I remember back in my mid 20s and 30s when I was chronically underemployed. I was a lawyer getting into more and more debt. I feared and hated the courtroom; I was ill equipped to write legal briefs, memos or litigate, and I had absolutely no idea what job to apply for. Everything was horrifically scary.
And so I struggled as I moved from one low-paying temp job to the next. I did clerical work, I hauled heavy boxes, I was a receptionist, I cut cable, and twice, I was a medical “model” where numerous student nurses got to poke my belly with ultrasound. My life was not glamorous and everyone around me knew it. There was no way I could hide that I was flat broke, totally clueless, sometimes faithless, and often running scared.
Needless to say, those around me offered plenty of advice. Some of this was good. But some of it was soul crushing. The worst advice I ever got was when someone sought to motivate me with the trite saying “God helps those who help themselves!”
So I’d like to unpack this. This blog will examine why people give this advice, what it truly means, and whether it’s even true. I’ll then end with a better phrase and how you can really help yourself.
Why People Say “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves”
Context is king. I’ve heard this advice from both Christians and non-Christians when they are frustrated you are not doing enough. Some are generally concerned that bad things will happen if you are passive, so they say this to get you moving. Others are disgusted or upset you didn’t take their advice. And so they throw you a big ball of flames as they turn their back and leave you to your well deserved doom!
The True Implications of God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
The problem is that this advice has nothing to do with God. It requires no knowledge of God. It requires no belief in God. And it never even considers if you are helping yourself in the way God would approve. They might as well just say GO DO SOMETHING OR PERISH! WHAT GOD THINKS IS IRRELEVANT.
Sometimes you can use the absurd to show that a phrase simply makes no sense. For example: Hitler helped himself plenty. So was God helping him when he exterminated 6 million Jews?
What about 9/11? The terrorists hijackers were certainly helping themselves when they destroyed the World Trade Centers. So did God whip out the pom poms and cheer “Go Terrorists Go!” And what about the Muslims and atheists who actively persecute Christians and Jews? Does God help them out too?
The answer is of course not. And by the way, what do we even mean by HELP? Is it just helping yourself to anything? Or does it have to be helping yourself in a “good” karmic way? And this brings us to the obvious. Who is it who determines what is good? And how can we know it’s good? After all, how many of us shoot for things that later turned out to be a disaster? The girl who gave you an STD…the job or relationship that was totally toxic…Should we blindly help ourselves to anything and hope that God will bless us for it? This sounds ridiculous. It has no basis in reality.
The only one who knows what good help is is God himself. God is the author of all that is good. His ways are as high above our ways as the heavens are high above the earth. God examines our hearts, our motives, our knowledge and our circumstances. He also looks to see if what we say, think or do is in His plan, and according to His character. It is in Him and through Him that we have every blessing. Anything apart from Him is meaningless. It is not enough to help ourselves plenty! Being passive is bad. But so is being reckless! Or worse, being disobedient!
The Kind of Help We Should Ask For/The Things We Should Do To Help Ourselves
Before I say the magic phrase to replace the one in the title, I need to go into who our God is and what He wants for us. Otherwise, we will be seeking the wrong help.
Our God is truly amazing. He is the champion of the drug addict, the orphan, the weak, and the clueless. He defends the dumb, the hapless, and at times, even the reckless! This is the God who sent Jesus to Earth to die for us while we all opposed God. This is the God who lowered Himself to be a man, so that He would be killed and then resurrected to live inside those who embrace His name. So when I say God, I am specifically referring to Jesus, not just God in the abstract. An abstract God gives abstract answers. But here we need concrete ones.
If we truly want to know how to help ourselves, we must know who the Helper is. And what the Helper desires most. The history of who God is and what He most desires is found in both the Old and New Testaments.
Scripture says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Further, in John 15:5 it says that Jesus is the vine and you are the branches. He further says that “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
So working hard at anything is not the answer. If you have no faith, or rely on yourself, your efforts will amount to nothing.
In John 14:13 Jesus further explains how you can ask for help and get blessed for it! Here He says: Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
This means that we must know more about our God and practice abiding in Him just to know what to ask for! Helping ourselves without His guidance is a non-starter! We must seek Him and know what glorifies Him.
This is in part, why in John 14:23 Jesus promises us that “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
So in recap; The kind of help to ask for is
- Done in faith
- while remaining and abiding in Jesus
- which glorifies God’s character
- and which is aligned with the commandments in Scripture
God Helps Those Who in Faith, Prayer and Knowledge of His Character, Take Action Steps or Refrain Because They Want To Glorify His Name
Yes, it’s a bit less pithy that God helps those who help themselves. But pithy and false is far worse than than long and true!
Examples of What Actively Helping Yourself Looks Like!
(Exercising, Faith, Action, Patience, and the Character of Jesus)
- Taking a Small Step (no matter how small) that You Would Never Normally Do but for Trusting the Lord Has Your Back. Applying for the job you’re afraid will reject you, or which you feel is beneath you. Calling someone instead of texting your apology, giving to others when you know you have $ needs of your own.
- Not Taking Instant Action When You’re Afraid-Don’t respond to life as if God is absent or won’t protect you. Fires, earthquakes, tidal waves, sexual assault and heart attacks are real emergencies that require instant action. But for most things, we can take a moment to go to Jesus in prayer and faith, and ask Him for knowledge, wisdom and even direct intervention. Ready fire aim with no prayer… it’s almost always a bad approach and a total lack of faith!
- ASKING the Lord to Change Your Heart or Give You a Different Passion or a New Vision.
Sure you’re meant to be the worlds best graphic designer. But maybe, God wants you to take a detour along the way! This is what He did with me! We must keep asking the Lord for both the courage and the humility to hear His voice, and then obey Him even when we don’t know where it is leading to. - Going Forward on God’s Promises Rather Than Simply Pursuing Our Immediate Wants, Perceived Needs and Desires.
Christian-SOS Blogs
- What Is Faith? How Do We Leverage Our Faith?
- Jesus In the Shower (How He Met Me)
- Index of Other Blogs
Inspirational Songs
Running Back To You (Seph Schlueter)
That’s Who I Praise (Brandon Lake)
Praise (Elevation Worship)