A liberating approach to finding God’s Will
or
how to make a decision without dreams, visions, fleeces, impressions, open doors, random Bible verses, casting lots, liver shivers, writing in the sky, etc.
by Kevin DeYoung
128 pages / 2009
What does God want me to do with my life? It’s a great question but not one we should get stuck on. Some folks sit around waiting for a sign from God, instead of using the brains they got from God. DeYoung wants Christians to stop contemplating whether this, that, or that other thing might be what God wants most for our lives, and wants us instead to “just do something.”
Does that sound…flippant? Careless even?
DeYoung’s point is that God’s will for our life isn’t that hard to figure out. We are to:
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’s that simple.
But because we do complicate things, DeYoung spends another 100 pages, explaining why various approaches to fathom God’s will get it wrong, and then he outlines “the way of wisdom”:
- using Scriptures to rule out some options (don’t date pagans) and to establish proper priorities (will this job be near a good church?)
- turning to our parents and other wise counsel for advice
- asking God for wisdom in prayer
- proceeding in confidence that we are honoring God in whatever decision we then make
There is an older book, a classic by Garry Friesen called Decision Making and the Will of God, that covers the same ground, but what takes Friesen almost 500 pages to tackle, DeYoung does in just 128 pages. It is that conciseness that makes this so very valuable: I’ve shared it with both young and old, and gotten rave reviews all around.
So two thumbs up for a very readable, biblical, and helpful book for this most important topic.
A version of this review first appeared in the February 2014 issue. Jon Dykstra also posts reviews at the Dykstra sibling book blog where you can find his brother Jeff’s longer take on “Just Do Something.” R.C. Sproul’s “Can I Know God’s Will” is another concise excellent book on this subject and while I think it not quite as good as DeYoung’s effort, Sproul’s is free as an ebook.
