"God Helps Those Who Help Themselves" | The Bible Doesn't Say That | Trinity Sermons

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. In one survey where participants were

asked to quote any verse in the Bible, the majority

of them said, God helps those who help themselves.

But did you know that that's not actually in

the Bible? Well, this week we're beginning a

new teaching series called The Bible Doesn't

Say That, where we look at some of those nice

sounding phrases that are often attributed to

the Bible, but aren't really in there. So listen

in as Rob uncovers the real origin story of this

phrase, its biblical connections, and the deeper

biblical truth. Today's reading is from Exodus

Exodus 17:8–13

chapter 17, verses 8 through 13. The Amalekites

came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

Moses said to Joshua, choose some of our men

and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow

I will stand on top of the hill with the staff

of God in my hands. So Joshua fought the Amalekites

as Moses had ordered, and Joshua, Aaron, and

Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses

held up his hands, the Israelites were winning.

But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites

were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, They

took a stone and put it under him, and he sat

on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on

one side, one on the other, so that his hands

remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame

the Amalekite army with the sword. The word of

the Lord. If you were to ask the average person,

what was the fruit that Eve ate in the Garden

of Eden? Most of you would say it was an... But

the Bible doesn't say that. If I were to ask

you, you know, how many wise men visited the

baby Jesus? Most of you would say there were...

Right, but the Bible doesn't say that. Cleanliness

is next to godliness. Sounds good. But the Bible...

doesn't say that. In fact, there was a bit of

a survey that was done a little while ago by

Barna, and they found that a remarkable number

of people thought that the epistles were the

wives of the apostles. And they thought that

Noah's wife was Joan of Arc. So it's funny, yes,

but it's also a bit of a reminder that just because

we think that something is written in the Bible

doesn't necessarily mean that it is in fact in

the Bible. The Bible may not say that. And so

what we decided to do was to devote a whole teaching

series for a number of weeks. where we can take

a look at some of those things that we attribute

to God, and some of those things that we assume

are in the Bible, but are in fact not in the

Bible, and take a good look at that. Now, this

may seem like a bit of a silly topic, and you

might be thinking, oh, I know why Rob's doing

this. It's because we just spent like seven weeks

looking at the seven deadly sins, and now he

wants to lighten things up a little bit and make

it a little fluffier, but we are not. Turning

this into fluff. There's actually, this is no

laughing matter, right? And we're not going to

be just spending the next few weeks looking at

different Bible trivia. Oh, did you know this

was in the Bible? Oh, did you know that wasn't

in the Bible? No, no, no. This is more serious

than that. And here is why. Because when we believe

things about God and God's character and how

God works, and those things are actually not

true of who God is, and they're not actually

in the Bible, then that actually changes. our

view of God. It changes our perception of God.

And that can actually, in turn, cause us to come

to some kind of crisis of faith at some point

in our life because the God we made up in our

head is not the God that we actually need in

a moment when we need God the most. So perhaps

a better way of putting this would be to say

that when we blur the word of God, then what

ends up happening is we bend our image of God.

And that can cause us to break our faith in God.

Right? Let me give you a little example of this.

This past week, I was on the telephone with somebody

whose mother had just gone into hospital for

what was supposed to be a very routine surgery.

But things took a turn, and as a result, she

may never walk again. It was horrid. However,

what he said to me on the phone was, and I'm

quoting, he said, I thought God... was never

supposed to give us more than we can handle.

You probably heard that one too, right? But that

is not in the Bible. And so what has happened

is that the word of God, what the Bible says

about God, has been blurred. That has now bent

his image of God. And maybe this isn't a God

that he can trust. And now he's at risk of maybe

breaking his faith in that God. But the Bible,

of course, never said that to begin with. Now,

misunderstanding God's word is not a new problem,

actually. In fact, it was the very first problem.

In one of the first conversations ever held in

the Bible, it's Eve and Adam and they are in

the garden and they are having a conversation

with Satan, the serpent, right? And the very

first recorded words of Satan were these words.

Did God really say, Eve, did God really say you

can't eat of any of the fruit of the garden?

Did God really say that? Did God really mean

that? And actually, Eve kind of, she says, well,

no, he didn't exactly say that. He didn't say

we couldn't eat of any of the fruit in the garden.

He just said there's this one tree in the garden

that if we were to eat of that or even touch

that, then we would die. And so Satan says, oh,

come on, you will not surely die. Now, I just

want to say this is Satan's very first strategy.

