It is often said that the two most difficult things to do in life are to climb a fence that is leaning toward you or kiss a woman who is leaning away from you. A third difficulty that ranks up at the top would be: to help someone who does not want help. As a minister, I routinely offer information or advice that is rejected, out of hand, by those who feel that it would be weak or an admission of inferiority to accept help. Others reject help because they don’t even realize they need it. It is extremely frustrating when the helper knows their motive is simply to help, but the potential recipient’s actions indicate that they think the helper is doing anything but trying to help. This is a problem that God, Himself, cannot solve. 

Here is a true story to illustrate this point: 

He (Jesus) left there and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?” But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further. Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.” Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching. (Mark 6:1-6 MSG)

Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, but he could not help people in his own hometown. The reason God cannot solve the problem is because He has relinquished each person’s destiny into their own control. If someone does not want help – even divine help – they have a right to proceed through life unhelped, unhealed and unhappy. The real issue is pride, and the only solution is humility. So, you and I can solve a problem God cannot solve, just by humbly accepting the help God sends our way. Most of the time He uses other people to help us. 

It is the privilege of every child of God to watch for opportunities to be used of Him to help those who are willing to be helped. Use your gifts generously. Don’t take it personally when your help is spurned. Just keep believing, like God does, that a few good-hearted people will respond appropriately and enjoy the blessings and miracles that follow. It is when a good-hearted person, with a need, and a good-hearted person, with a God-given gift, come together, that a little heaven touches earth. That is what happened when Jesus walked the earth and that is still what happens when His body on earth lets their gifts flow on behalf of those who are humble enough to receive God’s blessings.