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Certainly,
there is a reason for recording this. I know I am not the
only one who wonders about how God works in our lives. Questions
about prayers being answered and about why things are the
way they are instead of the way we would like them to be.
Yet I am told, God knows best. What I am amazed at is my
faith doubt in these situations.
There was a time that I was seeking direction for my life
(for a long time). I knew that my life was for something
particular. I had experienced a small bit of fame, some
money, my idea of self - I had talent that I did not know
what to do with. An ex-girlfriend angrily told me once,
as I was trying to place my faith in God's direction for
my life, that a person has to work toward their success
- God will not just take care of things - that I could not
just sit back and expect him to come through. We were sitting
in her SUV, in the dark, in an alley behind Sherwood Gallery
in Laguna Beach. She was mad at me for relying on God to
take care of my life ( my view of life was a spiritual one)
- I was mad at her for looking at life only through the
material view of things, the 'worldly' view... it was one
of those nights.
Others have been quick to say that "God helps those
that help themselves." I couldn't find that phrase
in the Bible.
But
Is that true? Is that Biblical in concept? It makes sense...
I have also heard to wait on God - that God provides ...
etc.
I found this on the
web recently and have added this to this journal entry:
I found it on line at the North Heartland Community Church
web site:
http://www.northheartland.org/1998/020898m.htm
- I borrowed this text
from one of their sermons to share and so that I could refer
back to it in times of doubt.
After
an illustrational intro about the Titanic, the text picks
up here:
"But
the general spirit of self-reliance remains, especially
among Americans. Rugged individualism has marked our spirit
since our founding days. We're descended from pioneers.
We're a nation of do-it-yourselfers.
Maybe
that explains why, in a nationwide poll conducted by Barna
Research Institute, 82% of Americans said they believed
that the phrase "God helps those who help themselves"
is a direct quote from the Bible.(2)
It's
not.
Actually,
the saying comes from Aesop's Fables. The story goes like
this: "A Wagoner was once driving a heavy load along
a very muddy way. He came to a part of the road where the
wheels sank half-way into the mire, and the more the horses
pulled, the deeper sank the wheels. So the Wagoner threw
down his whip, and knelt down and prayed to Hercules the
Strong. 'O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress."
But Hercules appeared to him, and said: 'Man, don't sprawl
there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods
help them that help themselves.'"(3)
Now,
there is an element of truth in that. You can't just sit
around and expect God to miraculously do everything for
you. That's what the Apostle Paul once wrote to a group
of people with a lay-back-and-let-God-do-it-all attitude.
It's in the outline:
"He
who does not work shall not eat." Yet we hear that
some of you are living in laziness, refusing to work, and
wasting your time in gossiping. In the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ we appeal to such people--we command them--to
quiet down, get to work, and earn their own living. 2 Thessalonians
3:10-12TLB
In
other words, "Put your shoulder to the wheel. God isn't
pleased with laziness." In that sense, Paul is saying,
"God helps those who help themselves."
But
that's different from what most of us mean by that phrase.
What we mean by "God helps those who help themselves"
is that we believe that God expects us to be self-reliant:
do your best to build an "unsinkable ship" so
to speak, set a course, go full-steam ahead and if you happen
to hit an iceberg along the way, call on the Big Guy for
a little help. He'll patch up the leaks, slap you on the
back and off you go again."
Let
me ask you: Is that how you live your life? Lots of people
do. More importantly, is that what you believe God really
wants you to do?
If
you answered yes to either of those questions, then you
need to know something. God says again and again in the
Bible that He's not interested in helping those who are
self-reliant. He's not interested in plugging the holes
in your ship and sending you back out to sail your own course.
Do
you know who God really wants to help? Bottom line - it's
the people who rely on Him instead of themselves. I could
quote verse after verse on this. It works that way in our
salvation in the circumstances of every day life. In fact,
when I first started preparing this message I came up with
so many verses to that effect that I didn't know where to
start.
