We must be clear that the insistence of God does not imply that God is an agent who calls, prays, insists, or does anything. The insistence of God means that God is a solicitation or provocation, not an agent, because agents take the form of Martha: they respond to provocations, making the decision of the other in me. The provocation of God, then, takes place in the middle voice, and the only thing that is manifest, the only thing we can see, is the response. That is the philosophical wisdom and realistic concession behind the adage “God helps those who help themselves.”
