Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will [Paperback]

Kevin DeYoung (Author), Joshua Harris (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: April 1, 2009

Hyper-spiritual approaches to finding God's will don't work. It's time to try something new: Give up.

Pastor and author Kevin DeYoung counsels Christians to settle down, make choices, and do the hard work of seeing those choices through. Too often, he writes, God's people tinker around with churches, jobs, and relationships, worrying that they haven't found God's perfect will for their lives. Or--even worse--they do absolutely nothing, stuck in a frustrated state of paralyzed indecision, waiting...waiting...waiting for clear, direct, unmistakable direction.

But God doesn't need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road. He's already revealed his plan for our lives: to love him with our whole hearts, to obey His Word, and after that, to do what we like.

No need for hocus-pocus. No reason to be directionally challenged. Just do something.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Moody Publishers; New Edition edition (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802458386
• ISBN-13: 978-0802458384
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.4 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (131 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Comparative Religion
  • #63 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Theology

Editorial Reviews

Review

God told me that He wants you to read this book. Actually, that is one of the many mistaken notions about God's will that Kevin DeYoung wants to correct.
-Collin Hansen, Editor at Large, Christianity Today

The truth is that God is more committed to showing you His will that you are to discovering it. This book shows that discovering God's will happens not as we 'let go and let God,' but we we trust God and get going.
-Tullian Tchividjian, Pastor, New City Church

DeYoung explains so well what Oswald Chambers wrote a century ago, 'Trust God and do the next thing.' Sadly, our wrongheaded search for the elusive 'will of God' often prevents us from doing both. This book will help correct that problem.
-Gerald L. Sittser, Professor of Theology, Whitworth University

About the Author

KEVIN DEYOUNG is Senior Pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan, across the street from Michigan State University. A graduate of Hope College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, he serves on the executive team of RCA Integrity, a renewal group within the Reformed Church of America. DeYoung is the author of Just Do Something and Freedom and Boundaries, as well as Why We're Not Emergent and Why We Love the Church with co-authorTed Kluck. Kevin and his wife, Trisha, have four children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Moody Publishers; New Edition edition (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802458386
• ISBN-13: 978-0802458384
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.4 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (131 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Comparative Religion
  • #63 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Theology

More About the Author

I am the Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church (RCA) in East Lansing, Michigan, near the Michigan State University campus. I've been the pastor there since 2004. I was born in Chicagoland, but grew up mostly in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. I root for da Bears, da Bulls, da Blackhawks, the White Sox, and the Spartans.

I am married to Trisha. We live in Lansing and have five young children.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

165 of 167 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy One For Yourself and One to Give Away April 8, 2009

By Tim Challies TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

To be honest, I don't know that we really need another book--yet another book--on guidance and the will of God. Having said that, there is probably no genre of book I recommend more often than this simply because experience shows that many Christians, too many Christians, do not understand how God expects us to know his will and how we may expect him to guide us to those things that please him. We are blessed to have some excellent resources at our disposal. The best known of these is Garry Friesen's Decision Making and the Will of God, a book that many of the others depend on, but one that is perhaps a little intimidating due to its size (528 pages in the most recent edition). Dave Swavely's Decisions, Decisions is the one I recommend most often as it serves as a useful condensed version of Friesen's work. Similar titles have been written by John MacArthur, Bruce Waltke, J.I. Packer, Phillip Jensen and many, many others.

The author who seeks to add something to this genre is entering into a very crowded field and is going to need a unique angle. Kevin DeYoung takes on this challenge and succeeds admirably, crafting a short but powerful book that really packs a punch. His unique angle is reflected in the title: Just Do Something! "My goal," he says, "is not as much to tell you how to hear God's voice in making decisions as it is to hear God telling you to get off the long road to nowhere and finally make a decision, get a job, and perhaps, get married." He fears that many Christians, because of their unbliblical understanding of knowing and doing the will of God, are wasting their lives doing nothing when they should just be doing, well, something!... "I'd like us to consider that maybe we have difficulty discovering Gods wonderful plan for our lives because, if the truth be told, He doesn't really intend to tell us what it is. And maybe we're wrong to expect Him to."

DeYoung's understanding of the will of God and God's guidance is very consistent with Friesen and Swavely and a whole host of others. He distinguishes between God's secret will (or will of decree), God's revealed will (will of desire) and God's will for our lives (will of direction). God's will of decree is his secret will, ordained from all of time--a will that is going to come to pass and that no man can thwart. God's will of desire is his will as revealed in Scripture--a will we sometimes obey and at other times disobey. God's will of direction is the one that answers those questions we have about jobs and spouses and houses and all the rest. Here's the real heart of the matter, according to DeYoung. "Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything? And the answer is no." Though we are free to ask for his direction and though we ought to be devoted to prayer in all matters, God does not burden us with seeking his will of direction ahead of our decisions. "God does have a specific plan for our lives, but it is not one that He expects us to figure out before we make a decision." "Trusting in God's will of decree is good. Following his will of desire is obedient. Waiting for God's will of direction is a mess." The solution is simple: we are to have confidence in God's hidden will, we are to search out and believe and obey God's will, and we are then to use wisdom to make decisions that God will bless. We are to use what Dave Swavely aptly terms "sanctified reasoning." DeYoung leaves the reader to consider this: "If there really is a perfect will of God we are meant to discover, in which we will find tremendous freedom and fulfillment, why does it seem that everyone looking for God's will is in such bondage and confusion?"

