I am currently reading through the Bible, and just recently finished reading 1 Chronicles. Chapter 29:14 is a verse I’m familiar with—in fact I know a song based on it—but it spoke to me in a new way. Here’s the verse: “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this. For all things come from Thee, and from Thy hand we have given Thee” (NASB). David is in the process of collecting materials for Solomon to build a temple for God. He is not proud of the generosity of the people, he is awed by God’s goodness that made the generosity possible. And that is the truth that really struck me this time. “We give Thee but Thine own,” says the hymn, and for me it has been an intellectual understanding that we give back to God what he has first given us. But this time the phrase, “and from Thy hand we have given to Thee,” was more than a concept, and it applies to more than my finances.
There is nothing I can do and nothing that I can give without God first giving to me—gifts, skills, and resources are all things that come from him. I take from his hand to serve him and to serve those around me. When what I do blesses or benefits another, it is appropriate to be pleased. It is, however, a pleasure that should be expressed as gratitude toward God. My own natural tendency is to feel pride, which easily leads to me taking more credit than is due to me. I want to rejoice in being a blessing to others, but I need to know I am not the source of the blessing. God is the true giver. I want my joy to be in him and what he has been able to do in and through me. I want a joy-filled gratitude, not a joy-filled pride.