And this is Satan's strategy even to this day,

to blur what God actually said so that it bends

our image of who God is and causes us to break

our faith in God. Now, if you fast forward to

the days of Jesus, Jesus had an encounter with

Satan as well, a temptation with Satan. But Jesus

responded in a very positive way and a helpful

way. Every time Satan came at Jesus with some

kind of statement, then Jesus would answer by

saying, well, actually, no, that's not what the

Bible says. It is written in the Bible, such

and such. And actually, at one point, Satan gets

smart to this. And so Satan says. He starts quoting

scripture to Jesus and Jesus actually realizes

he's twisting that and he's taking it out of

context. And so Jesus kind of relied on knowing

what the Bible really said so that he could respond.

when the time came so yes we're going to have

a little fun with this series but but i don't

want you to see it as like a laughable matter

we need to know what the bible really says because

we need to know who god really is so that we

can develop a faith that really endures and the

phrase that we're going to be looking at today

the one that bill crawford read from the book

of fabrications is God helps those who help themselves.

You've heard this one before. You've probably

said this one before. God helps those who help

themselves. Actually, most people say it. The

Bible says God helps those who help themselves.

There was apparently a survey, again, I think

done by Barna Research, that over 75 % of Americans

believe that God helps those who help themselves

is found in the Bible. Canadians, I think, are

at least a little bit smarter than Americans.

So if we were to do the survey here, it might

come out to be something like 70%. But they actually,

there was another little poll they did where

they literally went up to people on the street

and they said, hey, just tell us one verse that's

in the Bible, any verse, give us any Bible verse.

And the verse that was most commonly cited was

in fact this verse. that isn't actually in the

Bible at all. I mean, this sounds like it should

be in the Bible, right? It's the kind of, you

know, it really makes sense to us. In fact, I

was just thinking the other day when our daughter

Sophia went off to a university, we kind of worked

this deal with her. We said, listen, we will

help with residents and we'll help, you know,

with your food plan and getting some books and

stuff like that. But we want you. To do your

part. And we want you to get a summer job so

that you can help pay your tuition. So you do

your part and we'll do our part. Right? God helps

those who help themselves. It's the kind of thing

that we would do. And so we assume that that

must be kind of how God is as well. But today,

let's ask three questions. The three questions

I want to ask, and these are all in your notes,

by the way. The three questions are, where did

this saying come from? If it's not in the Bible,

where did it come from? Secondly, is there any

truth to it? And then thirdly and lastly, what

does the Bible really say? Okay, let's start

with this first question. Where did it come from?

Well, you do a little digging. And you discover

that this phrase is traced back, not to the Bible,

but 500 years before Jesus, there was this guy,

Aesop. You guys have heard of Aesop's fables?

Yeah, yeah. So Aesop wrote a fable, and this

particular fable was called Hercules and the

Wagoner. And in the fable, what essentially happens

is there's this guy, he's driving a wagon through

a field. The wagon gets mired and stuck in some

mud. And so... The guy, he gets out of his wagon,

gets off his horse or whatever, and he gets down

and he cries out to Hercules for help. He says,

oh, Hercules, help me in my hour of distress.

And sure enough, Hercules shows up. But when

Hercules appears, this is what Hercules says.

He says, man, don't sprawl there. Get up and

put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods help

those who help. The moral of the story, according

to Aesop, is you don't sit around and wait for

divine help to come, right? You've got to be

willing to do your part. The gods reward those

who make a little effort, and they're not idle.

So, a short while later, there was this other

guy named Euripides. He was a Greek... playwright.

And he picked up on this phrase as well. And

it's slightly different wording, but in one of

his plays, he put something like this, try first

thyself and then call on God. So for the worker,

for what? For the worker, God helps. God helps

the worker. In other words, you got to work at

it and then God will help you. And that fit really

well with Greek. philosophical worldview that

said that the gods are especially partial to

those who are willing to put in a little bit

of effort and take some initiative. But really,

it became popular in the English language because

of Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin in the

1700s, some book he wrote full of pithy little

sayings called Poor Richard's Almanac. And in

that book, he writes, God helps those who help

themselves. And that aligned really well with

American values at the time, which was all about

determination and hard work. And so that's how

it came to us. That's how it came to us. Search

the Bible, you will not find it. But Aesop and

Euripides and Benjamin Franklin and probably

hundreds of other instances of how this idea

trickled down to us and now we assume that somehow

it came from the Bible. But I think an even more

interesting question is this, not just how it

got to us, but is there any truth to it, right?

