A farmer was working his fence line by the road when a pastor stopped to visit with him. The pastor talked about how terrific the farmer’s place looked. Of course, the farmer agreed and thanked the pastor for his observation. The pastor then made the comment that God had certainly blessed the farmer with such a fine looking property. Then again the farmer agreed that God had blessed him, and as he looked around, he mentioned to the pastor, but you should have seen the place when God was working it by Himself.
God first tried to provide for passive human beings, but Adam and Eve screwed that up for all mankind. Since then God has expected humans to be active, productive participants in their existence. In the Old Testament God required action over and over again. One of Jesus’ last directions to the disciples was to take action to spread the Gospel. God expects proactive human action, not waiting passively for God to do it. God’s people, Jews and Christians in particular, are expected take the necessary actions to spread His moral values as defined in the Bible to better themselves, all mankind, and to please God.
Risk is one of the few absolute realities. Everything a human being does has risk. Simply getting out of bed in the morning is a risk. When you get out of bed, you risk falling down. For that matter, staying in bed in the morning is a risk. If you stay in bed, the house could fall on you. Yes, these are minimal risks, but they are risks none the less. Assessing risk is a necessary life skill. This assures the likelihood of a longer life.