Sometime in the first couple years after I graduated from college, a classmate of mine posted a link to a web comic of sorts on her Facebook page. I've forgotten the exact words, the exact details of the comic, but it illustrated the difference between wishing and hoping for something to happen vs. taking action and making that thing happen. It appeared to paint the Christian faith as the former; it painted the idea that praying and trusting in God as some kind of victim-mentality approach to reaching one's goal vs taking action steps to make the goal happen.
I now think of it more as commentary on how non-Christians have seen Christians, particularly American Christians, practice their faith. (I don't know that the creator of the strip saw it that way, but it's how it came across to me, anyway.) For example, "Let go and let God" has been a common saying among many mainline churches (especially megachurches) for the last several decades. The idea here is for us to surrender control of whatever it is we pray for, seek, desire, want, need, etc. Where I think it has gotten twisted, however, is the idea that letting go of control means we just do nothing and expect God to do everything. I'm not saying it can't happen that way; I am saying that typically, letting go and letting God means trusting God to direct our path, while we still are active doing the things we are already doing in our lives.
For example, I do remember the comic strip commenting about losing weight, and the commentary specifically painted two diametrically opposing approaches: 1.) praying to God to lose weight, but doing nothing; 2.) taking action steps, like dieting and exercise, but not even including God at all in the process.
For the record, I'm not even saying there aren't cases where the latter doesn't work -- in fact, one could successfully argue that the latter approach, taking action but not including God -- does work. For that goal. But, the person that does that runs the risk of idolatry: whether it's idolizing the goal itself, or idolizing the process itself, or worse, idolizing themselves, because, "wow, what a good job I did at reaching this goal! It's all because of me!"
The thing is, the non-Christians aren't inherently wrong on this. To a great extent, no matter what one's goal is, one has to put in the effort. If you want a healthier body (whether that revolves around physical appearance or around physical energy), sitting around doing nothing but hoping and wishing for it won't bring about the change you desire. Rather, looking at what you eat, doing some research, and then implementing a change in your eating plan will go much further toward positively affecting your body. (I've actually been there myself recently -- I've been having sustained gut issues for the last few months. I did nothing for the first couple months, and predictably my body didn't get better. It was only once I started systematically making changes, including seeing a doctor and a gut specialist, as well as switching around several foods that I regularly eat, that change started occurring.)
I think about famous figures in history. Because of the simple fact that they took action, we remember their names:
Abraham Lincoln didn't sit by when the young United States were in tension over the issue of slavery. God called him to step into politics, first and foremost: first, as a lawyer; second, as a congressman; third, as the president of the United States. He oversaw the Civil War, and used his skills as a lawyer and politician to push the 13th Amendment into law, the first step towards criminalizing slavery. While he also oversaw the end of the Civil War, he would be assassinated before he could have the opportunity to oversee the next phase, Reconstruction.
Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't sit by when God called him to speak out against the Jim Crow segregation laws. He first chose to step into the call of pastorship. Then, he started speaking out against specific local laws that discriminated against African Americans, including initiating the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and organizing rallies to overturn similarly unjust laws in Albany, Georgia, in Birmingham, Alabama, and in Selma, Alabama. He didn't stop there: he continued saying "yes" to the call of speaking out against other injustices across the US, and continued spurring on those who only had known oppression to continue standing up, just as he had done. Like Lincoln, his choice to answer the call cost him his life in the same manner.
Harriet Tubman didn't sit by when God called her to free others from slavery. Due to her plantation owners trying to sell her (she had struggled with illness off-and-on, possibly related to aftereffects from head trauma she incurred as an adolescent and was deemed useless), she was motivated to gain freedom for herself. She returned back to the area where she had been in slavery, risking her own freedom, let alone her life, to bring others also to freedom. (About 70 in all.) Not only that, but she also helped many of them find work. Later, she served as a cook in the Union Army during the Civil War. She spent the latter portion of her life helping with the women's suffrage movement.
Martin Luther (not King, Jr.) didn't sit by when he saw his beloved Roman Catholic Church increase in corruption. God called him to speak out, particularly against the indulgences that the papacy was selling, a way of manipulating church-goers spiritually to make extra money. Speaking out cost him his freedom; he was consigned to a tower as a result. But in that tower, Jesus led him to translate the Holy Scriptures -- at that time only written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin -- into German. He paved the way for Europeans who didn't understand Latin to be able to see and hear the Scriptures in their native languages, and paved the way for the Bible to be translated into many other languages, including French, Spanish, Dutch, and English. Personally I have him to thank for being able to read a Bible in my own language.
There are many others, of course. But here is something else (and it may shock some people). The Bible also is full of people who took action:
Abraham (not Lincoln) didn't sit by when God called him to be a father of what would eventually become the Israelite nation. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." Genesis 12:2, NIV. His challenge was believing and following through, given his wife, Sarah, was unable to conceive any children for a long time. (Abraham did try to get around that by having a child -- Ishmael -- with someone else.) God did call him again, though, 24 years later, and still no child with Sarah, to be a father of the Israelite nation. Eventually they did have a child, Isaac, in their old age (Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 (??!?)). But that's not all -- years later, God even called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on top of one of the mountains, to see if he would actually obey Him. God did tell Abraham to instead sacrifice ram in a nearby thicket, once He saw Abraham was willing to sacrifice his long-awaited-for son. After this, through the succeeding generations, did Abraham's family line expand to a fuller-size family, and later, into a nation.
