IAUA End Time Ministry
Preparing for the End of Time
The Lord is Coming! Are you ready?
|
|
IAUA End Time Ministry |
|
Preparing for the End of Time | |
|
The Lord is Coming! Are you ready? | |
| Home / Archives | |
|
Dear Brothers and Sisters in
IAUA
(ee-ah-oo-ah) our Father,
I made a statement in the last newsletter about a traditional saying. "God helps those who help themselves." There have been a couple of reactions to that statement. The first was a quote from Ellen White: ----- The General Conference Bulletin, May 30, 1909, paragraph 14 Article Title: A Lesson in Health Reform To every one who is tempted to indulge appetite I would say, Yield not to temptation, but confine yourself to the use of wholesome foods. You can train yourselves to enjoy a healthful diet. The Lord helps those who seek to help themselves; but when men will not take special pains to follow out the mind and will of God, how can he work with them? Let us act our part, working out our salvation with fear and trembling-- with fear and trembling lest we make mistakes in the treatment of our bodies, which, before God, we are under obligation to keep in the most healthful condition possible. ----- The second: ----- I agree with you, the statement, "God helps them who help themselves" is one I have heard from so many, and in reality, we need God to help us and He wants to help us with our needs. So many statements like this not only encourage us to self-reliance but it takes away the Loving Creator's purpose in our life, to be a part of our life, and to feel free to call upon Him at all times to help us. ----- The questionable part of the statement is the close linking of the help of God with helping ourselves. There is no question that there is a wrong extreme where a person makes no effort and expects God to do it all. I believe it is also a wrong extreme which says God will not help unless we first do everything we can in our own power. I did a search through the Bible for every mention of the word "help". There were 117 of them. These are the verses that seemed most relevent to me Psalms 37:39-40 But the salvation of the righteous [is] of the LORD: [he is] their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. Psalms 38:21-22 Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation. Psalms 60:11 Give us help from trouble: for vain [is] the help of man. Psalms 118:5-8 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, [and set me] in a large place. The LORD [is] on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see [my desire] upon them that hate me. [It is] better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. I found nothing that makes any kind of a link between the help of God with helping ourselves. That is probably more discussion about what was just a comment than is really needed. I certainly did not intend to make it a teaching that the saying is wrong. I still don't think it qualifies as a Bible teaching. I have no quarrel with the quote from Ellen and I know of others that speak of man cooperating with God. This would not be the first quote from Ellen that is used as a hammer rather than a helpful guide. May we all find peace in the name of Yahushua (Ee-ah-oo-shoo-oh) Messiah, the son of God. Shabbat Shalom
Frank T. Clark
Next: 2005-03-18 Prophecy Code |
|
Revised 2005-03-18 |