The Bible Doesn’t Say That

“God helps those who help themselves.” Ever heard that one before? It seems to be a pretty popular saying that gets attributed to the Bible. The funny thing is Scripture doesn’t say that. Let’s run through some of the most common things the Word doesn’t really say.

“God helps those who help themselves.”

A 2017 Barna study showed that 52 percent of practicing Christians strongly agreed that the Bible teaches “God helps those who help themselves.” I was a little shocked to hear this and then remembered that I used to be one of the 52 percent.

I can’t remember the first time I heard this one, but I’m pretty confident that I was still in school. I took it to heart too and found out the hard way that it’s not how life with the Lord should be lived. It’s exhausting.

Note: "No verse reference found." Enough said

The origin of this phrase seems to depend on which source you use. The Got Questions website says the earliest recording of this saying is from Aesop’s fable “Hercules and the Waggoner.” The fable says the man’s wagon was stuck in a muddy road, and he prayed to Hercules for help. Hercules appeared and said, “Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel.” The moral of the story was given as “The gods help them that help themselves.”

How it came to be attributed as Biblical is curious, because Aesop was a Greek writer who lived from 620 to 540 BC and contributed nothing to the Bible.

The Lifeway Research website says variations are included in proverbial statements in ancient Greek tragedies. Even the Quran (13:11) has a similar saying. An English politician gave the exact wording that Benjamin Franklin quoted in Poor Richard’s Almanac.

The message of Romans 5:8 is the exact opposite. While we were still sinners and unable to help ourselves, Christ died for us – proving how much God loves us, how amazing Grace is, and how incapable we truly are of helping ourselves.

“God doesn’t give you more than you can handle”

If you’ve gone through particularly difficult seasons in life, as we all do, you’ve undoubtedly heard something along these lines. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” or “God must think you’re strong enough to handle that.”

The Bible doesn’t say this at all. Nowhere in Scripture do we learn that God will limit our hardships and sorrows to what we can bear. Ministry Pass says we’re repeatedly promised in Scripture that God is present with us in our grief, our oppressions, and our struggles and that He will see us through them.

How about this in Isaiah 40:29-31, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases their strength. Even the youths shall faint and grow weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not grow faint.”

The key part of that verse? Wait on the Lord. Ask for strength to get through it. Ask for peace in your heart despite the storm around you. Most of all, I would trust Him even if you’re feelings are telling you all is lost. It never is lost with God.

It’s okay to feel weak and like you can’t handle what’s going on. That’s a key part of growing in your walk with Jesus. It’s when we recognize we’re at the end of our rope that we’re suddenly in the best position to recognize that God Himself is our refuge and our strength. (Psalm 46)

“Money is the root of all evil”

This is a common misunderstanding with a very easy solution. Money itself is not an evil item. It’s an inanimate object incapable of evil by itself. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” Evil begins with the love of money. Now that I think about it, that love is probably closer to lust.

If money takes God’s place in your heart, it begins to become an idol in the lives of men and women. Pretty soon, it’s all someone can think about, and they’ll find themselves compromising to get more. The funny thing about the love of money is there’s never enough to satisfy that love.

“Cleanliness is next to godliness”

Here’s one more that sounds like it could be straight out of the Bible. I bet moms have been saying this to their little ones for generations. However, the Bible doesn’t say this.

It’s a good thing to keep yourself and your environment clean. I’m pretty positive that God doesn’t approve of not caring for yourself and those around you. However, He has a bigger priority when it comes to cleanliness.

God cares more about what’s going on inside of us and how clean it is inside our hearts. Here’s what Jesus said to the very religious Pharisees: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, they are full of greed and self-indulgence. On the outside, you appear to people as righteous but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23: 25, 28)

To summarize:

We can’t handle everything this life will throw at us. We need His help, strength, and guidance.

Life will throw more at us than we can handle. But God promises to be there to help us through it. He will also provide a way out if we’re being tempted.

The love of money is the root of all evil. As an inanimate object, money cannot be evil in itself. That lusting after more and more money is what leads to evil.

Outer cleanliness has nothing to do with being Godly. It’s all about what’s going on inside our hearts.