Human Solutions and Divine Solutions

 

Every person in life encounters problems or tribulations that need to be decided and resolved. But should he solve them in a human way or in a divine way? Should he handle the matter himself, or leave it for God to resolve? Let us reflect today on the subject of human and divine solutions.

Wrong Human Solutions:

It is astonishing that even some saints resorted to human solutions.

† Take, for example, Abraham, the father of the fathers and prophets, concerning offspring:

God promised him that He would give him descendants as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea. Many long years passed, and he was not granted offspring, so he resorted to human methods: he took Hagar and considered her his wife. The human method produced a quick result—a son—but not according to God’s promise.

The human solutions through which he took Hagar, he also applied with Keturah:

The Scripture says, “Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah” (Gen. 25:1–4).

The human solution brought quick results. But God was not pleased with it.

We did not hear that God blessed Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian…!

† Among the wrong human ways of obtaining offspring was the sin of the two daughters of Lot, which resulted in two sons, yet the Lord did not bless them.

† How many human methods there are for obtaining offspring, and how futile they are!!

Among the human solutions that our father Abraham also used was saying about his wife Sarah that she was his sister, in order to save himself.

A method that almost led to disaster, had not the Lord rescued him from it. The king rebuked him for it, saying, “Why did you deceive me?”

† Rebekah also resorted to human solutions so that Jacob might obtain the blessing!

She clothed him with goats’ hair. The trick succeeded, he deceived his father, and he obtained the blessing. Yet he remained miserable because of this for more than twenty years, and deceit pursued him in his marriage and from his children. If only he had waited for the Lord and His promises.

The partial and quick success that accompanies human solutions entices many souls, forgetting the other harms that result from them…!

See how many troubles Jacob suffered for accepting human solutions, while he was afraid and fleeing from Esau in a land of exile. Yet human tricks did not leave him, especially when he wanted his flocks to increase (Gen. 31). His uncle Laban also used human methods when he deceived him and gave him Leah instead of Rachel.

Human solutions are quick in result, but they are wrong and unblessed. As for divine solutions, they may be slow, but they are spiritual and wholly good.

† Moses the prophet resorted to human methods when he killed the Egyptian. God did not approve of his way and taught him meekness in the wilderness.

† The Apostle Peter did likewise when he cut off the servant’s ear.

The Lord Christ rebuked him, saying, “Put your sword in its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Christ preferred the way of the Cross and Golgotha.

† The Jews also resorted to human solutions when they wanted to make Christ king to save them from Roman rule.

But Christ rejected this solution, because His kingdom is not of this world, and because the divine solution is the Cross and redemption. The human solution of kingship had its roots in the temptation of kingship with which the devil tempted Him on the mountain, which He rejected just as He rejected turning stones into bread.

We must know the divine solution and not rely on our own understanding. For man’s problem lies in his mind, which invents human solutions that do not agree with God’s will.

Therefore, those who most resort to human solutions and depend on them are the intelligent. It was about such intelligence that it was said of the serpent that it was “more cunning than any beast of the field.” It used its intelligence and not God’s wisdom.

When will man try to bring God into his life, to rely on God’s solutions more than on his human intelligence, and to contemplate the work of the Lord?

Divine Solutions:

Among the pure who relied on divine solutions was Joseph the righteous. Joseph the righteous was silent in all his trials and waited for the divine solution.

He was sold as a slave and did not speak nor open his mouth. In Potiphar’s house, he was falsely accused and cast into prison. He remained silent and waited for God’s intervention with His holy solutions. God intervened, and Joseph reached an exalted position he would not have reached had he used human solutions.

Joseph acted exactly as the Lord later said to Moses:

“The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

“The Lord will fight for you” means the intervention of the divine solution. “And you shall hold your peace” means the cancellation of human solutions.

Our problem is that we want to solve our problems with our human wisdom, not with divine wisdom. We hasten and run, using human solutions without waiting for the Lord!!

† The prophet David waited for the Lord in all the conspiracies of King Saul against him.

Saul pursued him from place to place and used every human means against him. Many times he fell into David’s hands, yet David did not use human methods against him but left him to the Lord. He also left Absalom to the Lord, and the Lord delivered him from both. Therefore the Scripture says, “Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness.”

How many people swelled with their human reasoning, thoughts, tricks, energies, and abilities… and all of that was like smoke rising strongly upward, then dispersing and ending—unlike the divine fire that burns quietly beneath!

It does not rise like smoke, nor create noise around it, nor fill the air, but it is characterized by quietness and productive work.

† David, when he resorted to human methods, misbehaved and sinned, as when he used all human tricks with Uriah the Hittite to hide the sin. His position was miserable before Uriah, who did not obey him!!

Virtues Attached to Divine Solutions:

The divine way requires from us at least three virtues; without them we cannot walk in divine paths.

The first virtue is faith: to believe from the depths of your heart that God exists, that He will intervene, and that He is able to solve your problem.

He will resolve the matter with His love, His power, and His will. Without this faith, you cannot wait for the Lord.

If Jacob had believed that God would grant him the birthright, he would not have resorted to the human methods presented by his mother Rebekah.

Alongside faith, there must be prayer with fervor, persistence, and without weariness.

He who resorts to divine solutions learns prayer.

The third virtue is patience and waiting for the Lord:

The Scripture says, “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.” Abraham, the father of the fathers, could not wait, so he took Hagar. Jacob could not wait and resorted to Rebekah’s tricks. But Joseph the righteous endured slavery, endured prison, endured injustice, and waited for the Lord. The lover of haste is the one who uses human solutions.

If you walk in faith, prayer, and patience, God will grant you spiritual experience:

Then you will taste and see that the Lord is good, and you will experience divine solutions. You will grow strong in faith and no longer rely on your own solutions or long for quick human answers.

The quick solution is not the best solution. Rather, the best is the wise and well-crafted solution in which the hand of the Lord intervenes.

Sometimes some think of reforming the Church with reckless speed, and strangely they call speed zeal! Who among people would be more zealous for reform than the Lord Himself?

Yet the Lord’s way is quiet. People were in deadly doubts after the Lord’s crucifixion. Yet He said to His disciples, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father… until you are endued with power from on high.” After that power came upon them, they became witnesses.

Human methods are not characterized only by speed, but sometimes by violence as well.

Speed and violence are also used by the devil, as happened in his temptation of Job: quickly he killed ten sons and daughters, destroyed the house, and lost all Job’s possessions—quickly and violently.

But the Lord’s ways are quiet, with patience, until they arrive.

A person enters monastic life and wants within days or months to become a solitary and then a hermit. The fathers advise him to be patient and walk the path with balance, without sudden leaps, but calmly—for thus are the Lord’s ways.

Human methods, as they are marked by speed and violence, are also sometimes surrounded by error and sin.

Often they walk in crooked paths in which the devil enters as a helper. The most famous devil who assists man is the devil of lying. It is a quick covering for any sin, a quick trick to reach any goal, and the fastest response resorted to by one who does not wish to think.

Walk in the Lord’s ways. And if they delay you a little, do not be troubled. Christ may come in the fourth watch of the night.

You say to Him, “Lord, why have You delayed?” He answers, “To give you some patience, or some prayer, or some faith, or some strengthening of heart.”

Come, O Lord Jesus, at whatever time You wish. We will wait for You and will not despair of Your coming, whether in the morning, or in the evening, or at midnight.

An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in Al-Keraza Magazine – Year Seven (Issue Twenty-Two) – 28-5-1976

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