"God helps those who help themselves...." / Seeds Of Turmoil

"God helps those who help themselves." Sounds good right? Is it right? Is is biblical?
I think part of the reason we say that is because we want to teach against laziness... or a lack of initiative.
The phrase is not a verse from the Bible... It was made popular by Ben Franklin... who probably got impatient with Christian who would say things like, "I'm just trusting the Lord" or "It's all up to God." or "I'm just waiting on the Lord." The saying came from Poor Richard's Almanac.
This saying has caused people to take matters into their own hands... showing a lack of trust in God. When people do that... things don't always end well.
The fact is... we don't realize the consequences that follow every decision we make. What might seem like a small choice can set the road for generations to come...

I recently finished the book Seeds of Turmoil, written by Bryant Wright.
This book takes us into the roots of the crisis in the Middle East.
Bryant Wright takes us to the very beginning to what started the whole mess...

Sarah, Abraham's wife... decided to take matters into her own hands, (she wanted to give God a hand)... she basically lacked faith that God would follow through with the promise He made to them, that He would make them into a great nation.
She gave Hagar her maid to Abraham... and from that Ishmael was born. God did keep His promise and Sarah at the age of 90... had Isaac.
From Ishmael we have the Arabs... and from Isaac we have Israel.

This was a good book that goes into detail about who, what , where... and why things are the way they are in the Middle East. I recommend it!

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