Joseph didn't sit by when God called him, through indentured servitude and prison, to lead a nation about to go through a drought. His story began with circumstances out of his control that happened to him. His father, Jacob, gave him a coat that made him the envy of the family (and his older brothers already hated him). His older brothers, jealous of both their father's favor on him, and Joseph’s typically annoying little-brother behavior (“I got a coat! nyah-nyah-nyah!”),tricked him into being sold into slavery. That led him to more circumstances out of his control in Egypt: working as a slave for one of the Pharaoh's officials, being thrown into prison, until eventually, finally being promoted to second-in-command to the Pharaoh. But even though Joseph had all these circumstances put on him, he jumped on opportunities to serve well:
- When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. Genesis 39:3-4, NIV.
- “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.” Genesis 40:8, NIV.
- In the end, he reaped. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” Genesis 41:41, NIV.
Gideon didn't sit by when God spoke to him while he was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress, hiding from his country's rival the Midianites, who were oppressing them at the time. Even though he questioned God about his calling (“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Judges 6:15, NIV) he obeyed. God's promise to be with him helped change his mind. On God's command, Gideon pulled down his father's altar to a foreign deity that they had been worshiping, and also cut down a precious pole standing next to it. His father's response to the townspeople who were angry at his actions: But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” Judges 6:31, NIV. Gideon went on to defeat their country's enemy, the Midianites, and finally put that rivalry to an end.
David didn't sit by when God -- via Samuel -- called him to become king of Israel, once He had decided Saul was no longer fit for the job. David stepped up when Israel's present enemy, the Philistines, led by their giant leader Goliath, was threatening to take over the kingdom. While the other Israelites -- including King Saul -- gave into their fear of the Philistines and particularly Goliath, David trusted God when he felt He was giving him an inside opportunity to defeat them. Not only did David topple Goliath, but he also finished the job by cutting off his head. (Yes, the Bible has bloody moments. Just like every honest history book ever written.) David also continued to trust God to protect him for the next few years while evading Saul, who tried repeatedly to kill him. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." Psalm 23:5a, NIV. But in the end, David ends up, through his relationship with God, and by God's grace, the best king in Israelite history.
Paul didn't sit by when God directly and supernaturally intervened as he was en route to Damascus. God told him in direct terms that he was persecuting Him. "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? ... I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Acts 9:4,5, NIV. (Paul up until that point was a Pharisee -- the equivalent to modern radical rule-enforcing, shaming, right-wing American Christian.) During the three days that he was blind (and also not eating anything), he spent the entire time with God, during which their time together transformed him and completely changed the rest of his career. Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. Acts 9:17-18a, NIV. Paul dedicated the rest of his life to telling the Good News about Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, visiting and writing letters to churches that been planted across what is now Turkey, across Greece, and ultimately in Rome. His actions cost him his freedom, and in the end his life as well.
And of course, there were many more individuals scattered through the Bible. You might have noticed I didn't include Jesus on this list. Of course He would be the most prime example! And truly, all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are full of example after example where He followed His Father's call, healed where He was called to heal, delivered where He was called to deliver, spoke hard truth where He was called to speak hard truth. But, what is also true is that Jesus was perfect. And is perfect. For mature Christians, this wouldn't be a preclusion whatsoever. But for non-Christians and/or new Christians, the truth of Jesus' perfection could theoretically come as a handy excuse for dismissing the magnitude of all that He did. I know in my own journey I've done that a lot, by discounting my own call with the idea that there's no way a vastly flawed human being such as myself could ever live up to a call that the perfect Creator and King of the universe has put on me. But that's the point with sharing about all the others: Abraham, Joseph, Gideon, David, and Paul; along with Lincoln, King, Tubman, and Luther. They were all flawed people, just like anyone not named Jesus. And they still were called. And they were able to obey.
Here's something else that may shock some people: the Bible also has a bunch of proverbs (particularly in a book titled Proverbs) that speak directly about passivity.
- Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! Proverbs 6:6, NIV.
- Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs 10:4, NIV.
- As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so are sluggards to those who send them. Proverbs 10:26, NIV.
- The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway. Proverbs 15:19, NIV.
- A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth! Proverbs 19:24, NIV.
- The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work. Proverbs 21:25, NIV.
- A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. Proverbs 26:15, NIV. (Looks a lot like Proverbs 19:24... hmm...)
Finally, in my own personal life I have been hearing Jesus gently challenging me, specifically my own avoidance pattern, as well as spots of coldness in my heart that may be directly related. More recently, I have been reading a story that God has been using to reveal deeper pains and yearnings that I have, and I believe He has been using it to prepare me to answer the next call. My prayer, like the above historic figures, is to not let fear impede my obedience like it has in the past, regardless of how extravagant or how humble the call may be.
In both the Bible and in human history people have been called to great and extraordinary things, to great and extraordinary cost. And these people obeyed the call. The individuals in the Bible that God called are no different than the individuals in more recent history that God also called. First, it shows that true Biblical Christianity is not being a victim and relying on mere wishing and hoping for a goal or a call to be accomplished; rather, Scripture shows that it does take action and that it's no different from the rest of human history in this regard. Second, because it confirms the above, it too must be a history book. In the same way that my previous post revealed that bloodiness, defilement, rape, and murder are every much a bit of history (both Biblical and otherwise) as all the good things, seeing folks answer the call to lead and serve and change lives for the better are also reliable indicators of not only something being historical, but also being consistent with history, both forwards and backwards.
It's up to us to make history once again by following God's leading.
It's up to us to make history once again by following God's leading.