Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.’ (Psalms 90:17); ‘(4) Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, (5) for each one should carry their own load.’ (Galatians 6:4-5); ‘All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.’ (Proverbs 14:23)

We often hear people quote Ben Franklin’s statement, ‘God helps those who help themselves’.  From the Christian perspective, most will state this is not true as Faith is not works-based; one cannot perform a series of ‘good deeds’ or memorize a set number of Bible verses and receive salvation based on that.  We do not have to donate ‘x’ amount of dollars to a church or charity or even walk ‘x’ number of old women across intersections to gain Jesus’ favor, or to have with bless us as a return gesture.  In the Spiritual sense, Jesus will bless us unconditionally to our needs.  They may not be what we think our needs to be, but they will be to the needs that we do need.  

Is there a need for us to ‘help ourselves’, though?  In the case of living to survive, and providing for one’s self and family, yes.  In Galatians 6:4-5, Paul tells the Galatians that it is good that each person to do their part so collectively the people and the church as a whole will succeed.  God will not change burnt-out light bulbs as a miracle, but someone who is willing to go purchase the light bulbs may be blessed with the means to do so, and the person who is willing to get up on the ladder may be, as well (especially if the light bulb is in the kitchen where the cook needs to read the recipe to make desserts).    

God blesses us with the means to work so we can use our talents to glorify Him.  Psalms 90:17 provides He establishes our abilities to do the work we have the ability and willingness to do.  The late Rush Limbaugh was accurate when he mentioned his talent ‘was on loan from God’; all of us, whether believers or not, have been given the skills and knowledge necessary to complete the tasks that God has laid out in His plans.  

We see America in decay because many don’t want to contribute effort to maintain it; we are at an imbalance with having more consumers than producers.  ‘Feelings over facts’ prevail; many ‘feel’ entitled (especially those younger who are involved in the ‘anti-work’ movement), where they are ‘entitled’ to funds, food, and other items that they have not worked for.  We see in Proverbs 14:23 that if we consume and not produce, soon all things are consumed, and nothing is produced to replenish what has been consumed.  Soon poverty takes over and unless there is some initiative to overcome the poverty, it will become stagnant and long-term.    The ‘fact’ is we must ‘sweat at the brow’ to produce. God has provided us the means to produce so we then can consume what we need.

This does not mean we should use the ‘only the strong (producers) survive’ mantra to push forward.  We should help those in need, especially those who have fallen on tough times through no fault of their own.  When we are unable to provide for ourselves, God will provide. We need to always share the love of Christ and His Gospel to those who are less fortunate in their situations.  As a nation, though, we need to start producing and not as be dependent on others, lest we become slaves to foreign masters.  We should only be willing to be slaves to our True Master, Jesus!