The 12-Steps say that we need to surrender to Hashem and he will fight for us. But weren't there Tzadikim who wanted to earn their spiritual levels on their own?
Tzadikim who wanted to do it alone doesn't mean they didn't need Hashem. It means they didn't want levels or "Madregos" that they hadn't earned themselves. David hamelech sang Shira that Hashem saved him from the hands of "Shaul". "Shaul" means also "borrowed" in Lashon Kodesh. Sometimes Hashem gives a person special spiritual feelings and levels to help them through hard times, but these "madregos" are really borrowed. They are not really ours. And sometimes, when we get to where Hashem wanted us to get to, the feelings and joy we felt in Avodas Hashem are taken away from us so we can grow even more (in spite of losing the feelings). So David was thanking Hashem for saving him from "borrowed" madregos and letting him earn these levels on his own. However, at the end of the day - Hashem is the one to do the work for us, like the pasuk says "Lulai Hashem Ozer Lo, Lo Yuchal Lo". But if Hashem is the one to do it, how do we earn the levels on our own?
So here's the secret. Hashem doesn't do the work for us UNTIL we have tried everything possible and have come to the conclusion that no one can help us but Him. At that point, we have a "Kli Shalem" (a complete vessel) and Hashem is there to fill it up. In other words, we DO have to work hard, very hard. But the work we do is not necessarily to make progress, but rather to get to the point where we know 100% that we can't do it on our own. As long as we didn't work as hard as we could, we still think in the back of our minds that maybe we could do it ourselves and the vessel is still not complete. Only after we've done all we can and still can't win the Yetzer Hara, at that point we NEED Hashem so badly and the Kli is Shalem. The rule is that Hashem's light is always shining, but the reason we don't feel it is because our vessels are damaged and / or full of other things. As soon as we need Hashem 100% and have a complete vessel for his help, the light of Hashem automatically shines in and we are saved.
You may ask, but WHY did Hashem make the world this way? Why couldn't he make it that we could really achieve it on our own? Wouldn't that give Him more Nachas? The answer is simple yet beautiful. Hashem is not looking for our success. He is looking for us to have a KESHER with him. If we could succeed on our own, we wouldn't NEED him and we wouldn't have a strong Kesher with him. Hashem has enough "mighty" Malachim in Shamayim. He is not looking for "Super Men" who can do it alone. Instead, he wants us to have a KESHER with Him. And when we know 100% that we have no other hope than Him, THAT is a complete Kesher.
But to really "know" this, we have to work very hard. Perhaps though, if we train ourselves to acknowledge all the time that he is the only one who can help us, and if we constantly say this to Him and ask for his help, then maybe we will have to work less (and fall less) in the long term before coming to a full realization and having a "Kli Shalem".
The same principal above, applies with any type of "Redemption", whether it's from the Yetzer Hara or whether it's the redemption at the End of Days. Like Chaza"l say, Moshiach won't come until we all recognize that "Ain Lanu al mi Lisha'ein ela al Avinu She'bashamayim". For at that point the vessel is complete and the light of Hashem will flood the world.