Work as if it all depends on God?
January 24, 2025
After another round with Covid in the last year, God has been teaching me a few things about work/life balance, being realistic about my limits and trusting Him in the process of it all (which is much easier to write about than learn!).
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"Work as if it all depends on God"?
Yes, I realise that’s not how the saying goes. But no, it’s not a typo.
“Pray as if it all depends on God, work as if it all depends on you.”
That is the version we might be more familiar with. In other words: when you pray, pray hard! When you work, work hard! It’s some serious pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps wisdom. My adrenaline spikes just thinking about it.
But is this ‘wisdom’ really that wise? I think not.
The issue(s) with “pray as if it all depends on God”
- Our prayer does not need to be a feat of strength to convince God to help us. Yes, there is a place for continuing, ongoing prayer and petition. Take the parable of the unjust judge and the widow in Luke 18. She pesters him until he gives her what she wants. But the point Jesus makes is that God is not like the unjust judge—he doesn’t delay in granting justice. Yes, we have to exercise patience and perhaps pray for things over extended periods of time, but that doesn’t mean God needs convincing to hear our prayers. He is at work. He is on His way. Consider the reassurance of James 1:7: “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
- Prayer is as natural as everyday conversation: it is not a sales pitch. Talking to another person, most of the time, is a natural flowing process. Unless we’re nervous, stressed or angry, we just talk. Say what we want to say. Prayer is as ordinary as asking your spouse to pick up a pint of milk from the store. This is where I’m at, God. Yes, there are times where our prayers may have us on our knees because we’re praying about something that really hurts or scares us. Prayer has range. It doesn’t need urgency. It needs honesty. And God is in the pause.
- Yes, everything depends on God. But that was true before you started praying. (And God is aware.) Luke 12:22-31 reminds us not to worry because God has all things in his hands. Consider the lilies, the ravens, or the grass in the field. God was at work long before you existed and will be long after we’ve returned to the dust. Remember what Colossians 1 says about Christ as the image of God: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” However dark or confusing the world might be, however it might seem as if God were not present: His work is not finished. The end of the story has not come.
I prefer “pray as if it all depends on you” rather than “on God.” Why? Because if it does all depend on me, I quite quickly realise I need help. It brings me to my knees. It humbles me. If I am called to loving action within this world, then I know I’m not qualified and need help. I can’t remember who it is or where this comes from (and I’ll probably get the details wrong), but it’s the story of the guy who on his busiest days would have to get up extra early to pray for 2 hours to be able to survive the day. To do the work of doing justice, loving kindness and walking in humility (Mic 6:8) demands that I pray and do so in earnest, because on my own my actions are anything but.
In short, pray as it all depends on me reminds me that in prayer I approach a God who loves me, a God has it all in His hands, a God I come to in desperate need of His help to play my part.
But what about “work as if it all depends on me”?
I have a beef with this one too. It seems like a holy sanction of pushing ourselves to the limit. I don’t see much grace in such a pattern and it chafes against the picture of work and rest we see in Scripture.
Take the commandment to keep Sabbath. In Deuteronomy it is tied to what God has done in liberating his people from slavery in Egypt and making them into His own people:
“Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.”
The Israelites had been delivered from forced, heavy labour and provided with a promised land to till and inhabit. Everything they'd been given was grace: freedom to work, a land to farm and fruitful trees they did not plant. Stepping away from their work in the midst of all this grace kept their focus and reminded them it all depended on what God had brought about. It was an act of continued trust of that God's grace was enough in their life and livelihoods. And all were to rest from work on the Sabbath, not just those in charge but their slaves, immigrants and even the livestock. This was a gift for all not for those that deluded themselves into thinking they deserved it.
“Work as if it all depends on God” makes much more sense.
Why? Because:
- It reminds me I’m not responsible for the outcome. I am called to diligent, faithful work today, which contributes to the outcome. But I cannot control tomorrow. Disaster could strike. Sickness. The economy could crash. An ancient Israelite had no power over the sun, rain or harvest other than faithfully tending to their crops. We are subject to so many and changing dynamics in the world that are far above our paygrade. Thinking the outcome all depends on us is fantasy.
