There is no amount of human effort that can produce the result that only God can produce. It does not matter how hard you work, if God does not use your efforts, they will be barren. This statement should not be misconstrued as an attempt to detract from the nobility or necessity of hard work. There is no doubt that hard work has its place in the pursuit of fruitfulness in life. However it is a secondary place. Mere human effort without the influence of the Holy Spirit on it is useless to God. It was when God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, that He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. (Acts 10:38).
“Doing good” in God’s view describes what the Holy Spirit initiates and sustains through a human being. God is hardly impressed by what I can do for Him, but by what He can do through me. This is a major reason why, more often than not, He chooses those whom people generally do not consider qualified. God’s timeless principle of partnership with mankind is the following: “… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’…” (Zec 4:6). If we want what we do in life to count with God, we must do it by the Holy Spirit. In other words, we need to yield to His Spirit and let Him work through us to bring glory to God. Any attempt to live the Christian life that is not based on the power of the Holy Spirit will be unsuccessful.
“So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy” (Rom 9:16). In as much as it is good and even necessary to exercise the will and to make diligent effort, it is not sufficient to make us what God wants us to be. Without the mercy of God, our most concerted effort will amount to nothing. As long as we think we we have something worthwhile of the flesh to offer God, our experience will be summed up in one word: ICHABOD.
Therefore, like Jesus who said, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (Jn 5:30), let us humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God, and acknowledge that without His mercy we are nothing and have nothing to offer. Shalom.
