Look for it in the book of Hezekiah

As Christians we have all heard the phrase, “God helps those who help themselves.” Look for it in the book of Hezekiah. In other words, this is not a biblical quote. Our culture has decided that we should help God out by helping ourselves. It’s as if when God turns around to see us He is happy when we have gone forward without Him and will bless us for going on without Him. We always say we are waiting for God to open the doors but I know for me personally I rush to open the first door I see. I feel as if I need to trust in my own efforts to make God happy. Proverbs 28:26 says, “ He who trusts in himself is a fool.” It may sound nice to say “God helps those who help themselves.” But we should rather be saying, God I am walking down this path until You open a door for me. When He does open a door we have to be ready to go right in, but not until He opens it for us. I know I am impulsive and can come up with crazy ideas and decide to do crazy things and I open the first door that comes my way. But God doesn’t want that, He wants me to follow Him and trust Him enough to open the right door for me. God helps those who trust in Him and follow Him. If we can’t do anything on our own how are we going to help ourselves. We all smile at children who tell their father that “they want to do it by themselves” because we know that they can’t do it on their own. And yet that is how we act. We tell God that we got it covered and to watch us go and do great things. Imagine Him standing by, arms folded, a smile on His face, patiently waiting for us to realize that we can never help ourselves accomplish what He planned for us. I realized that this is the way I have been living. I heard that phrase in the back of my head and have been living my life by helping myself, trying to create my own opportunities and getting frustrated and upset when things didn’t go as I have planned. I thought that if I open the doors, than God will bless me in my endeavor. But I am not the one to open the doors of opportunity, He opens them and I follow obediently, holding His hand as He directs my steps. As Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” I can’t help myself, so I am not going to try. Instead I am going to wait for Him, trusting in His control of my life. He will direct my path and cause my path to flourish if He is the one leading. God helps those who trust in Him.