Have you met the soft and unmotivated? Heard people complain they were too hungry to get up and find food? Seen teenagers who collapse facing easy tasks? America was built on self-reliance: if you want something, work for it. Hitch up your oxen, head into the wilderness, cut down the trees, pull up stumps, plow the field, build a cabin, start your farm. Do it yourself—that’s the American way. You cannot build a nation on weakness.
William Ernest Henley wrote a great poem about self-reliance. The first lines talk about how thankful he is for his “unconquerable soul.” He says no matter the problems he has faced, he has not “winced nor cried aloud… My head is bloody, but unbowed.” He does not fear the future or even death:
“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
This old poem has become increasingly popular. The man is strong, determined, motivated. His words inspire. But the poem is actually a well-crafted rejection of the Gospel. Re-read the lines above understanding that ‘strait’ means ‘narrow’ and ‘scroll’ refers to scripture. Henley is an atheist shaking his fist at God: “I am the MASTER of my fate! I am the CAPTAIN of my soul!”
Self-reliance is an attribute we need. But you can take it too far. The warnings of Moses apply well to America:
“When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in … and everything you have increases, be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the Lord your God…. Remember, it is the Lord who gives you the power to gain wealth.” Deuteronomy 8:12-14, 17-18.
God sees our pride and can humble us so easily. Work hard, be determined and persistent. NEVER GIVE UP. But bow before your Heavenly Father and receive His grace. “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” James 4:6.
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