You Didn't Build That

Daily Reading: Ezekiel 29

 My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.  (Ezekiel 29.3)

Devotional Thought: "You didn't build that."  President Barack Obama was criticized for saying that in a Roanoke, Virginia campaign speech in July 2012.  His critics claimed he was devaluing the hard work, risk, and sacrifice of business owners who had succeeded in America.  His supporters claimed that he was speaking of the American infrastructure that enabled these business ventures to succeed.

That kind of posturing is nothing new.  We read similar words in the book of Ezekiel, words penned about Egypt, two and a half millennia ago:  "My Nile is my own; I made it for myself."  Pretty big claim, wouldn't you say?  The Egyptians declared that they themselves had made the mighty Nile, and that it was their own to use and control and exploit.

This puzzling attitude crops up in many settings:

·       Sports fans who never work up a sweat, yet still take ownership in their team's success

·       Business managers who forget the contributions of their employees

·       Students who acquire great knowledge and skills from professors and curriculum provided by someone else

·       Social justice warriors who protest without fear, under the protection of the very laws they decry

·       Politicians who steal credit from the work of previous administrations

The Nile is my own...

Sadly, this attitude can surface in our own lives if we are not vigilant.  Proud of our morality and compassion, smug in our spirituality and knowledge, secure in our heart and soul, we think, "Look at how good I am and what a life I have built by myself."  We easily forget that Jesus Christ is the true builder of our lives and destiny.  All that we have and all that we are, we owe to God.  To him be the glory!

Prayer: Every good and perfect gift comes from you, O Lord (James 1.17) - especially the gift of life.  All my success is by your hand, and any goodness I possess is from the storehouse of your goodness.  I receive it all from you with gratitude.  In the name of Jesus, who gave his life for me, I pray.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 44.9-16

9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.

10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil.

11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.

13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.

14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face

16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.