If you are ordinary person you should follow the rules of your deeds
and nature. If you are a devotee, even then, you should not ask God for
help. Your devotion must not aspire any result. You are asking God for
help means that you want God to violate his own natural rules. The
impression of millions of angles and sages is disturbed if God violates
his own rules. That will give a poor impression on God. You are putting
God to inconvenience by forcing him to use his supernatural power.
Whether you are a devotee or not, you must always try to solve your
problems by putting your best effort.

If you fail, even then, do not ask God to help you. Then, you think
that it is your fate and worship God as usual. Arjuna was fighting with
his grandfather, Bhishma. Arjuna was not putting up his best effort to
kill Bhishma. He was having sympathy to Bhishma, who has brought up
Arjuna. Noting this, Krishna took his Sudarshana chakra and ran to kill
Bhishma. That means the Lord tried to solve the problem of Arjuna
through His divine power. Arjuna did not agree to this and forced
Krishna to stop, because Arjuna knew about his inadequate effort. But
when Sindhava was to be killed, Arjuna tried his best, because Arjuna
took an oath to kill Sindhava before sunset and otherwise he promised
that he would enter the fire.

Since the sunset took place apparently due to the Maya of Krishna,
Arjuna stopped fighting and wanted to enter the fire. He was just going
to jump into the fire but he never asked for help. He thought that was
his fate. Therefore, the Lord helped him secretly. Therefore, if you
put your best effort, still fail because it is beyond your limits, if
you happen to be a real devotee and do not ask for the help from God,
then you will be helped by the super power secretly. The secrecy is due
to preservation of the sacredness of his administration in the eyes of
others.

  posted by: His servant
  at the lotus feet of shri datta swami
  www.universal-spirituality.org