Recently I was in the Salford Meetinghouse in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. Standing in that small chapel that seats maybe 60 people, viewing that large pulpit and the pot-belly stove, I wondered what worship would have been like in the early 20th century. The worship services were in German, you know.
Looking out the window onto the cemetery, I was reminded that there are the remains of 29 emigrants that left their home in Silesia, Germany, to travel to America because the Jesuits and Lutherans would not leave them alone.
They eventually braved a three-month trek across the Atlantic Ocean. The heat was unbearable. They encountered a hurricane at sea. They were at the mercy of the wind and waves. Their water supply eventually went sour. Their food supply ran scarce. They landed at Penn’s Landing and the following day, September 24, 1734, held a service of Thanksgiving at a local Quaker meetinghouse.
How would they respond to the statement: “God helps those who help themselves.”
If we were to ask Rev. George Weiss and others, this question, I assume they would answer: “Nein!” Rather, God helps those who are helpless. He rescues, saves, provides, protects, etc.
In this post, I will address the well-known statement: “God helps those who help themselves.” Where did this come from? Is it true? Is it Biblical?
The phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is a motto that emphasizes the importance of self-initiative and agency. The phrase originated in ancient Greece as “the gods help those who help themselves” and may originally have been proverbial.
It is illustrated in Aesop’s Fables and a similar sentiment is found in ancient Greek drama. It has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin. The phrase is often mistaken as a scriptural quote, though it is not stated in the Bible.
The truth is that we are helpless to change what is in ourselves without the grace of God. God is not a “guide on the side.” He is much more active than that. Consider the many scriptures in which God is proactive on behalf of those who cannot help themselves. God helps those who are helpless.
There is example upon example of individuals in the Scriptures that testify of God’s saving grace, when his people were helpless. God is a rescuing God.
For example, the Israelites certainly could not have left Egypt believing: “God helps those who helps themselves.” They were helpless against the most powerful army in the world. Consider Psalm 106:7-12:
Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert. 10 So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. 11 And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. 12 Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.
And so the Exodus was proof that God helps the helpless.
Furthermore, in the days of Gideon, the Lord told Israel‘s leader to only take 300 men with him and go up against the Midianites and the Amalekites who greatly outnumbered them. Judges 7:2-7 tells the story.
The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ ” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. 4 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there… And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men… I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.”
Did you get that? So that Israel would not boast in their own abilities, God reduced the number of foot soldiers to 300, even though they would take on thousands upon thousands. God does not pay attention to numbers. He loves impossible odds.
A third example is King Solomon was unsure how to help himself when he took over the throne from his father, David. 1 Kings 3:7-8 tells us of Solomon’s prayer:
“And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.”
Finally, Jesus spoke of our inability to do anything good apart from Him. Our actions might seem pure, but our motivation could be tainted or sinful. We are unable to produce genuine spiritual and moral goodness without the presence of Christ in our lives. Jesus said in John 15:4-6:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
In each of these examples, the subjects presented were helpless until God moved. Finally, Jesus comes right out and summarizes them all when He said: “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
And so, let us turn to the subject of salvation. There we discover that…In our salvation, we can do nothing to save ourselves. Even repentance and faith are provisions of a gracious God.
Paul would preach in the book of Romans, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Furthermore, dead men cannot do much. Jonathan Edwards took this idea when he said that we bring nothing to the table of salvation, except the sin which got us there. Every believer’s testimony before he or she met Christ is given to us in Ephesians 2:1-3.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Furthermore, in talking about election, he states in Romans 9, that it is a matter of God’s sovereign mercy. Romans 9:14-18:
“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
Furthermore, there is an inability to respond to the gospel without God’s grace in us. Why? Because without regeneration, we are dead to the gospel. Jesus said in John 6:29:
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
And John 6:44:
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
Those at Laodicea in Asia Minor obviously felt self-sufficient and that they were in God’s favor. But Jesus corrects their foolish understanding in Revelation 3:17-18:
“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
And so the Bible is replete with the message that every man, woman, boy and girl is completely dependent upon God for physical and spiritual life. And so… Let us live as though we are dependent upon God for life and breath and everything.
Let us not go on about our lives as if we secretly or really believed that God was optional. So consider the way in which we do so.
You live as if God helps those who help themselves, when you go prayerless. When we feel that we’re good and God can go off and pay attention to someone else. That we can get along without him just fine. When we believe that Christianity is nothing more than fire insurance for eternity. Prayer, rather, is fellowship with God and you need it just as much as air, water and food.
