer to the one he fears. Maybe this is why I can relate to the God of Mark Tabb. Mark's study of Job reminds me that when I'm in trouble and God doesn't seem to answer, God himself is the answer." Calvin Miller, author of Singer Trilogy and Into the Depths of God
"This book cannot make the bad stuff go away, but it can help us walk forward in grace and strength and conviction that God transforms all of life - even the worst of it - into something glorious." Sue Kline, editor, Discipleship Journal
"Mark reminds us that suffering forces us to cry out, and 'Desperation
has a way of stripping everything down to its essentials, and when lie turns bad
our one essential becomes God.' His excellent questions, candid answers, and
insightful comments makes this a book worth reading."
Cecil Murphey, author of The God Who Pursues: Encountering a Relentless God
and co-author of Gifted Hands
with Ben Carson.
About the Author
For over two years God kept focusing my attention on Job's question to his wife. I found it both fascinating and frightening. I knew I wanted to explore it, but I didn't want to have to come to grips with it myself. In the end God didn't give me a choice. During the first week of 2002 He shoved it in my face. The first chapter tells part, but not all of the story. Suddenly I found myself in the middle of the question. That sounds really spiritual, doesn't it? The truth is I reached a breaking point. Bad things surrounded me. Then Job spoke up again. "Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad," he asked. I love receiving good things from God. Would I love receiving bad as well?
Writing this book was an excruciating experience. Focusing on suffering
always will be. I didn't think I would make it through the first
section. Yet I believe the message of Out of the Whirlwind is one
all of us need to hear. I know I did. 
