690) There are plenty of times that I have thought that God’s help should be His independent work and action. I’ll ask for healing, victory, courage and more and then I’ll sit back and wait for God to do these things. Sometimes God does just this but most of the time, He is working toward a special goal and/or help for us but He expects us to do our part.

In Joshua 8:1, God tells Joshua that Ai will be destroyed, but He still expected the Israelites to do the work. This is not a matter of “God helps those who help themselves”; something I think is quite narcissistic. God will deliver, will aide, will strengthen and many, many more things, but He often expects us to be involved. These ideas are actually encouraging. It is humbling to me that God wants us to be involved in bringing about His will and purposes. He doesn’t have to involve us, but He wants to and expects it. The battle is won, but we still need to fight.