“I’ll never forget my poor beleaguered roommate talking with me after he took a risk and told a nice young lady that he liked her. They went on a long walk. He was pretty sure she would reciprocate his declaration of affection. But it turned out she wasn’t interested. She was a sweet girl, a good Christian. She didn’t mean to have bad theology. But instead of just saying ‘I’m not interested’ or ‘I don’t like you’ or ‘Quit stalking me’ or something, she went all spiritual on him. ‘I’ve been praying a lot about you,’ she demurred, ‘and the Holy Spirit told me no.’ ‘No?’ my confused roommate asked. ‘No… never,’ she replied.
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. I didn’t know that was in the Spirit’s job description. But I bet at any Christian school there are scores of men and women blaming God for their breakups.”
– Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something (p. 50)
THE INK SLINGER 
Love this! So true. And then of course there’s the other side of the coin, apparently the Holy Spirit also takes time off to tell people that their crushes are also sent by God or something.
Yeah… don’t even get me started on that… :)
I was always of the belief of the saying … Rejection is God’s protection.
You’ll like this video by Blimey Cow… he says a similar thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-88O5dyU08
(Imma thinkin’ I want to read this book, after I hear your full review.)
A great video, that. I love Bimey Cow. :)
Oh, boy. That is painful to read, my cousin just started dating a guy because she feels that she’s supposed to do it and I quote “I think God want’s me to be a part of his life, maybe to lead him to God.” *sigh* Nope, that’s not how it works people.
Ohh! Had the God Card pulled on him. Sorry dude.
Great selection, the whole book is just excellent. I need to give it another read sometime. *has own copy loaned out*
Hmmmm! Interesting excerpt! I have been the recipient of someone’s errant Holy Spirit-directed romantic crush in the past, so I know that just because a Christian thinks the Spirit has told them something, that does not mean He actually has.
However, though I haven’t read the book, this does make me wonder what DeYoung believes is the limit of what the Holy Spirit speaks to us about. Responses welcome!
One of the chapters is dedicated to that very question, and I think you’ll find that DeYoung is quite balanced on the subject. Definitely give the book a read – you won’t regret it. :)
I have read this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I may have to pull it out and read it again for good measure.