Chestnuts

It's an old chestnut. I've been trying to crack it for years, and I don't think I'm the only one. I remember hearing as a child the old saying, "God helps those who help themselves." This piece of folklore was so ingrained that some even attributed it to the scripture, but it isn't there. It is not a Bible verse; it is a saying encouraging Christians not to sit around and wait for God to provide when they are capable of providing for themselves. Faith is not an excuse to do nothing.

Yesterday morning the preacher told the story of George Muller, the man who set up orphanages without ever asking for donations. This famous story is about the morning there was neither food or drink for the children's breakfast. Still they sat down to the table with empty plates and mugs, and thanked God for the food they did not have, but when the prayer finished there was a knock at the door. The local baker had come bearing loaves and bread, and soon afterward the milkman's cart broke down outside the door and he unloaded the milk as a gift to the orphans.

I first heard this story as a child in church. It seemed fantastic. Why would this man ever get in the position where he had nothing for breakfast? Would I be able to trust God so implicitly if I didn't know where my food was coming from? Did I really believe that God worked like that? We he merely naive or foolish? But God came through. It just doesn't make sense.

So which is it? If the calling to do a certain thing seems undeniable, but the walls in the way are impossible to breach, is this where we trust God to do a miracle or do we, instead, question our understanding of calling, or look for another way to do it? Is making a back-up plan somehow demonstrating a lack of faith? Is unshakable faith a prerequisite for God 'coming through' as it were?

Scriptures bounce about in my head: Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by what I do . . . Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you . . . but when you ask you must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord . . . Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved . . . Give, and it will be given to you, pressed down, shaken together, over flowing . . . When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives . . . The One who has called you is faithful, and he will do it. . .

But where is the balance? I must have faith in God, but I must also do my best. I must believe that he will help me to fulfill my calling, but I must also do what I can to see it through. The problem is: I don't know what I can do. Somehow, I'm not even sure where to start.