You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth… (Deuteronomy 8:10-11, NIV)
The margin between success and failure in a golf tournament is, in the common expression, razor thin. Ask Angel Cabrera.
The moment between success and failure in a stock investment is often just that: a moment.
The words recognized as a blessing and those heard as a curse are made up of the same small letters, varied only slightly. Indeed, they may turn too on the almost imperceptible nuance of tone.
Do you see it now, that slightness of difference? So tiny. So huge.
As we noted yesterday, not seeing God’s sovereignty in our lives can also be the difference between pride and humility, between recognizing that God is God and thinking instead that we are.
One place where we can be reluctant to give God his due—perhaps because it is so closely tied to our own work—is the wealth we enjoy. Certainly wealth is relative, and we all tend to skew our own wealth downward by setting it against the riches of the guy we know who has so much more. But whatever the extent of our wealth, we make a habit of calling it our own, usually on the basis of our intellect, determination, grunt work, or impeccable timing.
Here’s the thing: that self-appreciative perspective is thousands of years old. When Moses reviewed the history of God’s hand in the people’s lives in the ancient book of Deuteronomy, he warned them: “You’re going to be tempted to take credit for your own wealth. Don’t. You wouldn’t have a dime if it weren’t for the ability God gave you.”
Such a caveat exalts God and lends a new sense to our reading of Psalm 24:1: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” If this is the case, we have to keep asking ourselves, “Just what shall I do today with God’s money?”
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Jeff Hopper
April 19, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.