The Work of Your Hands

Isaiah 17:7-8 
⁷ In that day people will look to their Maker
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They will not look to the altars,
    the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles
    and the incense altars their fingers have made.

Why not be proud of what we build with our own hands?  Why not take a little pride in the creations we create?  I think there is no problem with this at all.  Where it crosses a line is when you look at the things your hand has built and say in your heart, “look what I have built” forgetting the Lord completely.

As young boys, my brother and I took apart nearly everything and tried to build almost everything. One day, we made a great treehouse in an old mulberry tree. With just enough skill to be dangerous, we used whatever we could find and two days later we had ourselves a treehouse. Showing it to our dad was great also, “come and look at what we built!” we said. Dad was amazed until we found out we used all of the boards and nails he had planned for something else. You see, we did build that treehouse but dad supplied the lumber and nails.

The king of Babylon said nearly the same thing as we did in Daniel 4:30, “Twelve months after the dream, King Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of his palace in Babylon. While on the roof, the king said, “Look at Babylon! I built this great city. It is my palace. I built this great place by my power. I built this place to show how great I am.”  Nebuchadnezzar went to the top of his palace and declared (be careful what you declare) that he has built this great nation.  He spent the next 7 years of his life eating grass in the wilderness until he recognized that the Lord God was behind his success and it was by the mighty hand of the Lord that Babylon was a great nation. 

Truthfully speaking, there are a lot of very prideful people in this world. I will bet you have cut into an apple or an orange that looked good from the outside but inside, it was rotten as can be.  You see, corruption starts within the heart.  Before you know it, you will be gloating over what you have done and what you have accomplished and forgetting the Lord’s hand in any of it.  Deuteronomy 8:18 tells us, “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 ancestors, as it is today.” God has given all of us the ability to produce wealth and we should remember that is only by His hand that live, move and have out being.

The same God that delivered the Israelites is the same God that walked among us as Jesus Christ. Believe it or not, God is walking with you wherever you go.  As Joel Osteen says, “God has never left you”.  Today is the day that a simple prayer should be prayed. 

Prayer: Lord, you have blessed me with abilities and today I give all my abilities to you, for your work, for your glory.  Let everything these hands touch and do, be for the glory of God the Father. In Jesus name I pray, amen.