“God helps those who help themselves!” An interesting verse I had reason to remember today. A verse my Dad often quoted me, when he wanted me to get a job, when he wanted me to go to college, when he wanted me to excel in school. It was his way of saying, Do it yourself.
I've seen some say, it means if you want it, go and take it. You want a car, you might have to do many little things to get it. Usually I hear this any more attributed to thieves.
Of course, I am really trying to make an effort, to really understand that which I am saying before I look the fool. After all I can't expect knowledge to be given 100%, so I must do some myself, funny it fits the quote.
The quote is often credited to one of America's Founding Fathers Ben Franklin c.1760. Some say it was Algernon Sidney c.1650, yet others say it originated as a Moral story in Aesop's Fables c.580BC. The truth is, it was never in the Bible, or any holy texts.
It still has good spiritual meaning. Seriously can we expect the Higher Power to do everything for us while we do nothing. Can we sit on our butt, and expect to be athletic, can we eat anything whenever, and in whatever quantities, all the time, and expect to be thin. Can we expect to be successful and financially set if we don't take some initiative.
If we are in a situation that forces us to be in a position we don't wish to be, as say someone like myself with disabilities, it still applies. In this case we might not have the money for everything, but with a little work we can clear away the wants of life, and when we have we see that the needs aren't that bad to deal with.
There is a lot to the idea of helping ones self, we shouldn't be expecting the higher power to do everything. Perhaps why there are so many Atheists today, somewhere they could not understand why God would allow them to be where they are. I almost can understand the victims of the world wondering why God allowed whatever it is that happened to them, to happen. But those who want a new car, who are driving a rust bucket and expecting one to land on their doorstep, and loose any faith they may have had, I don't understand. I know many who went out and a church helped them with a car. I know some that undertook a second job to save up the money for a better car. I know those who kept searching the classifieds, until they found a deal to good to pass up. I know those who went to the junk yard, learned to repair cars, and fixed up a car for themselves cheaper than buying a new one. I know those who cruised auctions until they got one dirt cheap because no one else was at the auction or bid on that car. There are ways, we need to find them.
Like in the auction, if we need a car, and God knows we need a car, then at the auction God may make it so know one else bid, we helped ourselves by finding it, but we needed God to make sure we actually got it for what we could afford. Like the person flipping the classifieds, God knows we are helping ourselves, and has seen us trying various avenues, and then one day, a person whos family doesn't live in the area, who's mother is moving across country, runs an add letting her car go for almost nothing because they want it gone now. A friend of mine got a Low-mileage Ford LTD for 200$ this way. It's so cheap God helped us. Sometimes though we find that deal gone when we get there, it is also possible God didn't want us to have it, that he took it away, gave it to another, maybe because we didn't offer thanks when we saw it, maybe because earlier that day we swore at a child who nearly hit us on their big wheel.
As they say, god works in mysterious ways. (Yet another Bible Quote, not found in the Bible)
