Acting First: Meister Eckhart’s Call to Trust
Act, and God will act. — Meister Eckhart
A Short Sentence with Vast Implications
“Act, and God will act” distills Meister Eckhart’s mystical theology into a compact challenge. Rather than picturing a passive believer waiting for a distant deity to intervene, Eckhart reverses the sequence: human initiative comes first, divine response follows. This reversal implies that spiritual life is not primarily about asking, but about moving, choosing, and doing. In other words, the quote suggests that the door to divine help often opens only after we take the risk of turning the handle ourselves.
From Passive Waiting to Active Faith
This shift from waiting to acting marks a crucial transition in spiritual psychology. Many religious traditions warn against spiritual laziness disguised as piety—simply hoping God will solve problems while we remain inert. Eckhart counters this tendency, much like the biblical Letter of James, which insists that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). By putting action first, Eckhart frames faith not as a static belief, but as a dynamic trust that emboldens us to move even before the outcome is clear.
Cooperation Rather Than Control
At the same time, Eckhart’s saying does not glorify mere busyness or human control. The sequence “Act, and God will act” implies cooperation rather than domination. We are invited to take the first step, but not to engineer every result. This resembles the concept of *synergia* in Eastern Christian thought, where human effort and divine grace work together. Our part is to respond freely and courageously; God’s part remains mysterious, often visible only in hindsight as unforeseen doors opening or inner strength emerging.
Inner Transformation Through Outward Deeds
For Meister Eckhart, external action is inseparable from inner transformation. He preached that genuine works flow from a “birth of God in the soul,” meaning that when we act from a place of deep interior alignment, we create space for God to act within us as well. Thus, the maxim can also be read inwardly: when we decide to forgive, to serve, or to let go, we often discover that grace completes what willpower alone could not. The outward deed becomes the gateway through which an unexpected inner change arrives.
Courage in Uncertainty and Everyday Application
Because the divine response is not guaranteed in visible or immediate ways, Eckhart’s line ultimately demands courage. We act without full assurance of how, when, or even whether God will act as we expect. Yet this very uncertainty is what makes the act one of trust rather than calculation. In daily life, this may mean beginning the hard conversation, starting the work of reconciliation, or stepping into a vocation that feels too large. Only after such steps, Eckhart suggests, do we truly discover how much is possible when human resolve and divine mystery meet in motion.