A Matter of Faith and reality

There is a tendency among some Christians to adopt an extreme “faith” position that scorns any use of natural means to resolve a crisis. Hence they reject any medical or therapeutic help, and are resolved never to seek financial help, or buy an insurance policy – and the like.

But God himself has ordained nature along with all its skills and wisdom, and while we still remain on the earth and of the earth we dare not despise natural provisions (that are nonetheless divine).

The correct rule is rather this: once you have got the victory in heaven you are then free to make whatever use of the earth is appropriate. Indeed, just because I am enthroned with Christ and blessed with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies (Ep 1:3; 2:6), I am free to make use of whatever the Lord provides in heaven and on earth!

Aesop, in his fable, Hercules and the Waggoner, expressed it this way –

A Waggoner was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy way. At last he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank halfway into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels. So the Waggoner cast aside his whip, knelt down in the dust, and prayed fervently to Hercules the Strong: "O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress!" But Hercules appeared to him, and said: "Don’t just sprawl there! Get up man, and put your shoulder to the wheel. If you will do nothing to help yourself, then you can’t expect anyone else to care for you." Moral: heaven helps those who help themselves!

So too, Oliver Cromwell, who stirred his troops with the cry: “Put your trust in God, my boys, but keep your powder dry!” That saying was quoted by Valentine Blacker (1778-1823), an English lieutenant-colonel and Surveyor-General of India. And Howell Forgy (1908-1983), an American naval chaplain, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, was asked to pray for the naval gunners. Instead, he dropped his Bible, manned one of the gun turrets himself, and began firing at the enemy, crying out, “Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!”

Then there is Judith, in her eponymous book in the Apocrypha, who rebuked the elders for trying to put God under pressure, and then, using some remarkable feminine wiles, rescued her people from invasion (8:11-17). Likewise, when the people refused to fight on the Sabbath day, trusting that God would rescue them, and were slaughtered, the military commanders quickly changed their strategy! They said: “Let us fight against anyone who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our kindred died in their hiding places” (1 Mc 2:32-41). And Moses, who, of course, was quoted by Jesus: “You must not put the Lord your God to the test!” (De 6:16; Mt 4:7).

In other words, there is, or should be, balance in all things. There is a time to trust God alone for some miracle of answered prayer – not as a last resort, but because you realise that is what he wants. There are other times when it is wiser, and proper in the sight of God, to trust the Lord while also making full use of every available natural resource. What there is never a time for trusting in human hands alone. Prayer must always undergird and surround all that we plan and do.