And I think, and maybe you'd agree with me, that

yes. There's got to be some truth to this because

that's why it's so catchy and why we latch onto

it. You know, a few years ago when we moved here

to Mississauga, we had this ginormous bench.

It was almost like a pew. It was huge. And we

had to get it up our stairs to the top floor.

And there was no way I could do it. So I needed

some help. And so Hercules wasn't available.

And so I called on the next best person I knew,

Jordan Goddard. So Jordan, he came over. If you

know Jordan, he's a pretty strong fella. And

we got this thing up the stairs. Now, what if

when Jordan had come over, I had just sat there

in the corner, and Jordan was like, well, Rob,

aren't you going to help me with this? And I

said, no, no, I just thought you'd do it. He'd

say, well, listen, Rob, if you're not going to

do your part, there's no way I'm going to do

my part. And I think there's some truth to that

with God. Isn't there some truth? If you need

a job, yes, you should pray for a job. But you

should also get out there and apply for jobs.

You should create a resume. You should network.

You should go around and knock on a few doors.

God is not going to cause all the employers to

just call you. right? Or Jesus, you know, Jesus

said this once. He said, look at the birds of

the air, right? They're not sowing or reaping

or storing away in barn. It's your heavenly Father

feeds them. And that is true. I've never seen

a bird that looked particularly worried. And

yet, at the same time, they don't just stand

there with their mouths open waiting for God

to miraculously feed them. No, birds are actually

pretty busy. They're always doing something.

I don't know what they're doing, but they're

busy out there. They're working hard. They're

building nests. They're getting worms, whatever.

And the point is, is that they're working somehow

in cooperation with God's help. Now, the same

goes for human beings. In fact, Paul has this

great line in 2 Thessalonians. He says, those

who are unwilling to work will not get to eat.

In other words, God does, in a way, help those

who are diligent and those who are busy. God

does not want us to be passive and just sitting

around. One author I was reading this week kind

of put it this way. He said, generally speaking,

God will not generally do for you. what he enables

you to do for yourself. So if you have a test

coming up this week, high schoolers, it doesn't

mean you don't have to study for your test. No,

you've got to study for your test. You better

study for your test. You know, if you feel like

you don't want to go to work, well, no, you better

go to work. You got to go to work and you better

show up with a good attitude. Why is that? Because

God has enabled you to do some things on your

own. And there's some expectation that you're

going to do what you've been enabled and gifted

to do. So God gave you a mind, right? God gave

you a body. He gave you a will. So use it, right?

God does help us in a way. God does help us when

we help ourselves. So that being said, that being

said, It is also very important to say that that

is not the moral of the story when it comes to

the Bible. You actually, if you were to read

the Bible, you would never come away with the

idea that this book is about how God helps those

who help themselves. No, really what the Bible

really says is definitely something like this.

God helps those who can't. help themselves. Now,

you won't find this in the Bible either. This

line is also not in the Bible, so don't go look

for it. That's not a verse, but this is what

the Bible is about, right? This is what the Bible

is about. The story, in fact, of God's people.

begins with a cry for help. The Israelites groaned

in their slavery. Remember, they were slaves

in Egypt. And they cried out and their cry for

help because of their slavery went up to God.

God heard their groaning and he remembered his

covenant. God didn't hear their cry for help

and say, put your shoulder to the wheel and push

a little harder. Or I only help those who've

helped themselves. I want to see you take some

initiative first. No, no, no. God just helps.

God's heart. and God wants to help his people.

You know, throughout the Bible, God is constantly

helping people who can't help themselves. What

kind of people? People who are like needy people.

God helps weak people. God helps sad people.

God helps sick people. God helps lonely people.

God helps people who are like up to their eyeballs

in troubles. God helps people who ask. God helps

people who can't help themselves. In fact, sometimes

you could even accuse God of going a little too

far in his help. You know, there's one time Jesus

said that one of the characteristics of God is

that God causes the sun to rise on evil people

and good people. And God sends rain on righteous

people and unrighteous people. He's helping everyone

out, even people we think maybe don't deserve

God's help. This is, as you start reading through

the Bible, you see it again and again. God is

someone who helps. I lift up my eyes to the hills,

the psalmist says. From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and

earth. Elsewhere, the psalmist says, God is our

refuge and our strength. A very present help

in trouble. Or another, this is also in the book

of Hebrews. The Lord is my helper. I will not

fear. What can man do to me? I don't know if

you, I mean, some of you guys will know this.

