GOD HELPS THOSE WHO CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES – Sunday Thought For The Day

The following is an excerpt from my book “Alone With Jesus: How I Start Each Day.”

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “Insidious” as: 1) a: awaiting a chance to entrap : treacherous; b: harmful but enticing : seductive: 2) a: having a gradual and cumulative effect : subtle; b: of a disease : developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent.

Specific to the word “insidious” there is a bromide that has become so subtly entrenched in Christian dogma that it is now largely accepted as factual by many believers and unbelievers alike. Many preachers and so-called bible teachers state the saying as if they were quoting one of the Psalms of David. And tragically no few people have been led astray because of it.

The bromide I am referring to is: “God helps those who help themselves.” This is a fabrication of the devil. Were the Israelites able to help themselves during the 400 hundred years they were slaves in Egypt, before God brought forth Moses? Were the Israelites able to help themselves in any way to cross the Red Sea or was that miracle singularly of the Lord? How many of the people Jesus healed who were blind, afflicted with palsy, leprosy, withered arms, possessed by demons, etc. were able to do one thing to help themselves? Was Lazarus able to help himself after he was pronounced dead and placed inside a sepulcher? Was the offering of sacrifices by the priests for forgiveness of sin able to save one’s soul? The answer all of these questions is emphatically “No.”

But herein is the insidious and serpentine character of Satan, which reveals the vulnerability of man. The cruel and misleading trick is to lead us to the belief that we can and are supposed to rely upon our works and that in so doing God decides we’ve worked hard enough to be worthy of His help.

The truth is that God helps us/those who cannot help themselves because it is at that point we are relying upon Him not ourselves. Daniel didn’t rely upon himself as he approached the lion’s den. (Daniel 6:16-24) Nor did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, rely upon themselves as they were led to the fiery furnace. (Daniel 3:17) What self-effort did Malchus put forth to reattach his ear after Peter had severed it with his sword? (John 18:10-11)

Believing that God gives special dispensation to the exclusion of others we deem unworthy because they do not perform according to our standards is an insidious lie of the enemy. And it is such, not least of which because it subtly prescribes that our own works can save us.

We are not saved by good works or hard work; we are saved by grace through faith and Godly good works is the fruit of Spirit of God who indwells us as the Children of God.

READ: Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.