Does God really help all disciples, or does He just help those who help themselves? This devotion discusses whether God has favorites and the danger of thinking we can help ourselves.
Nuggets
- God was a hands-on Father with Adam and Eve.
- God blesses those who want our relationship with Him restored.
- God is the refuge for those who realize they are spiritually dead without him.
This year, we are looking at self-discipline. We are using Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness sermon to look at the need to grow in our relationship with God. We morphed learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples.
Resource
We had been looking at solidifying what we believe. When we witness, we need to be prepared to explain what we believe and why we believe it. We just finished (before we took a break for Easter) looking at the Trinity.
For the Man category, we are going to look at some issues that might be brought up while we are witnessing. Disciples need to have a thoughtful answer.
Does God Helps Those Who Help Themselves?
Have you heard the saying, “God helps those who help themselves”? I think a lot of times when we say this, we are thinking that we will take care of the little stuff and let God go for the big stuff. We’ll take care of what we can and leave the hard stuff to Him.
Some may think that means that we are supposed to work for a living. Scriptures do back that up. Proverbs 12: 11 says, “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense” (Prov. 12: 22 NIV).
Since the majority of people are no longer agricultural, the New Living Translation put it this way: “A hard worker has plenty of food, but a person who chases fantasies has no sense” (Prov. 12: 11 NLT).
We have to be really careful, though. “Help ourselves” might turn into “we don’t need God.”
Let's Put It into Context
The worldview tells us that — we don’t need God. If we are doing so much for ourselves anyway, why are we messing with a higher power?
Satan wants us to take our focus off God and put it on ourselves — which means he wins, and God loses.
The goal Satan has is to get us to stop praying to God for direction. He wants us to think we can make our own decisions — especially if those decisions are the exact opposite of how God wants us to act.
Let’s look how God really wants it to be.
Past Participation
“When the cooler evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden ...” (Gen. 3: 8 NLT)
We see early on in Genesis that God spent time with Adam and Eve. He didn’t just dump them in the Garden and take off. God was a hands-on Father with Adam and Eve.
This is what God is wanting back. He wants that close relationship with us restored.
For this reason, God sent His Son Jesus to be our Redeemer. Jesus shed His blood for us so that payment could be given for our sins.
If God went to that length to restore our relationship with Him, would He let us just go on our own merry way? No, He wants us to trust our lives to Him.
Realizing Our Need
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” (Mt. 5: 3 NLT)
God blesses those who want our relationship with Him restored. Being spiritually poor has to do with being aware of the fact that we are spiritually dead without God. We can’t make ourselves become spiritually alive. Only God can.
God wants us to be blessed and perfect. Blessedness means we have been perfected. For the disciple, perfection is holy, sanctified, and righteous.
We are on our way to being made holy, sanctified, and righteous when we realize how much we need God. Our most important need from Him is for gift of salvation. We admit our sins, believe Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
God Our Refuge
“You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall” (Isa. 25: 4 NIV)
Let’s see if we can interpret this verse under the lens of the poor in spirit need salvation.
God is the refuge for those who realize they are spiritually dead without him. He shelters them through the trials of life — even the strongest trials that cause extreme suffering.
Why would we want to help ourselves when the Creator of the universe wants to help us? God is all-knowing (I Jn. 3: 20) and all-powerful (Ps. 147: 5).
Why wouldn’t we want to lean on Him?
God does not pick favorites. Romans 2: 11 tells us that. “God doesn’t have any favorites!” (Rom. 2: 11 CEV). This help is available to all of His disciples.
God is not going to give a different level of help to Tom than He does to Sally. Elaine isn’t out there on her own.
God loves and cares for all of His disciples. He wants to be Lord of the Little Things as well as Lord of the Big Things. He wants us to totally submit to Him.
Making the Connections
God wants to get back to having the hands-on relationship with all of His creation. That is why His grace provided the plan of salvation.
Unfortunately, God knows that not everyone is going to accept that gift. That spells bad news for those not submitting to Him. He is not going to give us a pass into heaven just because we want our ways. Plus, having hissy fits when we don’t isn’t going to change His mind.
Our lives are so much more peaceful and joyful when we put our trust in Him. No, they aren’t smooth sailing. But when we give Him control, He fills us with that peace and joy.
What does God bless? My interpretation of Emmons’ answered the question are this:
- He blesses us when we try to improve the skills and knowledge that He has given us.
- He blesses us when we prepare for the future service in His name.
- He blesses us when we remain obedient to Him.
- He blesses us when we live out His Word.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
We are also considering what we would say if a non-believer asked us about this topic. Here is the worksheet again. What would you tell someone about God wanting us to help ourselves?
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
How Do We Apply This?
Being a disciple is about submitting to God. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4: 7 ESV).
Manton gave us the following instructions. He wrote, “There is a threefold submission to God: of our carnal hearts to His holiness; of our proud hearts to His mercy; and of our revolting hearts to His sovereignty; and all this that we may be pure, humble, and obedient.”
Notice what Manton mentioned first: our worldly hearts. We have to take our focus off this world and put it firmly on God.
So, we’ve come full circle. Does God help those who help themselves?
No.
God helps and blesses those who submit to Him in obedience. We have to focus on Him, not on ourselves and the world.
Loving Heavenly Father. You have so many blessings that You want to give us. All of those blessings are tied to our submitting and being obedient to You. We admit our sins, believe in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, and confess You as Sovereign Lord. Help us to be obedient in all that we do. Amen.
What do you think?
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