Today's quote

"Let me say, first of all, that this faith means utter impotence and helplessness before God.

"At the bottom of all faith there is a feeling of helplessness. If I have a bit of business to transact, perhaps to buy a house, the lawyer must do the work of getting the transfer of the property in my name and making all the arrangements. I cannot do that work, and in trusting that agent I confess I cannot do it. And so faith always means helplessness. In many cases it means: I can do it with a great deal of trouble, but another can do it better. But in most cases it is utter helplessness; another must do it for me. And that is the secret of the spiritual life. A man must learn to say: 'I give up everything; I have tried and longed and thought and prayed, but failure has come. God has blessed me and helped me, but still, in the long run, there has been so much of sin and sadness.' What a change comes when a man is thus broken down into utter helplessness and self-despair, and says: 'I can do nothing!'"—Andrew Murray in Absolute Surrender

<idle musing>
Not very palatable to our "can-do, self-help" theology, is it? But, it is true...
</idle musing>