Those Who Help Themselves

The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor. (Proverbs 12:24 ESV). For many years I have listened to people as they misquote the Scripture by saying God helps those who help themselves. There just isn’t any passage that contains those words! However, there are very clear instructions in the Scripture for us to be diligent in our work and optimistic in our lives. God does help us, sometimes even when we don’t expect it, and always when we don’t deserve it. That’s at the heart of the proverb for today. The following story comes out of the life of Abraham Lincoln: "I meant to take good care of your book, Mr. Crawford," said the boy, "but I've damaged it a good deal without intending to, and now I want to make it right with you. What shall I do to make it good?" "Why, what happened to it, Abe?" asked the rich farmer, as he took the copy of Weems's "Life of Washington" which he had lent young Lincoln, and looked at the stained leaves and warped binding. "It looks as if it had been out through all last night's storm. How came you to forget, and leave it out to soak?" "It was this way, Mr. Crawford," replied Abe. "I sat up late to read it, and when I went to bed, I put it away carefully in my bookcase, as I call it, a little opening between two logs in the wall of our cabin. I dreamed about General Washington all night. When I woke up I took it out to read a page or two before I did the chores, and you can't imagine how I felt when I found it in this shape. It seems that the mud-daubing had got out of the weather side of that crack, and the rain must have dripped on it three or four hours before I took it out. I'm sorry, Mr. Crawford, and want to fix it up with you, if you can tell me how, for I have not got money to pay for it." "Well," said Mr. Crawford, "come and shuck corn three days, and the book 's yours." Had Mr. Crawford told young Abraham Lincoln that he had fallen heir to a fortune the boy could hardly have felt more elated. Shuck corn only three days, and earn the book that told all about his greatest hero! "I don't intend to shuck corn, split rails, and the like always," he told Mrs. Crawford, after he had read the volume. "I'm going to fit myself for a profession." "Why, what do you want to be, now?" asked Mrs. Crawford in surprise. "Oh, I'll be President!" said Abe with a smile. "You'd make a pretty President with all your tricks and jokes, now, wouldn't you?" said the farmer's wife. "Oh, I'll study and get ready," replied the boy, "and then maybe the chance will come." Hard work and optimism are the two ingredients for success. Optimism is not merely positive thinking. It is resting in the faith that combined with our diligence the grace and power of God is more than enough to guarantee success. I wonder what might have happened if young Abe would have shirked his responsibility for the damage of the book that he borrowed? He could have made some excuse for it being damaged, but he didn’t. The Christian life ought to contain liberal amounts of responsibility mixed with faith. That’s the recipe for happiness and success in any endeavor. Those who want to “help themselves” ought to trust and obey!