Deuteronomy 8:17-18 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, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

This is a perennial problem. We are so prone to think we have accomplished things entirely on our own, and leave God out of our thinking. Then we have politicians telling us that no, we didn’t do it on our own, it was the government that enabled us to do things. That too leaves God out, or rather tries to put government into the place of God. The fact of the matter is, God gives each of us various abilities and various opportunities, but it is up to each individual what they do with what God has provided. We can have real satisfaction in good stewardship, but we must never think that the good things originated with us. As James says so clearly, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17) That includes every ability we have, and even life itself. Those who try to posit abiogenesis (life from not-life) are simply, and deliberately, trying to cut God out of the picture, because they don’t like the accountability inherent in the Creator/created relationship. I don’t care for the nihilism Solomon expressed in Ecclesiastes, but there are some gems in the book, including the advice to “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1) It is from our teenage years on that we are prone to think we have, or at least desire, independence from God. Establishing a pattern of remembering God early on is a great blessing, and opens us up to receive all that God has for us.

Even though I was raised in as Christian an atmosphere as you could ask for, I still tended to think that the abilities I had were mine, rather than being on loan from God. I think I was more grateful than many people are, but I still overlooked a huge swath of my existence in terms of it being from God. God even gave me the experience of being blind for three days (because of sleeping with hard contact lenses in), but I still tended to forget that the ability to see is a gift from Him. As I was reminded just a few days ago, associating with families that have Cockayne Syndrome children has taught me the preciousness of things we normally take for granted, as those children gradually lose their physical abilities. I’ve never been particularly focused on generating wealth, so the recent start of pension payments has been something of a paradigm shift for me. Even so, it is not the government as such that is the source of that supply, but God who is using that channel to bless me. I am never to think that I am independent of God in any way, but walk in gratitude and obedience at all times, for His glory.

Father, thank You for Your plans for my life. Thank You for what You enabled me to do yesterday, and for what You will enable me to do today. Help me be a good steward of every ability, every opportunity, so that Your will may be accomplished in and through me on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!