My Power Has Gotten Me This Wealth
Americans tend to love the idea of the self-made man (and yes, it’s usually males who love this idea the most). Whether or not we can articulate it, we tend to think of ourselves as deserving of our pay because, after all, we worked for it. Rarely, if ever, do we stop to recognize where our ability to work came from.
These words from Moses can feel like a splash of cold water on the face:
Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. - Deuteronomy 8:17-18
This snippet of scripture comes from a longer passage that is specifically reminding people not to forget their dependence on God. As Jenny pointed out on Sunday, “The poor do not forget to pray.” For many of us (who are not poor) that really stung us, didn’t it?! When we think we’re the ones who generated our own wealth and we’re the ones who deserve to enjoy it - it’s so easy to forget God.
If we truly remembered God’s provision for us - even the provision to be able to work - how would that shift how we think about money, about others who are out of work, and about the class system our world has set up?