Encyclopedia of Spiritual Theology

The Failure of Relying on the Human Arm

As the Protestants exaggerated the importance of grace to the point that they neglected the aspect of struggle and work, likewise some have exaggerated the importance of work and struggle to the point that they have ignored the importance of the hand of God in their lives! They relied in their spiritual life on their human arm! We would like to explain to these the danger of relying on the human arm.

The Failure of Relying on the Human Arm¹

It is important for me to state an important principle for those who rely on the human arm:
Every successful work that you do alone, without involving God in it, will inevitably end in vain glory and self-exaltation.
But the work in which you feel that God Himself is the One who worked in you, and that He is the One who granted you the strength to accomplish it, and that you were merely an instrument in His divine hands to complete it—this work will become a means for glorifying God, praising Him, and thanking Him…
In such divine work, the self disappears, and God alone appears.

Therefore, you must involve God in your work, because He says, “Without Me you can do nothing.” Beware of working alone and without God!! Otherwise, you will attribute success to your determination, to the strength of your will, to your intelligence and ability, to your righteousness and piety, to the intensity of your resistance to sin, and to your success in your training… Thus everything becomes centered around yourself, and God disappears…!!

There is no doubt that there are works that God performs entirely, without any intervention from the human worker, and we will give examples of this:

† The miracles of raising the dead: it is clear that the dead person did not raise himself, but rather the Lord raised him; there is no role for human strength here. You too were dead in sin, and Christ raised you… Another example is incurable diseases that symbolized sin, such as leprosy, the man with the withered hand, the paralytic, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. All of them were healed by the Lord without their human arm.

“Consider me, O Lord, like this dead person who cannot raise himself, and like the leper who cannot cleanse himself.”

You, O Lord, are the One who can raise the dead and heal the leper.
You, O Lord, have worked with many who were powerless and unable to save their own souls, and You saved them. An example of this is our father Isaac… He was placed on the wood upon the altar, the fire was prepared, and the knife was raised above him. But You were the One who intervened at the decisive moment and saved Isaac.

† Another example is the barren woman, who by herself was unable to give birth, but by Your grace became fruitful more than all.
You are the One who opened her closed womb, and You gently said to her, “Sing, O barren, you who did not bear… for you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited… For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you” (Isaiah 54).

Yes, your soul may be barren, having not produced from itself a single virtue. But by the Holy Spirit it will have many children, and God will bless her children within her.
But without the Spirit of the Lord, she will not give birth, she will not bear fruit. “Children are a heritage from the Lord,” as the Scripture says. He alone is able to open the womb of the barren, as He did with Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, and Elizabeth.

Consider yourself like the dead who cannot rise by himself, like the leper who needs the Lord to cleanse him, and like the barren woman who does not give birth by herself, but the Lord opens her womb. Therefore, ask the Lord with all your heart.

Look at Samson, in his reliance on his strength, and in his reliance on the Lord…
What was the fate of his mighty human strength, which was able to tear out the gate of the city, kill the lion, and terrify people? It ended in ruin. The enemies seized Samson, put out his eyes, and made him grind at the mill like an animal. But finally, when he said, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes” (Judges 16:28), then the Lord gave him strength, and those whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life—because the hand of the Lord worked with him.

Therefore, ask for the intervention of the Lord in your life. But this does not mean that you sleep and become lazy and ask the Lord; rather, struggle with all your strength, without relying on that strength alone, because without the Lord you can do nothing…
Work, but do not work alone. Do not rely on your human arm, on your strength, your intelligence, or your piety. Know that without God you cannot succeed. And even if you do succeed, your success will be a failure, because it will become food for self-centeredness and vain glory.

† I admire a statement said by the Apostle Peter when God healed through his hands the lame man at the gate of the temple, and the people gathered around Peter and John in amazement. Peter then said to them:
“Why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus…” (Acts 3:12).

† Peter said this because he had previously experienced reliance on the human arm and gained nothing from it, at least in two important incidents:
The first was in fishing. He had toiled all night, using all his skill, experience, and ability in fishing. The result was his saying to the Lord, “We have toiled all night and caught nothing.”
But when the Lord entered his boat, and when He guided him where to cast the net and he cast it according to His will into the deep, then it brought in a great catch, so much that it was about to break.

The second experience Peter went through was in the incident of his denial of Christ. He relied greatly on himself, on his love for the Lord, and on his resolutions. He said to the Lord, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble… Even if I have to die with You…”
But Peter, relying on himself, denied Christ before a servant girl…
His good intention did not help him, nor his determination, nor his mere love, nor his resolutions, nor his enthusiasm with which he cut off the ear of the servant… If only he had turned his resolutions into prayer. If only he had said, “Grant me, O Lord, I who am weak, strength so that I may not deny You—strength by which, if Satan sifts me, I may stand firm…”

Many struggle alone. They toil, think, plan, and arrange their spiritual lives without caring to involve the Lord with them.

