What Happens When You Try To Out-Shovel God

Biola University Chapel

Josh Brake

Assistant Professor of Engineering, Harvey Mudd College
Venture Partner, Praxis

2025-03-12

What does it look like today to sow and reap generously?

R.G. LeTourneau: Mover of Men and Mountains

Sowing generously means that we must…

  1. Recognize: We are bankrupt. Everything we have is a result of God’s generosity to us.
  2. Respond: God calls us to follow him on redemptive quests.
  3. Reap: God blesses us so that we can bless others.

We are bankrupt

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 3:10-12

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Isaiah 64:6

And yet, God invites us into partnership

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:1

R.G.’s Turning Point

Every night I was in church, striving to dedicate my life to God anew. I was in a strange conflict with myself. I was a spiritual bankrupt finding fresh hope and rich inspiration in Reverend Devol’s sermons. At the same time I had the despairing feeling that I would have to give up my material way of life. The moving of earth, the making of fertile land in the desert, the joy of hard work under God’s sun, all the things I had come to find so satisfying.

What does partnership with God look like?

Partnership with God is a Redemptive Quest

From “Redemptive Quests” by Dave Blanchard, Praxis co-founder and CEO.

Redemptive Quests shape what, how, and why we build.

The Redemptive Frame from Praxis

Questions for Discerning a Redemptive Quest

  • Is it truly consequential? If so, it’s worth doing even if we fail.
  • Does it have a catalytic effect? If so, it helps us to change not just individuals, but systems.
  • Is it focused on people or institutions at risk? If so, it protects the vulnerable.
  • Does it reshape our imagination? If so, it helps to create opportunities that were previously thought impossible.
  • Does it require repeated re-risking? If so, it models Jesus’s call to die to ourselves.
  • Is is nonobvious from a market perspective? If so, it demands our imagination.
  • Does it require long-term vision? If so, it embraces patient hope for sustained change rather than buying into short-term hype cycles.
  • Is it compelled by love and dispassionate about credit? If so, it is a quest worthy of journeying toward together.

Reap: God blesses us to bless others

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
    their righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

2 Corinthians 9:6-11

Parable of the Sower by Pieter Brueghel the Elder

He’s Got A Bigger Shovel

“I try to shovel out more for God than He can for me, but He always wins. He’s got a bigger shovel.”

Remember: no matter how much we shovel, all the dirt belongs to God.

Just because we can’t out-shovel him doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

R.G. LeTourneau

God is inviting us to join him in partnership.

How will you respond?

  1. Recognize
  2. Respond
  3. Reap

Substack: joshbrake.substack.com

Email: jbrake@hmc.edu