Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will Paperback – March 21, 2014

I bought the book for someone else, hoping they would learn and "just do something." As is often the case, it helped me do something to help, educated and gave me some understanding so I could be more compassionate.

Every young Christian must read this.Very insightful dynamic between the providence of God and the role of initiative from man.Strongly recommended!

As a college student, the pressure can often feel overwhelming, especially when it comes to making decisions about the future. I’ve found myself holding in these feelings instead of confronting them. The most significant pressure for me is deciding what I want to do for the rest of my life—a struggle many of my peers face as well.Reading "Just Do Something" offered a comforting reminder that I’m not alone in this journey. The book emphasizes that, even in moments of uncertainty, God is always present and has a plan for each of us. This perspective has provided me with a sense of relief and encouragement, reminding me that I can navigate these decisions with faith and support. It’s a valuable message that resonates deeply during this pivotal time in my life.

This short, yet tremendously helpful and practical book is about God’s will. It may also be the sanctified kick-in-the-pants some folks need to jolt them out of a fruitless cycle of indecision and hesitancy. How so? Because the reader will learn a biblical approach to discerning God’s will for their life. With said approach what is evident is that there is a bias toward action; as a result (as the title suggests), the reader is compelled to “take some responsibility, make a decision, and just do something.” This advice is given cognizant that many in Christian circles believe that wavering between opinions and wandering through life are marks of spiritual sensitivity. Sadly, meandering cowardice has been spiritualized so that it feels like piety instead of passivity. This is not a biblical approach to Christ-like living as DeYoung makes clear that nowhere in the Bible will you find a command that Christians figure out God’s secret will before doing something. So, on the one hand, we are free to ask God for wisdom. On the other hand, the Lord never burdens us with the task of divining His will of direction ahead of time. This advice is especially helpful for our decisions that have lasting consequences (e.g. work and marriage) as well as all the multitude of non-moral decisions we make in everyday life.Yes, God has a plan for all of His children, but He is not going to tell us that plan before it unfolds. What God does do is give us brains, and a Book full of guidance so that we can take risks for Him. Living God’s will is living a life saturated in wisdom which compels us not to ask to know the future but instead how we are to live right now according to His Word. So, “just do something” means living for God with the confidence that you are walking in the will of God.

There’s a book called Decision Making and the Will of God by Gary Friesen that covers much the same topic as DeYoung’s book but couldn’t be more different. Friesen’s book is more academic in a sense-although not exactly an academic book by most standards. DeYoung, however, has taken a perplexing topic and made it very approachable and down-to-earth. Perhaps it’s so approachable because, if you’re at all familiar with the common view of trying to discern God’s secret will for your life, this approach DeYoung discusses is far more common sense, to say nothing of being more biblical. It is simple in all the right ways.I would gladly hand this book to anyone in my orbit I sense might need it. If you’re looking for a deep-dive on this topic with lots of cites, look elsewhere. (Maybe the Friesen book I mentioned, if it’s still in print.) But if you need something genuinely useful in sorting out how to discern God’s will, grab this book.

So glad I bought this for my 16, nearly 17 year old son who has been struggling with all the choices he has to make when he graduates. Very Biblically sound and he enjoyed the read.

I've been a Christian most of my life and have never really rebelled or anything like that. I've had quite a few times when I was really looking for God's will. Times when I was changing jobs, ministries, considering a major move, etc. I found earlier in my life (I'm in my 40's) that God never really gave me a bright flashing neon sign. In fact, in the last decade my wife and I really felt about a particular decision that God was saying "do what you want to do, because I know you'll be serving Me wherever you are". That was comforting on the one hand, but also not what I wanted. I wanted God to tell me what to do, LOL.This book really lays out a Biblical foundation for making decisions in life and considering what truly is the will of God.

Easy to read with practical ways to obey God. Good instructions for daily living.