I will give you examples by which God intended to prove the failure of the self in all its gifts and aspects of strength.
Samson whose eyes were put out is an example of the failure of the human arm in strength. Solomon who burned incense to idols is an example of the failure of the human arm in wisdom. David who committed adultery and murder is an example of the failure of the human arm despite the abundance of his gifts. The Apostle Peter in his denial of Christ is an example of the failure of the human arm despite his enthusiasm, zeal, and sincerity. And Peter who toiled all night and caught nothing is an example of the failure of the human arm despite his experience and skill.

Therefore, having known the failure of the human arm in all its strength, wisdom, gifts, enthusiasm, zeal, skill, and experience—if you have known this—do not live independent of God, and do not struggle without His help.
Bring God with you in the small things and the great things…

Many ask for God only in serious matters, but in small matters they trust in their own strength, and thus they fail and fall. Therefore, Satan is concerned with these small matters and focuses on them to cause them to fall.
That is why the saints warn of a demon called “the demon of small things.”
For this reason, the Song says, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards.” As for you, involve the Lord even in the small things. Do not trust in your strength, no matter how trivial the matter may seem.

Many saints fell into sins they thought were “sins of beginners.” As for you, do not despise any sin, and do not think that there is a trivial sin that does not need the help of the Lord. Ask the Lord continually to work with you in every matter, whether difficult or easy.

Do not say, “This matter is easy, I will do it myself,” and “That matter is difficult, I need divine help in it.” The easy matter is the one in which God stands with you; otherwise, it becomes difficult. And the difficult matter is the one you do alone without God, no matter how easy it may appear.

I admire a fictional story that was told about Noah’s Ark. There were eight individuals in it: Noah and his wife, his three sons and their three wives… But it was said that there was a ninth in the Ark who was steering it, and without him the Ark would not have been saved. This ninth was God. Yes, is it conceivable that Noah entered the Ark without God entering with him?!

There is no doubt that divine providence is what leads us. Without it, our human arm cannot work… We plant and water, but God gives the growth.
So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:7).

If the angels had not saved Lot, he would have perished in Sodom. They seized him by the hand and pushed him when he hesitated, hastening his departure.
If God had not sent His angel to shut the mouths of the lions, Daniel would have perished in the den. And without the angel of God, Peter would have remained in prison.

Therefore, do not focus your thinking on yourself, your gifts, your ability, your understanding, your will, your determination, your plans, your training, your experience, or your purity. Fear greatly lest you be relying on a human arm…
Struggle, but not alone. Work, but do not rely on your work. Think, but “do not lean on your own understanding.” Look at electric bulbs: they may be strong, beautiful, of the best quality, with good wires and sound connections. But if the current does not flow through them, they will not shine. So are you…

There is a verse that I love for you to keep before you constantly as a motto:
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

It is true that you must work with God. He builds, and you hand Him the bricks, stones, and mortar, or you become a good stone in His hands. But do not think that you are the one building your life alone without Him. Listen to the Apostle Paul as he says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
He can do all things, but not alone—rather, through Christ who strengthens him. And if Christ does not strengthen him, he can do nothing.

(Continued) Article: The Failure of Relying on the Human Arm (p. 9)

Therefore, in the hymn we say to Him, “Hold my hand and lead me.” Say to Him, “O Lord, without You I can do nothing. Lead me. Guide me. Teach me Your ways, O Lord; make me understand Your paths.” “Open the eyes of the young man that he may see.” Grant me strength and help. Work in my weakness.

A beautiful word that Christ said to His disciples whom He Himself had trained:
“Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father… until you are endued with power from on high.”
And what about all our experiences, our knowledge, and our spirituality? And what about our long discipleship to You? Do not rely on yourselves. Wait for the Promise of the Father; wait until you are clothed with power from on high. “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and then you shall be witnesses to Me.” Then, and not before…

So too you: do not work unless you receive power from above. Seek this power with all your weakness, with all your prayers and supplications. Then you will bear witness to Him…
Thus, it is not by your human arm, even if you are an apostle and one of the twelve, but by the power with which you are clothed from on high. Not by your strength nor by your piety, but by the name of Jesus can this lame man walk. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

For every sin that confronts you, say to it, “I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts,” just as David said to Goliath. Bring the Lord into the battle, for the battle is the Lord’s. Be sure that the Lord fights with you. And if you do not feel Him, wrestle with Him until dawn and say, “I will not let You go unless You go with me.” And if You do not go with me, I will not fight and I will not go—just as the leader Barak said to the prophetess Deborah (Judges 4:8).

Be like the house built on the rock, “and the rock was Christ,” and then you will not fall. Do not build your house on yourself, for you are dust and ashes. The house built on dust will have a great fall…
The angels of the seven churches were in the right hand of Christ (Revelation 2), in the right hand of the Lord that has done valiantly (Psalm 118). Be you also in the hand of God. Be like a child walking on the road in peace because his father is holding his hand. Say to Him, “Do not leave me, O Lord, to myself and my intelligence; hold my hand.” “Oh Lord, if my mind and intelligence were left alone, apart from You, I would have perished…!!”

“Do not be haughty, but fear” (Romans 11:20). And if you fear, say to Him, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23).

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1. Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Sixth Year (Issue Fourteen), 4/4/1975.