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Ms. Prata comes to our attention once again, and inevitably she misunderstands, misrepresents, or flat-out doesn't quote Scripture. She is also given to nit-picking doctrine and making up all sorts of provisos, exceptions, and micro-details about Scripture verses.
Today she takes on a saying some people use to negate worrying, striving, and human effort. The saying is not a doctrinal statement, however, nor is it a treatise on the Bible. It's a general statement about a general condition applicable to many Christians who attempt to overcome obstacles or struggles using their own strength.
Of course the Christian is called to make every effort to enter the narrow door (Lk. 13:24), be at peace (Ro. 14:19), maintain the unity of the body (Ep. 4:3), entering God's rest (He. 4:11), adding spiritual fruit to our lives (2Pe. 1:5), and to be found blameless (2Pe. 3:14).
Yet we are also instructed to lead a quiet life (1Th. 4:11), to live at peace (Ro. 12:18), to give our weariness and burdens to Christ (Mt. 11:28), and carry one another's burdens (Ga. 6:2).
Ms. Prata attempts to make it an either/or situation, which is the binary thinking of western culture.
Here are some Scriptures that contradict her:
Mt. 6:25-27 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Ro. 9:16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
2Co. 1:9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Ga. 3:3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
Ep. 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — 9 not by works, so that no-one can boast.
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Jesus took issue with the Pharisees and Scribes because they had become whitewashed tombs. (Matthew 23:27). This means that they were sick with sin on the inside and were only doing external things that hid their sin but did not address it. They were dead inside but performing rituals as if that would bring them alive. Their rituals had no meaning, and as Solomon would say, they were only striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:14).
People say things today that sound pious but aren’t. These sayings are just as dead as a whitewashed tomb, and are only striving after wind.
However, these sayings sound legitimate on their surface. It is sometimes hard to tell what truly is Christian and what merely sounds Christian. Charles Spurgeon wisely said, “Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right.”
So what is right and what is almost right (AKA ‘wrong’) about these sayings?
Some of these mottos are:“Let go and let God”
“I don’t use commentaries because they’re men’s wisdom. I only use God’s Word when I study.“
We can’t know for certain what the bible means, I’m not that smart”
“Pray big because we have a big God.”
“He’s so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good“
Let’s look at the first one.
#1. “Let go and let God.” In this pious-sounding saying, the person is trying to indicate that they submit to the sovereignty of God by letting everything go and allowing Him to roll circumstances over us as He will. However if we unpack that a bit we’ll see actually that ‘Let go and let God’ actually contradicts the Bible. Here are two sources which speak to the subject, GotQuestions, and Ligonier Ministries.
GotQuestions: Are We Supposed to Let go and Let God?:
Jesus took issue with the Pharisees and Scribes because they had become whitewashed tombs. (Matthew 23:27). This means that they were sick with sin on the inside and were only doing external things that hid their sin but did not address it. They were dead inside but performing rituals as if that would bring them alive. Their rituals had no meaning, and as Solomon would say, they were only striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:14).
People say things today that sound pious but aren’t. These sayings are just as dead as a whitewashed tomb, and are only striving after wind.
However, these sayings sound legitimate on their surface. It is sometimes hard to tell what truly is Christian and what merely sounds Christian. Charles Spurgeon wisely said, “Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right.”
So what is right and what is almost right (AKA ‘wrong’) about these sayings?
Some of these mottos are:“Let go and let God”
“I don’t use commentaries because they’re men’s wisdom. I only use God’s Word when I study.“
We can’t know for certain what the bible means, I’m not that smart”
“Pray big because we have a big God.”
“He’s so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good“
Let’s look at the first one.
#1. “Let go and let God.” In this pious-sounding saying, the person is trying to indicate that they submit to the sovereignty of God by letting everything go and allowing Him to roll circumstances over us as He will. However if we unpack that a bit we’ll see actually that ‘Let go and let God’ actually contradicts the Bible. Here are two sources which speak to the subject, GotQuestions, and Ligonier Ministries.
GotQuestions: Are We Supposed to Let go and Let God?:
“Let go and let God” is a phrase that cropped up some years ago and still enjoys some popularity today. Actually, the Bible never tells us to “let go and let God.” In fact, there are so many commandments about what we are to do that it completely contradicts the way most people interpret “let go and let God.” The popular idea of “letting go” is to adopt a sort of spiritual inertia wherein we do nothing, say nothing, feel nothing, and simply live allowing circumstances to roll over us however they may.So true! If it was that easy to ‘let go’ our sin, we would have done it! If it was that easy to ‘let go’ our worry, we’d be all set! If it was that simple as to let go our our will, we wouldn’t need God! “Letting go” is just as difficult as hanging on. Submit, yes. But even that is a daily struggle we’re told to perform as we pick up our cross (Matthew 16:24) and to pray daily for the will and help to submit. (Matthew 6:9-13).
The Christian life, however, is a spiritual battle which the Bible exhorts us to prepare for and wage diligently. “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12); “Endure hardship…like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3); “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11). Letting go in the sense of sitting back and watching events unfold however they may, is not biblical.
Having said that, though, we have to understand that the things we are to do, we do by the power of God and not on our own steam. The truth is that working at “letting go” is just as much as an effort-filled work as anything else we try to do for God and not nearly as easy to do as some things. (Source)
Andrew Naselli at Ligonier Ministries explains, “Why “Let Go and Let God” Is a Bad Idea“. He says, in looking at the origin of this two-tiered theology from the 1875 Keswick theology movement, that letting go and letting God promotes in part,
–Perfectionism: It portrays a shallow and incomplete view of sin in the Christian life.–Quietism: It tends to emphasize passivity, not activity.–Pelagianism: It tends to portray the Christian’s free will as autonomously starting and stopping sanctification.–Methodology: It tends to use superficial formulas for instantaneous sanctification.–Impossibility: It tends to result in disillusionment and frustration for the “have-nots.”–Spin: It tends to misinterpret personal experiences.
You can tell that Keswick theology has influenced people when you hear a Christian “testimony” like this: “I was saved when I was eight years old, and I surrendered to Christ when I was seventeen.”
By “saved,” they mean that Jesus became their Savior and that they became a Christian. By “surrendered,” they mean that they gave full control of their lives to Jesus as their Master, yielded to do whatever He wanted them to do, and “dedicated” themselves through surrender and faith. That two-tiered view of the Christian life is let-go-and-let-God theology.
I am aware that the motto ‘Let go and let God’ is a heavily used precept in Step 3 of the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery plan. AA has helped millions recover from their addiction to alcohol, and in this sense, AA is helpful. But don’t mistake AA’s Christianese for legitimate biblical principles. Here is more information:
How does Alcoholics Anonymous compare with the Bible?
The language may sound pious but it collapses under scrutiny. The fact remains, let go and let God does not align well with biblical standards of behavior for a Christian.
As Jim Vander Spek asked, “The problem with making “Let God” the focus is that it pushes the burden back on Him. If things don’t work out, will you blame Him?“
The New Testament is replete with active verbs aimed at the believer. We are supposed to strive, walk, run, persevere, wrestle, fight… none of those sound as passive as ‘letting go and letting God’ do they? No, friend, keep walking, strive to maintain your position on the center of the road and doing our part in the sanctification process.
Further Reading
What is wrong with the popular saying, “Let go and let God”?
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