You live as if God helps those who help themselves, when you are not generous with your resources. When we don’t give to missions and to the poor. When we don’t give our time to those in need. James 1:27: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
You live as if God helps those who help themselves, when you fail to evangelize and share the love of Christ with others. I was recently given the opportunity to walk away from two people, or to pray with them. I circled back and prayed with them, hopefully giving them a sense that God cared about them and that they should trust him.
It takes a little bit of courage to present yourself as a follower of Christ.
You live as if God helps those who help themselves, when you are distracted in worship. When we don’t sing with all of our hearts or pray as if our lives depended on it. When we don’t listen to the word or read the word. It’s as if we live as though God we’re just a side interest rather than loving him with all of our heart, mind soul and strength. Matthew 15:8: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
You live as if God helps those who help themselves when you fail to appreciate what Jesus did for you on the cross. When we go about our daily lives and forget that he voluntarily suffocated to death so that we could be reconciled to the father.
In a day and age when people doubt the historicity of Jesus, let us never forget that not only did he live 2000 years ago, but he perfectly fulfilled God‘s law, and then at the appropriate time went to the cross and gave his life voluntarily. Jesus said in John 10:18: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
We live as if God helps those who help themselves, when we fail to repent of any besetting sin. When we love our sin more than we love Christ. When we continue to dwell in sin rather than loathe it or live the way that we want to rather than the way that God wants us to. Hebrews 10:26-27: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”
John Piper said: “Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God.”
You live as if God helps those who help themselves, when you think and behave as if daily faith did not matter. As if Christianity was done out of habit, more than out of one’s love springing forth from the heart.
Many people treat church as optional, not knowing that you are relying upon your own Christian education of years ago, but failing to grow in the here and now.
I heard a woman say that of all the Bible verses she memorized when young, she could not remember any of them in her old age. But what she failed to mention is the formation of those verses over time. And that you memorize to recall in a time of need for God to feed your soul.
I will frequently run through the verses I have memorized just to remind myself of the gracious love of God. While God is gracious to us, He also has given us intellect and abilities to serve ourselves and others in His name, out of gratitude.
Many years ago, Daniel Fuller wrote a book entitled, Unity of the Bible. He states that one of the things that separates Biblical faith from all the world religions is that our God works on our behalf. He provides for us. He protects us. He saves us. He does so much for you and me.
On the other hand, we are not to think that we are helpless after we know God. We may look at this question and say that we deny such a belief.
Certainly, we are to take initiative and work hard and instigate progress in our own lives. It is God who gives you the education and skill for perfecting your craft. Use it for His glory!
Paul mandates each Christian to be productive when he states in 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”
So how are we to think rightly about this statement: “God helps those who help themselves”?
Qualify it with the following:
God helps those who trust in Him.
God helps those who are helpless.
God expects us to help others with the gifts and abilities that He has given us.
Remember Deuteronomy 10:18 as a verse that displays God’s help of the helpless:
“He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.”
She was 24. Fresh out of college.
He was 3 months old.
Left in a box outside a hospital with a note that read: “I’m sorry. Please love him.”
No one came for him. No family. No calls. Just silence.
They called him “Baby Elijah” on the news. But everyone assumed he’d end up in the system. Except her.
Rachel wasn’t planning on being a mother. She was just volunteering at the hospital nursery.
But the first time she held him, his tiny hand curled around her finger and wouldn’t let go. Neither did her heart.
The agency told her she was too young. Too single. Too inexperienced. She told them:“I may not have a husband. I may not have money. But I have love. And he needs that more than anything.”
She adopted Elijah. Her white skin and his dark brown curls drew stares. She heard the whispers: “Is that even her child?”
“She won’t last a year.” “He’ll resent her.”
But they never saw the way he clung to her during storms.
Or how she worked three jobs just to afford his piano lessons.
Or how she cried when he called her “Mom” for the first time.
She raised him on courage, bedtime stories, and unconditional love.
Years passed. Elijah grew tall, kind, brilliant.
When he turned 18, he got into Harvard. Full scholarship.
At the graduation dinner, he stood on stage and said: “Everyone always asked where my real mom was. Well, she’s right here. The woman who chose me when no one else would. Who gave me a name, a home, a future. She didn’t give me life…She saved it.”
The room cried. Rachel cried. But Elijah just smiled and whispered in her ear: “You’re still holding my hand, Mom. And I’ll never let go.”
Central to Life 