"GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES"

by Garry D. Pifer

How many times have we heard the familiar passage “God helps those who help themselves?”  We hear it quite frequently, don’t we?  In order to fully understand that passage let us turn to it.  You all know where it is located don’t you?  Maybe it is in the book of Hezekiah or possibly Phillips 66:1.  No, that’s not right.  Look as we may we won’t find that passage in the Bible.  Although often quoted and stated this phrase doesn’t come from the Bible nor is it even Biblical in origin. 

In fact this quotation has come down to us from GREEK MYTHOLOGY!  Specifically it comes to us from one of Aesop’s fables, of the 6th century B.C. Let’s read this fable entitled “Hercules and the Waggoner.”  “A Waggoner was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy way.  At last 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 Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt down and prayed to Hercules the Strong. 

‘O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress,’ quoth he.  But Hercules appeared to him, and said: ‘Tut, man, don’t sprawl there.  Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel.’

The saying “the gods help those that help themselves” evolved to “God helps those who help themselves” as the phrase was repeated and passed on from culture to culture throughout the centuries.  And, Christians, as well as others, often quote this phrase thinking it is Biblically based, without realizing that it actually originated from pagan mythology.

But, you may say, isn’t it still true?  Doesn’t God expect us to work as hard if we were doing it all and yet expect Him to work things out for us?  That is what most of us have been taught BUT that isn’t the teaching from Scripture.

Psalms 25:3 “Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.”

Psalms 25:5 “Lead men in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”

Psalms 27:14 “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

Psalms 37:7 “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.”

Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.”

Hosea 12:6 “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgement, and wait on thy God continually.”

What does it mean to “wait?”  These are only a few of the many verses that tell us to “wait on the LORD.”  What are we being told to do?  To “wait” means to “stay or rest in expectation and patience; to stop or remain stationary, till the arrival of some person or event.”  It is our human nature to take matters into our own hands and try to make things happen on our own. 

Before we discuss what we should be doing and what we shouldn’t be doing let us look at a few more Scriptures.

Psalms 37:3 “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”

Psalms 73:28 “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.”

Psalms 115:10-11  “O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.  Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.”

Psalms 118:8-9 “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.”

Proverbs 28:25 “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.”

Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

So, the question we need to answer is, “Are we to sit around like lazy bums waiting for life to be handed to us on a silver platter?”  Do we work at everything as if we were doing it all?  We do know that faith without works is dead.  We must be doing certain things.  The Word is quite clear that we are to carry on our daily lives working to provide for our families.  Yet, even that is within the framework of Scripture; it is God that gives us the power to get wealth (Deut. 8:17-18). 

There are many areas in our lives that are beyond our human capacity to address.  And, there are areas that God gives us specific instructions and teaching. 

Some areas are much like the Israelites at the Red Sea.  God tells us to “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD...”  There are times that God gives specific instructions of what to do.  You may remember the account of Naaman recorded in 2 Kings 5.  Elisha, the man of God, sent a messenger to tell Naaman to go and wash himself in the Jordan seven times and then he would be healed of his leprosy.  Jesus instructed the ten lepers to go and shew themselves to the priests.  And, as they went they were cleansed.

As an aside, you might notice that in neither of these cases were the individuals told to go to the doctor.  And, there are no Scriptures instructing us to go to doctors.  James tells us rather to call for the elders of the church, to be anointed with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:14)   Earlier in the book he had told us to “ask in faith, nothing wavering...”  (James 1:6)  He continues in the next verses stating that if one wavers he shouldn’t think that he would receive anything. Verse 8 is pretty pointed, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”  Being double minded is saying you are looking to God, putting your trust in Him and at the same time looking to the arm of flesh, to man to take care of the situation. 

As the Psalmist said, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”  We read from Isaiah that “they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength.”

Have we ever considered that “waiting,” “trusting the LORD,” and “the trying of our faith working patience” are the real WORKS that God wants?  Perhaps the hardest “work” we will ever do is waiting on God to act, trusting Him with patience. 

Because waiting, trusting, believing, exercising patience is SO hard we want to “look to our own understanding.”  We want to look to the flesh, the physical.  We say we know God can do all things!

And, we know that He says that if we believe  we will receive whatsoever we desire when we pray.  Yet, we want to “do something” to help God. We don’t appear to really believe and trust Him.

Let’s look at one last Scripture, Jer. 17:5.  I quote this from the Bible in Basic English as it is a bit clearer.  “This is what the LORD has said: Cursed is the man who puts his faith in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart is turned away from the LORD.” 

The saying “God helps those who help themselves” is a false statement.  A truer statement is “God helps those who place their trust in Him.” 

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