What Our Hands Have Made

Hosea 14:1-3

Are you proud of the work that you do? I hope so. I know I am very fortunate to do what I love to do and get paid for doing it. I hope that you have also found a vocation that suits your talents and interests.

But there's an important difference between being proud of the work that you do and the kind of pride that the Bible condems over and over again. You can feel joy and a sense of accomplishment because you have used your God-given talents to serve Him and others in your work. That's a completely godly emotion. But there's another type of pride. It's the pride of Babel, where the people said, "look at all we've accomplished." It's the pride of God's people throughout the Old Testament when they said, "look at what we've done--we are a great people." This pride takes credit away from God and places it on ourselves. It allows us to forget God's role in what we do. Hosea indicates that, in this pride, we call our accomplishments 'god.'

In Hosea 14, Hosea is encouraging the people of Israel to return to God, to repent of their wrongdoings. In verses two and three, he explains how the people should apologize to God and part of that apology includes saying, "We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made."

For me, I can easily think of times when the accomplishment has become the end-result, rather than just a means to honor God. Times when I worked so that others would see my achievements or so that those achievements would give me the peace or security that I wanted. That's the accusation against the Israelites--thinking that accomplishments were sources of pride, of comfort, or of security.

Accomplishments are great, and we serve a Father who loves to shower us with blessings. But remember to worship the Creator, not the created. Know that He, and only He, gives peace, comfort, and security. Be joyful when you achieve something worthwhile, and then give honor to Him who sustains you.