Isaiah 26:12 Lord, you establish peace for us;
all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

The awareness of this truth is the secret to genuine success. We do all sorts of things, but it is actually God who accomplishes them through us. Grasping this truth is the ultimate antidote to personal pride; it converts it all to gratitude. It’s not at all that we are to be passive. The Verse for the Year makes that quite clear: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) The Japanese for this verse in Isaiah uses much the same language: “You prepare/provide peace for us.” We all are deficient in gratitude, I think, because we don’t grasp how utterly powerless we are without God, and how much He does for and through us. We forget that we are created beings, and everything that gets created is created for a purpose, however trivial that might be. Anytime we do something right we are simply fulfilling, in some small way, the purpose for which we were created. The glory should all go to our Creator. I’m reminded of another thing God said through Isaiah: “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?” (Isaiah 45:9) The devil is constantly striving to keep us from fulfilling our purpose, (John 10:10) so every time we manage to do things right we have every reason to be grateful. And actually, numbers of studies have shown that gratitude is an essential key to happiness. Everyone would like to be happy, so we need to seek the purposes for which we were created and thank God when we fulfill them, in even a small way.

As I have written numerous times, I have had real struggles with pride. That has certainly taught me the futility of personal pride. The Lord has also done a number of things through me, and I have learned that being grateful that He has done them has brought me happiness to a degree that makes some people envious. I actually had someone of a different religion bring a friend to meet me, because he wanted his friend to “know someone who really enjoys living.” That is a testimony to how blessed I am! I certainly have my frustrations, and I don’t always respond properly to my blessings, but I have learned the reality of this verse from Isaiah, and I am deeply grateful.

Father, thank You for Your overwhelming grace toward me. Thank You for the book You have provided to draw me to a higher level of intimacy with You by Your Spirit. As I read it, help me remember that You relate to each person individually, so that I won’t try to copy specific things in the book, but rather learn better how to open myself to You in full adoration and obedience. I ask for clear guidance in how to pass some of these truths on to others, so that they too may discover the incredible privilege of walking with You consistently, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!