Wealth and Riches

Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your Glorious Name.
I Chronicles 29:12-13

Have you ever worked really hard for something and then didn't get it?
I remember in High School I really wanted this black Acura Integra Two door with sunroof, leather interior, power everything. It was amazing and it was being sold at a reasonable price.

Of course reasonable to the general public and affordable for me where two very different things. I worked and saved and begged and borrowed, but I only had a fourth of what I needed. The fourth was able to buy me instead a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird, tan, four door, power nothing, not even power steering.

Last year I really wanted a promotion. I had worked really hard at my job for five years, been quite successful and invested a lot of time and effort into making a name for myself. I even studied for my interview, construing tables and graphs about my performance, analyzing philosophies of the program for which I wanted the promotion. I had it whipped, or so I thought, I didn't get it.

Both situations left me devastated and offered a swift blow to my pride as well. The latter probably hurt worse than not actually getting what I wanted.

It's hard to be humble. It's hard not getting what we really, really want. David says in this passage, success is not in our control. Society tells us if we work hard enough, try with all our might, we will succeed. But the scripture says our all isn't enough. Society sets a lot of standards for what success is defined by. But scripture tells us about a different kind of success. Success I believe is peace with God. Honor appointed by Him. As much as I want to be a person of "wealth and honor", God is in control of that. My pursuit should not be for my glorification but for His.

Sounds good on paper, sounds good in Sunday School class, but a heck of a lot harder in real life. I mope and wallow in the fact that I have little when God tells us that we have much. We have salvation, we have eternal life, we have forgiveness, we have mercy, we have grace, we have joy, we have peace . . .

I'm on a journey, looking for success, daily I need my map to redirect me toward God's destination and not mine . . . It's a life long journey, I hope I'm walking in the right direction.