Let
me just give you one, and it's not in the outline, but up
on the screen:
He [God] gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength
to the weak. Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the
young men will all give up. But they that wait upon the
Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with
wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they
shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31TLB
It's
the ones who wait on the Lord, who trust in His power -
they're the ones who receive God's help.
In
fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that the main lesson
that God wants all of us to learn is to rely on His power
instead of our own. And that's a hard lesson to learn. I
struggle with it everyday. It's so easy to convince myself
that "It's all up to me - family, church, personal
life. Everything rises and falls on my ability to get it
done."
When
I get into that kind of mode, do you know what God does?
He says,"Go right ahead. Sail your own Titanic and
see how far it gets you."
God
doesn't help those who help themselves. He helps those who
depend on Him.
Receiving
God's Help
Which raises a good question: What exactly does it mean
to "depend on God?" If we have to do that in order
to receive His help in our lives, it might be a good idea
to understand exactly what we're talking about.
So,
I'm going to spend the balance of this message describing
what depending on God looks like in real life.
To
do that, I want to walk through an amazing incident from
the Old Testament that illustrates it. It was a real struggle
to pick this story, because as I said earlier, there are
so many stories and passages to choose from.
But
I like this one because it's a good story and easy to understand.
And it will give you some practical guidelines of how to
depend on God in your own life.
The
setting is the Kingdom of Judah, which was the southern
half of the Promised Land that God gave to the descendants
of Abraham. Hundreds of years have passed since then. A
king named Jehosaphat sits on the throne. All of his life,
this guy has depended on God.
One
day he gets this message: "a vast army is marching
against you from beyond the Dead Sea from Syria. It is already
at [the southern border]."
The
Bible says that Jehoshaphat was badly shaken by this news.
He announced that all the people of Judah should fast and
pray to God. And people from all across the nation came
to Jerusalem to pray with him.(4)
As
they gathered in the court outside the Temple Jehoshaphat
stood up and prayed this prayer:
"O Lord God of our fathers--the only God in all the
heavens, the Ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth--you
are so powerful, so mighty. Who can stand against you? O
our God, didn't you drive out the heathen who lived in this
land when your people arrived? And didn't you give this
land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham?
Your people settled here and built this Temple for you,
truly believing that in a time like this--whenever we are
faced with any calamity such as war, disease, or famine--we
can stand here before this Temple and before you--for you
are here in this Temple--and cry out to you to save us;
and that you will hear us and rescue us. 2 Chronicles 20:6-9TLB
Would
you say that Jehosaphat had a pretty good view of the big
picture? He understood that an enemy army was about to invade
his territory, but also knew that God had given him that
territory and that God was strong enough to protect that
territory. "Who can stand against you?"he prayed.
Depending
on God means that we recognize God's power.
Pope John XXIII (the 23rd) once said that sometimes he was
tempted to live as though the fate of the world rested on
him. He was helped, he said, by an angel who would sometimes
appear by the side of his bed and say, "Hey there,
Johnny boy, don't take yourself so seriously."(5)
That's
good advice that I need to hear pretty regularly. And I'm
sure a lot of you do, too. Recognizing God's power means
that we take Him more seriously than we do ourselves.
A
simple illustration of that: we get up in the morning and
immediately we think of all the things we've got to do and
we start to worry "how are we going to get it all done"
... and we completely overlook the fact that we got up this
morning.
But
it was God's power working in our lives that let us do so.
If
we're going to receive God's help we've got to take our
eyes off of what we can and can't do and focus them on what
He can do and is doing.
Let's
continue with Jehosaphat's prayer ...
"And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount
Seir are doing... they have come to throw us out of your
land which you have given us. O our God, won't you stop
them? We have no way to protect ourselves against this mighty
army. We don't know what to do, but we are looking to you."
2 Chronicles 20:10,12TLB
Depending
on God means that you ask for God's help.
That sounds pretty obvious. But think about it - when you
come up against a difficult situation, what's the first
thought that goes through your head? If you're like me,
it's usually "what am I going to do?"
That's
a self-reliant thought. A God-dependent thought would be
"hey God, what do you want to do?"