- It reminds me of the God who holds all things in His hands. Work is part of life, but it’s not to be idolized. The salvation we have is about eternal salvation from sin, but also safe passage through this life. That’s not to say life is free from suffering (quite the opposite), but that life under God is to be lived by active trust in God. Work is part of the things that God gives us along the way, but it’s just work. Part of a much bigger, divinely-held, whole.
- It lets me be human. I do the work I can do. I work within my limits and not even right at them. God is opposed to slavery in all forms, and that includes the kind that is self-imposed and self-driven. As an antedote to this, I heard of a great word recently: underscheduling. This is the idea that we ought to give ourselves space between appointments rather than cramming as much as possible into it all. It means leaving wiggle room for yourself: allowing more time than you need to drive to the store, do that project or to make that meeting. Rather than running our reserves down to almost empty and doing the most we can with as little as possible, underscheduling doesn't let the tank get below ¼ full. Life is a marathon not a sprint—and underscheduling is a way to pace oneself and (I suspect) trust God in the process, acknowledging we are embodied human beings, part of God's Creation and in need of breath, rest, and living within our limits.
Working as if it all depends on God invites me in to remember God is the one who brought me here, sustains me here and will take care of tomorrow. I do my part, but like all things: it’s ultimately in his hands. What grace!
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Photo by Spencer Scott Pugh on Unsplash
Are you 100% sure about that? Last December, Stephen and I headed for Prague for a few days. We were looking forward to Christmas markets, mulled wine, and shopping. Because we had booked a really early flight, we decided to stay in an airport hotel the night before. We hadn’t banked on one thing though: how to get from the bus station at Heathrow to the hotel. We could see our destination towering ahead of us as we exited the coach, but there was no reliable way to get there on foot. Much like Houston, navigating the surface roads of Heathrow is much easier for those in a car. So, we asked for directions from one of the airport staff. She pointed us over to two elevators, sat right next to each other. One had a line of at least twenty people. The other one had none. Those at the front of the queue hadn’t even pressed the button. That seemed strange and indicated that perhaps the people in line didn’t know what they were doing—or weren’t used to London airports. But why was one line so long and the other non-existent? The signs above weren’t exactly clear, but here were two lifts side-by-side, surely they went to the same place? Towards the back of the line was a middle-aged man, surrounded by luggage and family, who realised what we were trying to puzzle out. “Nah, you can’t use it. The other lift doesn’t go down. Doesn’t go to the same place,” he told us. We looked at him quizzically. “Are you sure?” we asked. “ One hundred percent , mate. One hundred percent.” The certainty with which he declared his answer was persuasive. He crowed like he was the CEO of the airport. That lift would not go where the other one was going. He repeated himself again. 100%. Only, he was wrong. We risked looking like fools. We walked to the vacant elevator, hit the button, and—lo and behold!—an elevator appeared that went to the exact same location as the other. The middle-aged man surrounded by luggage was 100%... in the wrong. Utterly and completely. *** Words, words, words, but no wisdom I don’t personally know the man who so-confidently revealed his wrongness. I’ve no idea whether his bluster was out of character from his usual self. But in the moment of our encounter, he acted every bit the ‘fool’ we find in Book of Proverbs: "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion." (Proverbs 18:2) There is much wisdom in Proverbs 17:28: Even fools who keep silent are considered wise; when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent. It seems to me that we live in a world saturated with words, whether written or spoken. There’s an ever-growing number of websites, social media platforms, podcasts, and so on. Even more so now with AI. Yet for all this verbal abundance, there does not seem to be any more wisdom than there used to be. I would argue with AI, there seems to be less (or perhaps it’s simply exposing our foolishness). Part of me wonders about the virtue of writing a blog, when these are so often half-thoughts, explorations, and ideas: am I just adding to the plethora of opinions that exist on the blogosphere? Last year, I was teaching on how to plan and lead funerals with our final year ordinands. I spoke with confidence about what works and what doesn’t. What the role of the cleric is, how to work with the grieving family, how to craft the sermon, what to do afterwards etc. It felt good to be able to give real, lived experience having worked in a church for a decade. But it was only during the Q&A when I realized something. I realized my confidence was borne of a very specific context: I ministered in a large, Episcopal church in Houston, Texas. Not a small parish church, somewhere remote in England. Did the wisdom and experience I bring still have value in the Church of England, where the Church is an established one? Where those who minister do among many people who don’t dare to cross the threshold of a religious building except