Jan 16 Work Hard or Stand Still

January 16

Work Hard or Stand Still?

Php 2:12 ¶… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling

Ex 14:13 … stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, …

The correct answer is to do both, but not at the same time. There are times when God wants you to use all the resources you have. There are other times when your resources are so inadequate that He wants you to just watch Him at work.

Sometimes when people ask me about a problem they are having I ask them the following. If your ship sank and you were in a rowboat in the ocean, what should you do?  Two things; pray to God and row to shore.  There are times when we need to use our resources along with prayer to change things.  We should pray without ceasing and expect God to answer. But if you just laid on your dining room table with your mouth open and prayed that God would drop pieces of steak in your mouth you would die of starvation and the coroner’s report would list cause of death as “stupidity”.

2Th 3:10 …that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

Sometimes the answer to our prayers can be found at the end of our arms. Get your hands to work! But other times the best thing to do is stand aside, and watch what wonderful things God can do without your feeble efforts.

(A Side Note - Our opening verse “…work out your own salvation…” does not mean that we are saved by works.

Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us…  )

Several years ago I was a teacher in a vocational center and wanted to leave. I tried every way I knew how to get a different job. I flew to several other cities for job interviews, I wrote dozens of letters, I checked into nearly every posting in a newsletter I received that listed jobs all over the United States. I worked hard at it for nearly 5 years. My prayers went unanswered (OK, you’re right, No! is an answer to prayer.) My efforts were worthless.  My faith did not waiver but my patience was growing thin. In my frustration I challenged God to do the improbable.

The vocational school I taught in was in an old mine building in a remote part of the upper peninsula of Michigan. The main highway went through a town about 5 miles from the vocational center. To get there you had to turn off the main highway onto a street that went through a smaller village. Then  take a side street in that village and turn off onto a dead end road that no one lived on. Down near the end of the dead end road was a sharp curve and there hidden behind mounds of mining debris was an old mine building.  My classroom was located in that building.

Back to my challenge. In a mixture of frustration and anger I prayed “OK I have tried to get out of here. It must be you want me to stay here forever. So I give up. Listen God, if you want me to leave here this is what you will have to do. Send someone down this dead end road, have them find my classroom and walk in and offer me a job.”  Then I printed up a half dozen resumes and put them in the top drawer of my desk but was convinced I would never leave.

I prayed that prayer in September and stopped all my efforts to find another job. I was spiritually standing still. Nothing happened. God was waiting to see if I meant what I said. Then, six months later two men walked into my classroom. They wanted to set up a similar vocational program at a college 6 hours away.  I opened my desk drawer and handed them my resume. They offered me a job. I started working at the college the first of April. It was the best job I ever had.  

God had wanted to demonstrate to me that he could do for me what I could not do for myself but it required me to stand still.  As you might expect I do not have much trouble trusting God. He has proven Himself faithful over and over. Praise His name!

Please excuse my long personal story. But it illustrates how God works, even with a half angry and fully frustrated man.  There are times we must use the resources God has given us. In addition to prayer we must pick up the oars and row to shore, or work for our food. Other times God wants to show us a miracle and we must stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, as Moses directed the Israelites to do when they were pinned against the shore of the Red sea and the mightiest army on earth was coming to slaughter them. God had led them to a hopeless situation to show them He was able to deliver them.

Dear reader, has God worked any miracles in your life? If so then join me in praising His Holy name. If not, it may be that you are doing too little (not using what resources God has given) or too much and are relying on only your own strength and abilities. It is sometimes difficult to know which to do. Row to shore or stand still? May I suggest you do both. Use the resources God has given you, but after a while if you cannot resolve an issue just give it over to God and stand still.  Watching God at work is a great blessing. May God bless you and give you the wisdom to work or stand still.