You
know that you are depending on God that thought comes first.
Jehosaphat
didn't say: "Oh, no, I'm the king! It's all up to me!
What am I going to do?!" The first thing he did was
to say, "let's ask God."
And
when you ask God, be ready for an answer. The Bible says
that ...
As the people from every part of Judah stood before the
Lord with their little ones, wives, and children, the Spirit
of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there ...
"Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem,
and you, O king Jehoshaphat!" he exclaimed. "The
Lord says, 'Don't be afraid! Don't be paralyzed by this
mighty army! For the battle is not yours, but God's! Tomorrow,
go down and attack them! ... But you will not need to fight!
Take your places; stand quietly and see the incredible rescue
operation God will perform for you! Don't be afraid or discouraged!
Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!'"
2 Chronicles 20:13-17TLB
Depending
on God means that you listen for His guidance.
(We talked about how to do that last week - pick up a tape
if you weren't here).
You
recognize His power, you ask for His help and then you wait
until He answers you.
This
is where it gets hard - waiting for an answer from God.
The tendency is to say, "OK, I've asked God to help,
now I'm going to get out there and fight" which usually
means, "I'll pray and then I'll manipulate the situation."
Sometimes
God may actually tell you to do that. But many times God's
guidance is "you will not need to fight. Just wait."
That's not the same thing as the laziness that I talked
about earlier.
Let
me give you an example. Next year, my wife will be teaching
at one of three middle schools in our district. She doesn't
know which one, yet. In fact, none of the teachers do. Everything
is up in the air.
They
were all asked to submit their preferences - with no guarantees.
Jetta thought through what she would like for next year,
filled out her form, prayed that God would take charge of
what happened and turned it in.
Now,
there's a part of her that wants to fight to get what she
wants. But that part has been overruled by the part that
wants God's help in the situation. And so she's going to
wait because she believes that God is powerful enough to
guide her through the decision of the powers that be.
It
doesn't always work that way. Sometimes God's guidance comes
in other ways. But the point is that depending on God means
that you wait for His guidance before you act.
After
Jehosaphat received his guidance from the Lord, the Bible
says that ...
... he fell to the ground with his face to the earth, and
all the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem did
the same, worshiping the Lord. Then the Levites of the Kohath
clan and the Korah clan stood to praise the Lord God of
Israel with songs of praise that rang out strong and clear.
2 Chronicles 20:18-19TLB
He
was so moved that God had answered that he was literally
awestruck. How great was this God who would come to help!
When
you depend on God there are times that you just humble yourself
and worship in God's presence. There are a lot of Sunday
mornings when I stand down here and sing and I look back
at all of you gathered here and I want to fall flat on my
face before God and say to Him, "You are so awesome.
I have not done this. You have."
Sometimes
I walk through my house at night and look at my family sleeping
and say, "The love we share in this home isn't something
I've done. You've done it."
When
you're amazed at what God has done in your family, in your
marriage, in your church, in your life, it's a pretty good
indication that you're depending on Him.
After
Jehosaphat and the people worshiped, the Bible says that
Early the next morning the army of Judah went out ... On
the way Jehoshaphat stopped and called them to attention.
"Listen to me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem,"
he said. "Believe in the Lord your God and you shall
have success! Believe his prophets and everything will be
all right!" After consultation with the leaders of
the people, he determined that there should be a choir leading
the march, clothed in sanctified garments and singing the
song "His Loving-kindness Is Forever" as they
walked along praising and thanking the Lord! 2 Chronicles
20:20-21TLB
"Believe
in the Lord your God." What was he saying? He was saying,
"We recognize God's power and He's for us. We've asked
Him to help. He's given us guidance. We humbled ourselves
and worshiped Him."
Now
it's time for us to trust in God's plan. He's set the stage
for us. All we've got to do is what He told us to do ..."
... which, in their case, was to go to the battlefield and
simply watch what God was going to do.
Except
that it wasn't that simple. It was pretty risky. It required
them to walk into an arena of deadly conflict completely
vulnerable. If God didn't come through, they were dead.
