The Israelites gave us two innovative ideas: First, that history has a God-directed purpose. They believed God was not only responsible for the harvest but also for history; YHWH not only made the sun rise and the crops grow (natural events), he also defeated Pharaoh and set his people free from slavery (historical events).

Simply put, the Israelites believed history was going somewhere. Second, that God’s purpose in history is advanced through ordinary people.

This is what we discover throughout the Bible. When God wanted to reveal himself to the world through one family, he called Abram to leave his father’s home. When he wanted to free his people from slavery, he called Moses from the burning bush. When he wanted to show mercy to Israel’s enemies, he sent Jonah to Nineveh. When Jesus came to announce the arrival of God’s kingdom, he called fishermen, a tax collector, and a zealot to join that mission.

In each case, God was active in advancing his purpose through history, but he also invited people to join him in the work.

Here’s the point—God is directing history, but we still have a role to play in this drama.

That means we must avoid two errors. The first is believing history is entirely upon our shoulders; that we alone are responsible for making the world into the just society God intends it to be. The opposite error is to believe the outcome of history is inevitable and therefore we have no active role to play.

“It’s in God’s hands,” this view says. “So, I don’t have to get my hands dirty.”

Imagine if Abram, Moses, or Paul responded to the Lord’s call in that way?

Martin Luther King Jr. preached about this second error. In a sermon delivered just five days before his assassination, King said many people— including allies in the white church—say, “Why don’t you slow down? Stop pushing things so fast. Only time will solve racism. If you’ll just be patient and pray, the problem will work itself out.”

King referred to this as the “myth of time” the belief that even without our cooperation, time will automatically progress in a godly direction.

He said, “Time can be used either constructively or destructively. And I am sorry to say this morning that I am absolutely convinced that the forces of ill will in our nation…have used time much more effectively than the forces of goodwill. And it may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say ‘Wait on time.’ Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God…So we must help time and realize that the time is always ripe to do right” (from the sermon “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution,” delivered March 31, 1968).