Without a healthy dose of humility in our lives, earthly success can become a trap to almost anyone. Because without humility, any form of human success is often measured by what we’ve done or accomplished even though it is actually God who gives us the ability and the means to succeed. Deuteronomy 8:17-18 says this:
"You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today."
In this portion of scripture Moses is warning the Israelites not to forget that it is the Lord who gives them the ability to produce wealth. Likewise, when the Lord blesses us with earthly success, we need to remember that it came from his hands, not exclusively from our own abilities. He wants to bless us, but he doesn’t want our blessings to cause pride to well up in us, or to lessen how much we believe we need him. Blessings and success can be good as long as we remember that it is a gift from God, not produced on our own. I believe that God gives us skills and abilities, but he is the one who sparks inspiration, ideas, and opens the doors to success. If we remember that, there is less of a chance for our ego to get clouded with pride by the misguided notion that we’ve succeeded on our own.
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It is not by our own power that we produce wealth or success, but it is God who gives us the ability. If you look at those who we consider successful in our world, only a small portion of that success was within their control to obtain. I’m sure you’ve heard of “being in the right place at the right time”, or that it matters more who you know that what you know. Can’t you believe that God orchestrates these connections for your benefit? You can be highly skilled and super talented, but if God doesn’t open the door for you, your career will go nowhere. And besides that, it is God who gives us the skills and talent to begin with. So, I encourage you, if God blesses you, don’t fall into the trap of believing that you accomplished your success on your own. Because if you do, pride can well up and you can end up falsely believing that you don’t need God.