Review: Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will

Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will by Kevin DeYoung
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am reminded of my shallowness of having a laugh at (at the expense of) many wonderful single ladies who seem to have the gift of celibacy. They are mighty in ministry and have a great sphere of influence, some of them with a Masters or PhD in theology or ministry. Some have gone out to the mission field for years and have come back in middle age, and sometimes when you know these lovely ladies personally, it makes me wonder whether they have ever thought of getting married. Yes I know what Paul says that singlehood is preferable and I understand why he puts forth that suggestion in the perilous time of the early church's persecution. However, I scratch my head and ponder why some of these middle aged ladies share that they had simply been too choosy and perhaps had waited too long.

But onto my own life, when I finish my degree, it is so scary to think of what will happen next. Do I pursue a Masters or PhD? And if so, in the UK or US or somewhere else? Or I first get some ministry experience by going into full time ministry? and if so, for how long? Where should I go into ministry, in a church, or parachurch or perhaps even take on a full time job and hold a lay-leadership position? Is it God's will for me to marry the girl I am dating now, or if there is difficult times prior to engagement and marriage, could it be that she is not the one for me?

These are serious questions. And many of them will impact who I am and who I will be as a person in future. I picked up DeYoung's book after thoroughly enjoy his book on "Crazy Busy." As a slowly reforming thinker away from postmodernism, I connected with his authenticity and passion for God. The first few chapter were like... nothing special... but as i continued to flip the pages, the content spoke increasingly to me. Ever read a book that had an amazing first few chapters only to water off into extreme boring-ness? This book is far from it. The closing chapter on grandpa DeYoung struck me right in the heart. I was saddened by the many years of wanting my will to be done, and for God to show me supernatural signs to convince me to do otherwise.

I had done an extensive intertextual study on asking God for signs (especially before making a decision on matters large or small), as part of a two part youth cell group study. As a pentecostal, I have had various experiences of supernatural encounters in the spiritual realm. Yet the reformed theologian resonate with DeYoung's approach because I am convinced that signs were more often than not, initiated by God, and not by man.

Just today in bible school we were joking that the more power encounters a person has, the less "holy" he should be regarded to be. Because the more "holy" ones should be the ones who did not need a supernatural encounter with the Lord before daring to make a decision. But in all seriousness, I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book.

And if you are interested to know which part of Scripture I had done in the study here are the verses: Gen. 9:8-17, Exod. 7:1-5, Num. 14:1-12, Isa. 20:1-6, Ezek. 4, 12, 24, Luke 2:8-15, 25-35, 1 Cor. 1:18-22, Mk. 8:11-13, Mt. 11:2–6 (par. Lk. 7:18–23), Mt. 12:28 (par. Lk. 11:20), Mt. 12:38–42 (par. Lk. 11:29–32), John 2:18-22. Do comment if you notice that I had missed an important passage on this topic so that i can add it into the study when I conduct it in future!

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