And God Was Pleased is a devotional-style book that is designed to expound on biblical "success" principles, with a special emphasis on encouraging the reader to action. Prudently, Semerau begins by defining what she means by success. It is to live a life worthy of God, doing our best to please God in every way (13-15), which she takes from Colossians 1:10-12.
As a minister, I get hit all the time with free books from people about "Christian success" by which they mean, "thinly veiled greed for personal finances, mixed with Bible verses." Semerau's target is much nobler than this, and she does nothing of the sort, which I found refreshing.
I think for the sake of conciseness, I'm going to put my thoughts here as bullet points:
About the book in general:
This book is devotional literature, stylistically. It is best read one chapter at a time, and not quickly from cover to cover.
The book consists of 18 principles which Semerau has derived from Scripture, which she works through one at a time, explaining how she understands the principle, and urging the reader to put it in to practice.
Strengths:
+ Semerau tries to be very biblical. Much of her terminology is lifted from verses that she cites along the way.
+ Each chapter concludes with practical suggestions, pushing the reader to "do what it says." It is important that she tries to make this bridge from the conceptual to the practical.
+ Rather than try and follow a standard set of principles (what preacher can resist making the fruits of the Spirit into a series?), she tries to draw from a vast array of Scriptural principles. Eighteen is a non-standard number for a book pertaining to Christian living. Twelve or Thirteen tends to be the standard for books that get taught in Bible classes. I saw this as a good thing, as she was trying to be thorough and genuine, rather than fitting into the standard mold for contemporary Christian literature. I enjoyed hearing some different ideas grouped together.
+ Semerau often draws from personal experiences to talk about the principles. I especially liked her illustration about training for Godliness, where she talks about her and her husband's golfing (83-84). They would set a bucket a long ways away, and with practice, they would get closer and closer to hitting their target bucket with the golf balls. I thought that was a good illustration about Christian growth and maturity.
Weaknesses:
- The main weakness, in my mind, is the formatting of the book. It is 420 pages, but in content it feels more like 150 to 175. I would have found the reading a little more comfortable if there was less page flipping involved. Then again, I'm writing from the perspective from someone who reads very little devotional material. So perhaps this is a weakness, but perhaps it's just not what I'm used to reading. I do think it uses too much paper. (Note from Ava - Mark was reviewing an ebook version of And God Was Pleased. The paperback version is 317 pages with different formatting.)
- Sometimes the writing style is a bit choppy. There are many one sentence paragraphs. I think generally, the purpose of this is to encourage the reader to slow down more, and soak in the principles. But in several places I felt like the ideas either needed to be combined to one paragraph, or more fully developed. Semerau prefers the direct and clear approach, but sometimes I wouldn't have minded a few more decorations along the path, if that makes sense.
- I would have liked a fuller biography of Semerau. There is a brief paragraph about her as a person, and her travels. Her experiences are sprinkled throughout the book, but I would have liked a preface or an introduction to her as a person. I like to know all about an author before reading what they have to say. I know some about Semerau, but would have liked for the book to tell me more going into it.
Overall, Semerau has written a book that would make a good source of reflection for someone needing an impetus to action in their Christian walk. I appreciated her invitation to read her book, and to share my thoughts about it.
Reviewed by Mark at Perpetual Timothy
Ava Semerau guest blogger at Pearl Girls
Ava Semerau will be guest blogging at Pearl Girls on September 25, 2008.
Founded by Margaret McSweeney, Pearl Girls is a place for women to collaborate and make a difference in the lives of other women and children.
Margaret says, “It all began with the metaphor of the oyster – which was swimming beneath the waves when something unexpected happened. A piece of sand got stuck inside its shell and caused great pain. Nacre soon coated the piece of sand and transformed the unexpected source of pain into a beautiful pearl. Like the oyster, we, too go about our everyday lives when the unexpected happens. Yet God’s grace covers our pain and transforms it into a beautiful pearl.”
In addition to guest blogging, Ava has also contributed to Pearl Girl’s first project, a collection of pearl stories from well known and unknown women about God's grace in their lives. All proceeds will benefit a safe house in the Chicago suburbs and women and children with AIDS in Africa.
Founded by Margaret McSweeney, Pearl Girls is a place for women to collaborate and make a difference in the lives of other women and children.
Margaret says, “It all began with the metaphor of the oyster – which was swimming beneath the waves when something unexpected happened. A piece of sand got stuck inside its shell and caused great pain. Nacre soon coated the piece of sand and transformed the unexpected source of pain into a beautiful pearl. Like the oyster, we, too go about our everyday lives when the unexpected happens. Yet God’s grace covers our pain and transforms it into a beautiful pearl.”
In addition to guest blogging, Ava has also contributed to Pearl Girl’s first project, a collection of pearl stories from well known and unknown women about God's grace in their lives. All proceeds will benefit a safe house in the Chicago suburbs and women and children with AIDS in Africa.
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