GOD IS THE PROMOTER
If you’ve tapped into
certain talents you were born with, and you’ve made great strides in life,
that’s wonderful. But never make the mistake of thinking your talents or
special abilities originate with you. If you’re good at something, give God the
glory. Give Him credit for putting certain wonderful, inventive, creative, and
insightful abilities in you, and give Him the thanks.
The older I get, the
humbler I get. A while back someone told me, “You’re a much better gardener
than I am.” It wasn’t as much of a statement of fact, as a concession speech,
as if we were competing. I was flabbergasted! I had no idea this person was competing
with me—over gardening? Crazy.
Gardening is a pleasure
for me, a pastime, a hobby. The fact that things grow for me is not because of
my great skill, but because of God. He loves me, and I love Him, and so my
garden grows. God gives me the insight and the direction, and I just follow and
have fun. It works the same with my painting.
I didn’t even start
painting as a career until I was 40-years old. I don’t have a degree. The Lord
Jesus gives me the ability to see and copy. He’s the one who put me on jobs
with prestigious clients—projects other painters would be jealous of. But for me,
it’s not about the client; it’s about the challenge and fun of succeeding in
the painting itself. It’s the Lord who puts the “how to” in me. From my
viewpoint, I’m never in competition with anyone, because I know the Lord is my
promoter, and I look to Him. I don’t have to compete.
If it seems that people
are trying to compete with you, don’t let it bother you. Be happy with who you
are. You are only in a position that others may covet because God put you
there. He can do it for them too.
Psalm 75:5-7 tells us
promotion is from the Lord: “Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a
stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor
from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”
David was a great warrior
because God made him that way. And Saul started off with the God-given ability
to be a great king, but Saul got covetous of what David had, and it drove him
to demon infiltration.
1 Samuel 18:6-12 tells us:
“When the victorious
Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistine, women
from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They sang and danced
for joy with tambourines and cymbals.
“This was their song:
‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!’
“This made Saul very
angry. ‘What’s this?’ he said. ‘They credit David with ten thousands and me
with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!’
“So from that time on Saul
kept a jealous eye on David. The very next day a tormenting spirit from
God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman.
“David was playing the
harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand, and he
suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David
escaped him twice.
“Saul was then afraid of
David, for the Lord was with David and had turned away from Saul.”
Saul was stubborn. Instead
of being happy with the abilities God gave him, He wanted what David had. But
he couldn’t have it and because of his stubborn ambition, he also lost his
kingship. 1 Samuel 15:23says: “For rebellion is
as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity [sin
in your ancestors, passed down to you] and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected
the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”
Meanwhile,
God showed David how to avoid Saul, and David kept his heart in the Lord.
So don’t
worry if you feel others may be a little jealous of you. Just keep looking to
Jesus and be happy with yourself. Let’s be humble and thankful because all the
good things we are, came from Him. Other people don’t need to be covetous. They
can be just as happy as we are if they just do what we do—humble yourself to
Him.
1 Peter
5:6 is the best step to promotion: “Humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God, that he
may exalt you in due time.” It’s God’s Word. It always
works.
Love,
Carolyn
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