This is a classic old hymn. We haven't sang this,

at least in the four years I've been here, but

some of you guys will know this. Isaac Watts,

sing it with me, would you? Sing it with me.

Oh God, our help in ages past, our hope for years

to come. Our shelter from the stormy blast and

our eternal home. That was beautiful. I like

your, you got a good job. Yeah, yeah. God is

a helper. God's a helper. He's not a coach. He's

not cheering you on from the sides. He's not

a critic, pointing out all the things you've

done wrong. He's not a consultant who's there,

you know, if you can afford his fee, right? God

helps those who can't help themselves. And thank

goodness, because we all need help, right? I

need help. And I'll tell you a secret about you.

You need help. In fact, turn to the person beside

you and say, you need help. Yeah. Yeah. There

are many areas in life where you need help, right?

And here's the problem. The bigger the problem

is, actually, the more help that we need. But

sometimes if we don't get help, then little problems

become into great big problems, right? A little

bit of overspending turns into like full -blown

debt. A little bit of unresolved conflict becomes

a broken marriage. A little bit of flirting becomes

a devastating divorce. A bad habit becomes an

addiction. Why? Because we didn't get help. We

need help. Without help, little things grow into

big things. Now, our pride says, don't ask for

help. You don't need help, right? You know, you

can fix this yourself. Pride says that actually,

pride makes us think that asking for help is

a sign of failure. But what I want to say to

you today is asking for help is actually a sign

of faith. Because what you're doing is you're

admitting your need for God and coming to God

to ask for help. is really the beginning of faith.

If you've ever had that moment where you're like,

I'm at the end of my rope. I don't know what

to do. I've got no more options. I'm stuck. Then

finally, you know, you've let go of your pride

and you're in the perfect position to seek help

from God. And you might now say, well, how do

we get help from God? Well, even Aesop knew how,

right? It's through prayer. Again and again and

again, the Bible shows us that those who, that

God helps those who pray. those who ask for help.

So the Bible doesn't say, you know, we should

be people of self -help. It says we should be

people who look for help in prayer. Now, I just

want to say right away, some of you will not

like this whole conversation about prayer because

you're disappointed with prayer because you prayed

for things before and it has not happened. Or

you feel guilty when it comes to prayer because

you're like, oh, I ought to pray more and I don't

pray enough. Or some of you, you know, you are

confused by prayer because other people around

you seem to have these wonderful experiences

of prayer, but that's not been your experience.

And some of you, obviously, lots of us, skeptical

about prayer, not really sure if praying actually

does anything at all. Or maybe you're on the

other side, and you're like that story we just

read from Exodus. where prayer has been a lifesaver

for you. Guys, let's just take a look at this

story. This is like a crazy, crazy story. So

here's the situation. Israel was on their way

to go to the promised land. And on their way

to the promised land, they get attacked by this

group of people called the Amalekites. And so

Moses needs a plan. He's got to figure out what

to do. And so he calls his general, Joshua, together.

He says, Joshua, we've got to have a strategy

session. What are we going to do with these Amalekites?

And they talk and talk. And finally, Moses comes

up with the weirdest plan. He says, here's the

plan. You, Joshua, you choose some of your men

and you go fight the Amalekites. And I will stand

on top of that hill with the staff of God in

my hand. That's the plan. That's the plan. Yes,

that's the plan. And then, of course, the next

morning, that's exactly what happens. Joshua

goes out to the battlefield and him and his men,

you know, start fighting. And Moses climbs the

hill along with his brother Aaron and another

fellow called Hur. And Moses lifts his arms toward

God. This is a posture of prayer. This is a posture

of asking God for help. Now, the text actually

doesn't tell us what Moses... We don't know,

and maybe it wasn't much of a prayer at all.

But that's okay, because actually... Prayer isn't

about our impressive words, right? It's not so

much how you pray, but to whom you are praying.

And so there's Moses. There he is with his arms

lifted up. And this is the weird thing. Help

comes. Power from heaven seems to come and help

the fighting down in the valley. Whenever, you

know, Moses has got his arms up in the air asking

for help, it seems like the Israelites are winning.

The battle is going in their favor. But of course,

over time, his arms get weak. gets tired. And

when his staff comes down, the fighters seem

to lose heart. Something changes. The power shifts.

And now they are, in fact, being defeated. And

so he has to lift his hands up again. The point

is this. There is a lot more to this fight going

on than just soldiers and swords and all that.