in such moments of life and death? Now I happen to think it does; but only with some qualification. For what I realized in that moment is that it’s not quite as readily transferable as I’d assumed. Church cultures are different. Expectations are different. How people respond and react to their local vicar is different! What works in one scenario doesn’t necessarily work in another. Consider Proverbs 26:4-5: 4 Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself. 5 Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes. Proverbs 26 has a seeming contradiction that speaks to the importance of context. In the situation where you’re faced with someone spouting foolishness, what should you do? Speak or not speak? Engage or not engage? The modern equivalent to v.4 might be to say to yourself “not my monkeys, not my circus” and walk away. But what about the times when it is your circus? When they are your monkeys? What about when to walk away is to leave someone blind to their mistakes and doomed to make more? What if responding might feasibly help someone see beyond their own blinkers and make a different choice? Sometimes v.4 might be the path of wisdom. Other times it’s v.5. But it’s not always apparent which is which. Overconfidence is not just dangerous for making us look like fools or giving bad advice. If we stay in our certitude, we miss the heart of the issue revealed in these two verses: we need wisdom. So where do we find it? *** Does ‘wisdom come with age’? I’ve heard it said that ‘wisdom comes with age’. Ironically enough, this line was used when I was in something of a disagreement with someone much older than me. But claiming moral high ground or superior understanding on the basis of some unalterable characteristic that you have but I don’t, is more indicative of pride than wisdom. If age does come with wisdom, there would be no conflict or disagreement within the human species as we age. If age is the sole arbiter, we should collectively do better as the wrinkles and grey hairs multiply. Yet that’s not what happens. Wisdom, sadly, is not inevitable. It can come with age because of one very simple reality: the more time you’ve had on the planet means you’ve had more opportunity to become wise. Now whether or not you’ve taken those opportunities is quite a different thing! *** Wisdom: a gift that needs seeking Proverbs has an interestingly balanced view of wisdom. It is (1) something that requires active seeking, yet also (2) something which only God can give. Proverbs 2:1-4 talks about the need to exert effort in acquisition of wisdom. It’s not something that just lands on our laps: it asks you to be open to learning and sitting with what you receive (v.1), deliberate and intentional in putting your body in a space to grow in it (v.2), and vocal in your search for it (v.3). In other words: humble, open, and hungry. This passage concludes by likening it to searching for silver or hidden treasure (v.4). Think about that for a moment: do you search for wisdom in the same way you seek out growth in income or asset? From a human wisdom point of view, seeking financial gain for our security and future as we age (and our children grow and go off to college etc) makes good sense. But what if we were to seek wisdom with the very same fervour? What if wisdom had the same significance for our spiritual security and future? What if it is important to our growth in the Christian life and readiness for what may come our way? It’s a gift that needs seeking. But Proverbs tells us it is also a gift that is given. Verse 6 reveals “ the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding .” Our seeking is not the whole picture. Longing for wisdom does not mean we get it. Wisdom is God’s domain not ours. Proverbs 8 illustrates that God’s Wisdom is not something to acquire or harvest. It is not a commodity to be doled out. It is not a consumer good. Wisdom was present when God made the world. Wisdom is a part of God’s self that chooses when to be imparted and when not to be (compare 1:28; 8:17; 9:5, 16) The very fabric of our material world is infused with the mystery of Wisdom. Insight and understanding comes from God and helps us to navigate the complexity of our lives, but this gift is just a glimpse of a much greater reality of the divine Wisdom which exists eternally. This, perhaps, brings us back to where I started. True wisdom is never found in loud proclamations of “one hundred percent!”. Why? Because the one who is wise recognises they have a lot to learn. They know that new information can shift and reframe yesterday’s certainty. Maybe the first step is to stop claiming absolute certainty—to stop the all-or-nothing thinking. Maybe we start with recognising what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13: we only see in part, know in part, understand in part. And from there, we begin actively seeking that gift which only God—from His Wisdom—can give. Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars. 2 She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table. 3 She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls from the highest places in the town, 4 "You that are simple, turn in here!" To those without sense she says, 5 "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. 6 Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight." Proverbs 9:1-6 ****** Photo © Copyright Derek Harper and licensed for reuse under a cc-by-sa/2.0 Creative Commons Licence.
What do we do on days when God seems entirely absent? Some thoughts about where I see that in my life today and, looking back, recognising how much has changed.
