In my devotions recently, I came across this verse:
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Psalms 90:17 ESV)
When I read this, I thought of apologetics. Of course this verse applies to all areas of our life but for the sake of focus, let’s look at apologetics. It is true that when we do apologetics, we try our best. We look to our education, our training, what we have learned from conferences, books and podcasts. We use our natural communication and interpersonal skills. All of these are important and should never be dismissed. But this passage reminds us that we need God to establish the work of our hands. That does not mean that we are passive and just allow God to do all the work. This passage says that God will establish the work of our hands. The work of our hands is important, but the success is when God establishes it. This is freeing in that not all the pressure is on us. But there is also responsibility knowing that God expects our hands to be at work. In apologetics, as in all areas of life, we do our best and let God take care of the rest.