There is a help coming from God. And when Moses

lifts his hands in prayer, help comes. Guys,

that is a perfect picture for us, actually, that

we all need help. And the way we ask for that

help is to lift our hands to God in prayer. And

we're all fighting battles, right? I'm not sure

what battle you're fighting, whether it's something

at work or at home or something with your finances

or even health. You have a health battle that

you're facing. At any time, you can raise your

hands and you can pray and you can ask for help.

Because what this story shows us is that God

is able to help. God is able to create the universe,

to speak the universe into existence. God is

able to part the waters of the Red Sea. God was

able to feed 5 ,000 people with a few bread.

God was able to open the eyes of blind people.

He was able to help lame people walk. He was

able to help deaf people hear again. God was

able to raise dead people. back to life, right?

I could actually talk to some people in this

room, and you would be able to tell me, let me

tell you how God showed me at a time of need

that he was able. There are lots of those stories

out there, 100%. But of course God is able. God

wouldn't be God if God didn't have power, if

God wasn't able. But that's just the thing. We

don't just need a God who's able. We need a God

who is willing, and we'll get to that in a second.

But check this out. God is able. To do immeasurably

more than all we can ask and imagine. Let's look

at how this sentence builds. God is able. Okay,

good. God is able to do more than we ask. God

is actually able to do immeasurably more than

all we ask. Or God is able to do immeasurably

more than all we ask. Or imagine, just keeps

on going and going and going. But you see, the

thing is, we don't just need a God who is able

to help. We also have to have a God who is willing

to help. Who cares if God is powerful if he doesn't

care about us enough to come and help us? Strength

wouldn't matter at that point. But he is willing.

He's willing to hear your cry. He is willing

to come to your aid. He is willing to carry your

burdens. God is not just mighty. He is merciful.

God is not just able, but he's available. He's

available, right? In fact, he is so willing that

in order to help us, he became like us. He took

on flesh. He came right down to our level to

care for us. Now, get this, though. Even more

than this, Jesus was so willing to help us that

as a human, He became a person who needed help

himself. Jesus would have had to say, Mommy,

feed me. Mommy, help me walk. Mommy, Daddy, help

me tie my sandals. I need help. Jesus knows what

it is like to need help. Even at the end of Jesus'

life, do you remember this story? Jesus needed

help. When he was carrying his cross, to his

moment of crucifixion and death, he couldn't

carry it alone. He needed help. So they grabbed

this guy from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, and

they made him carry the cross for Jesus. And

on that cross, Jesus gives us the greatest help

we could ever need for the greatest problem we

ever faced. Because when we were utterly helpless,

Christ came at just the right time and died for

us sinners. So whether you look at the birth

of Jesus, the life of Jesus, or the death of

Jesus, God knows what it's like to be weak, to

be small, and to need help. But he was also able

to, also willing to give up everything to experience

what it was like to need help. That God is not

distant. That is not a disinterested God. That

is a God who is both able and willing. And, by

the way, waiting, waiting. to help you right

now. Just before I end, I think it is worth noting

that once you come to grasp how God is willing

and able to help you, it should change our hearts

and make us the kind of people that are willing

and able to help. Don't you find it interesting

that when Moses' hands were getting weak up there

and his strength started to give out, it was

his friends who came along and helped lift up

his hands for him. They were his helpers, right?

And somehow in all that mess of help and weakness,

God's power was unleashed. And when you see people

in your daily life who are in need, you may be

tempted to say, ah, God helps those who help

themselves. We may be like Hercules. We may have

the strength to help someone, but we figure they

should figure it out on their own. Maybe one

thing you can do this week when you leave here

is to look around you a little more carefully

and see whose arms are getting weak and who needs

help. Will you be like her or will you be like

Hercules? Will you help or will you refuse to

help in the time? comes. So there you go. The

Bible doesn't say that. You know, when we were

babies, we needed help eating and walking and

dressing. And guess what? If you live long enough,

you're going to need help again, eating and walking

and dressing, right? We are born needing help.

And we die needing help. But in the middle of

our life, we sometimes convince ourselves that

we don't need help. But we do. And all it takes

is a phone call from the doctor. All it takes

is a pink slip from work. And we realize we need

help. The good news is not that God helps those

who help themselves. The good news is that God

hears your prayer for help, is able and willing

to give help. May even use a church like this

to supply the help that you need when your arms

are growing weak. And why is that? Because God

helps those who can't help themselves. People

like you and people like me. Thanks be to God.

Amen. Thank you for listening to this week's

episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded

at Trinity Church Streetsville on April 27, 2025.