RECOGNIZING THE SOURCE OF SUCCESS

by Os Hillman

Now then, tell my servant David, 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel'" (2 Samuel 7:8).

David was nearing the end of his life. The prophet Nathan was responding to David's idea to build a temple where the Ark of the Covenant would stay. God reminded David through the prophet of his roots and where He had brought him. God took David from the fields of pasturing sheep to pastoring a nation. God reminded David that He cut off all of David's enemies for his sake and the sake of his nation. David never lost a battle.

Have you ever felt tempted to look at your accomplishments with pride as if you were the reason for your success? Have you ever thought your prosperity was due to your ingenuity? Has your material success been a testimony to others that God is the ruler of all aspects of your life, even the material side?

The greatest temptation some of us will ever face is pride of ownership. If we think our success is a result of our own effort we affront God and open the door to pride. "A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor" (Prov 29:23).

Success can be a greater test than adversity. "Not every man can carry a full cup. Sudden elevation frequently leads to pride and a fall. The most exacting test of all to survive is prosperity," said Oswald Chambers. Success can be a breeding ground for complacency with God and pride of ownership.

Do you have a proper understanding of who you are? Do you understand that it is God who has given you the ability to work and achieve? He is the source of all good things. Ask God today if your life models this belief.

A MOMENT OF THANKS

By Dr. David Jeremiah

Life is hard, and every day is challenging. You may be wondering just now if you can go on. Perhaps another person is vexing you. Perhaps you've been maligned or criticized. You're discouraged with unanswered prayer. Maybe you're feeling like Elijah under the broom tree, wanting to die.

Try praying with thanksgiving. A thankful attitude is the cure for many emotional ailments. Take depression, for example. What is depression or discouragement except the total collapse of thanksgiving in our lives?

Thanksgiving is also the opposite of discontent. It's easy for us to become disgruntled with various factors in our lives; but let's be like one man who was thankful...

*For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

* For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that I have freedom of speech.

* For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.

* For the teenager who is not doing dishes but is watching TV because that means he is at home and not on the streets.

* For the taxes that I pay because it means that I'm employed.

* For the lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

* For weariness at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.

* For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.

Thanksgiving is the opposite of anxiety. Philippians 4:6: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Worship and worry cannot live in the same heart. They are mutually exclusive, according to Ruth Graham.

Thanksgiving is also the corrective for sadness and even grief. While working on a message from Psalm 100, my phone rang. It was from a family dear to me. Our children were about the same age and had played together growing up.

The caller told me there had been an accident in the woods, and a portion of a tree had fallen on one of the boys. He'd been pinned for over an hour before the ambulance arrived, and it appeared the young man would be paralyzed from the waist down. His spinal cord had been crushed.

Well, that just destroyed my afternoon. I couldn't get it out of my mind. This was a blond-headed kid, very athletic, full of life; and in one moment, his life was shattered and changed. I wrestled with my own thoughts and emotions until evening, then I placed a call to the intensive care unit of the hospital. Frankly, I didn't know what to say; but I didn't have to say much at all. The boy's father ended up comforting me.

He said, "Pastor, I want you to know that my wife and I are, first of all, thankful that our son is alive. Second, we're thanking God that it wasn't the upper part of his body that was paralyzed. And thirdly, though we don't understand why, we know God is good and that somehow in the midst of this, He has a plan for our son's life that must go beyond anything we can imagine. Though it's hard and we wish it hadn't happened, we have committed it to our God, for He is good."

Is the race of life wearing you down? Try a moment of thanks.