By Whose Agency?

            There are any number of questions one would like to ask the biblical authors.  For example, if the Lord delivered Jericho into the hands of Israel in such an unusual way (marching round and the walls fall down), why resort to such stratagems for Ai.  Why the subterfuge of a feint and an ambush?  Perhaps it’s as simple as this:  Jericho was a major military victory, and it was important that Israel not grow overconfident in her military abilities.  Ai was a minor town, and two chapters later it was important that Israel have some confidence in her military abilities.  It’s a fine line between appropriate confidence and prideful over-confidence!

            It’s a fine line that we have a hard time distinguishing.  Most have heard the old adage, “Pray as if all depended on God; work as if all depended on you.”  (It’s variously attributed Ignatius Loyola and to St. Augustine.)  Where does human agency end and divine agency begin?  Or turned around, “To what extent is God responsible for our success, and to what extent are humans responsible for their success?”  Good question, those!  I’d suggest the answer is, “Yes.”  All things depend on the Lord, yet all things are entrusted to us.  So, it would be hubris to declare, “Look what I’ve achieved” (James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above)!  On the other hand, sitting on our hands and waiting for God to swoop in from heaven on the wings of an angel is too fatalistic to be sustained as a good choice.  So, the Christian prays fervently and works diligently for God-pleasing ends.  Sometimes the Lord delivers in ways that we never expected (Jericho); sometimes it looks more like He has blessed the work of our hands (Ai, Ps. 90:17).