Here, then, is how we are to live within God's will: "So go marry someone, provided you're equally yoked and you actually like being with each other. Go get a job, provided it's not wicked. Go live somewhere in something with somebody or nobody. But put aside the passivity and the quest for complete fulfillment and the perfectionism and the preoccupation with the future, and for God's sake start making some decisions in your life. Don't wait for the liver-shiver. If you are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you will be in God's will, so just go out and do something." God's will for your life is really not as complicated as you may be making it out to be.

The book has occasional spots of appropriate levity. Writing about a young man whose affection for a woman was not reciprocated because "the Holy Spirit told me no," DeYoung writes, "Poor guy--he got rejected, not only by this sweet girl, but by the Holy Spirit. The third person of the Trinity took a break from pointing people to Jesus to tell this girl not to date my roommate." Pastoral throughout, DeYoung also covers the kinds of topics that people ask in relation to God's will--issues related to work and wedlock. In a concluding chapter that certainly does not detract from the book even if it does not seem to add a whole lot, he pays tribute to his grandfather who has lived a long and productive life for God's glory without ever concerning himself with discovering God's hidden will.

In a brief Foreword, Joshua Harris says that this is his new go-to book on the subject of God's will and decision making. I am inclined to agree with him, at least for those who are looking for a kind of entry level book. Friesen is still the most thorough and the one who lays the foundation, but this title is certainly much easier to read and much more likely to be read. I am quite convinced that any Christian who reads Just Do Something will benefit from it. I unreservedly recommend that you do just that. Read more ›

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I was suprised and challenged April 18, 2009

By Derrick A. Jeror

Format:Paperback

I purchased this book hoping that I could use it to give to friends who I felt were a little off the deep end. Those friends that want God to write a bulleted list of instructions for them in Alphabet soup before they make any big life decisions. I was in for a surprise. After reading the first few chapters I started to feel convicted myself. I realized that my "far superior" methods of determining the will of God were based just as much off of fairy tails and pixy dust as my friends I considered a little nuts. I was convicted over my lack of desire to grow in Godly wisdom which then guides and directs our decisions. Instead of growing in wisdom I myself have depended on the "open door" "shut door" method of "finding" God's will. God does have a plan for your life, but it's not your job to sneak into his back office and try to find your file that lets you in on all the "secrets". God's not hiding something from you!

This book just joined the list of top 5 favorite books. I am giving the copy I have away and buying a couple more copies. 1 for me and one to loan out to friends.

Oh and kudos to Josh Harris on the forward. He really had me going the first paragraph, I thought he had lost it.

Shout out to all of my Sovereign Grace Ministries peeps!

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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Know if God Wants You to Buy this Book... May 17, 2009

By Michael Leake

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

DeYoung's philosophy is simple, "Live for God. Obey the Scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and you'll be walking in the will of God.

It is sad that DeYoung's approach will come as novel to many readers. But it is not. This approach is certainly as old as Augustine who essentially said, "Love God and do what you want". Much of this book is given to tearing down the "hyper-spiritual approaches" that don't work. DeYoung also offers some instruction as to what to do--but if you are looking for magical answers you will not find it. His advice is simple--just do something.

This book is well written and extremely helpful. If you are the type that is constantly wondering what God's will is, then you need to buy this book. If you work with teenagers or thirty-somethings that are still looking for direction then buy this book. If you have an adult living in your basement that should have a job, be married, and not living in your basement then perhaps you should slip it in front of their Xbox 360 with a note that says, "Read this!!!"

67 of 87 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Liberating, but flawed September 4, 2009

By D. Stringer

Format:Paperback

I read this book recently and found it to be a liberating counterbalance to the hyper-cautious and fearful notion that our day-to-day decisions can screw up God's plan for our lives. Christians need to hear this. At the same time, I noticed a couple flaws with the book:

1. One of Kevin's key points is that moral decisions matter much more than amoral (non-moral) ones. Fair enough, but he tends to downplay the significance of life's biggest amoral decisions such as who to spend your life with and how to serve God through your career/vocation. He almost goes as far as saying that God doesn't particularly care who you marry or what your job is as long as you're living in moral obedience to the Scriptures. In an effort to rouse slothful Christians from their couches (an important goal to be sure), Kevin ends up reducing the will of God to obeying the Bible. In other words, stop worrying about your future spouse, career or ministry calling and work on your personal holiness. This struck me as a false choice while trivializing the sincerity of those who seek God's will in their amoral decisions.

2. Because of Kevin's strict delineation of moral vs. amoral decisions, the role of the Holy Spirit becomes little more than helping us understand and obey the commands of Scripture. As critical as this is, I got the sense that Kevin doesn't put much stock in having a conversational relationship with God in which He actually speaks to us about life's amoral decisions such as one's vocational calling, which school to attend or when to start a family. As I look back on my 29 years, I can see many instances of God's guidance, presence and provision though a variety of "non-moral" decisions that brought me to where I am today. These were not matters of biblical obedience vs.... sin, but God was certainly concerned and involved throughout the process. Read more ›