Literally."
That's
what it means to depend on God.
Now,
you and I will probably never be told by God to do something
that risky or dramatic. But you and I are told by God to
do some risky things if we want his help.
For
example, one of the things that God says in the Bible is
that human beings need a day of rest. A day where you don't
worry about you job. A day where you don't go into the office.
And God says, very clearly, that we need that day once a
week. And furthermore, God promises that if we take that
day, we can count on his help in the other six.(6)
For
some of us that is really risky.
Here's
another one. God tells us to trust Him financially by giving
Him 10% of our income so that His gospel can be spread throughout
the earth. And again, he promises us that if we do that,
we can count on his help that will make the other 90% enough.
Pretty
risky, don't you think?
Those
are just two examples that apply to every one of us. And
there are areas of your life and mine where God is saying
to us in a very specific way "trust my plan and I'll
help you."
The
Bible says that
The
eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen
those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chronicles
16:9NIV
That's
the issue. Everyone of us has to make a commitment to our
way or a commitment to His way. You can recognize God's
power, ask for his help, listen for his guidance, humble
yourself and worship, but in the end you've still got to
do what he says.
Anything
less is self-reliance. And we've already said that God is
not interested helping self-reliant people.
Fortunately,
for Jehosaphat and company, they did the risky thing - marched
right out on the battlefield, not with swords, but with
songs. The Bible says that ...
...
at the moment they began to sing and to praise, the Lord
caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to begin
fighting among themselves, and they destroyed each other!
So, when the army of Judah arrived at the watchtower that
looks out over the wilderness, as far as they could look
there were dead bodies lying on the ground--not a single
one of the enemy had escaped. 2 Chronicles 20:22-24TLB
That's
hard to believe, isn't it?
That's
why it's so hard for us to receive God's help.
The
Bible says that for three days the people of Judah gathered
up the spoils of the battle. Then ...
On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing
... and how they praised the Lord! Then they returned to
Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, full of joy that
the Lord had given them this marvelous rescue from their
enemies. They marched into Jerusalem accompanied by a band
of harps, lyres, and trumpets and proceeded to the Temple.
2 Chronicles 20:26-28TLB
Why?
Because people who depend on God give God the glory.
It was pretty obvious to Jehosaphat and his army that they
didn't do anything. God did it.
When
you do your business in a way that leaves enough time for
family and for God ... and you still prosper, it's pretty
obvious that God's doing something. When you live on 90%
of your income and you still have more than enough to eat,
it's obvious that God is doing it.
And
giving God the glory means that you just say so - to Him
and to everybody else.
Recently,
I was asked to write an article for a ministerial magazine
about my experience in starting this church. At one point
I wrote: "I'm continually amazed at what's happening
through our ministry. We sense that we are impacting eternity.
People who were far from God are coming to Christ. Christians
are growing. People are serving. Some of them are even tithing.
We see spiritual victories almost every day. And I'm at
a loss to explain any of it except to say 'God did it and
continues to do it.'"
Give
God the glory.
Conclusion
I'm not trying to give you a magic formula. I'm not saying,
"check off everything on this list and God will do
exactly what you tell Him."
What
I'm saying is that those who God seems to help are people
who recognize His power, ask for His help, listen for His
guidance, humble themselves and worship in His presence,
trust in His plan, and give Him the glory.
Are those qualities present and growing in your life?
God
doesn't help those who help themselves. He helps those who
depend on Him.
ENDNOTES
1.
This introduction was inspired by Bob Garner's article,
Titanic, Focus on the Family Magazine, April 1997.
2.
George Barna (What Effective Churches Have Learned Seminar
at Capital Christian Center, 1996)
3.
Dave Redick, The Benefits of Being Christians, A sermon
series from Romans 8, Part 5: "God For Us" (found
on the Internet)
4.
2 Chronicles 20:1-5
5.
John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted, pg 115
6. Isaiah 58:13-14
© North
Heartland Community Church
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