the source of riches

"He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch."

Proverbs 11:28

A new year has begun, and out of mercy for my tax helper I've started going through my financial records for 2007. Alas, I wasn't as organized as I thought! It turns out I didn't keep careful track of what currency my income arrived in, so I don't actually know how much I made in Canadian dollars--which is what I need to report.

This is my third year working as a freelance writer/editor/writing coach/publisher. Each year at tax time my sisters dig out a handful of T-4 slips while I march out with the equivalent of Mt. Vesuvius in paperwork. It's a lot of work, but I don't mind it that much--largely because I'm still getting used to the idea of regular income.

I make money! Every month! It's consistent, even. This isn't normal for me for various reasons, and the fact that I do it without even having a normal job sometimes makes me giddy with glee.

I'm highly aware that I have this income because God takes care of me. Because He meets my needs, as He always has. I remember a song we used to sing when I worked in volunteer ministry: "My God shall supply all my needs/According to His riches and glory/He shall give His angels charge over me/Jehovah Jireh cares for me."

It applies in a spiritual sense, of course, but also physically. It is God who gives me the strength and talent to work. It is God who blesses my efforts. I'm grateful.

Grateful and careful to keep my trust in Him.

Before I had a regular income or the ability to earn one, I trusted wholly in God for every little detail of provision--and He never failed. Solomon was a very wealthy man, but he was clear on this: "He that trusts in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a branch."

A flourishing branch never stops producing. Do you know why? It's because it's connected to a source of life. God is the source of life to us; the source of all things. As believers in Jesus, we are specially connected to Him. When He provides for us by external means, it's important that we don't transfer our trust to those means!

As I pour over paperwork and try to get all those numbers to line up, I'm in awe at the way God has provided for me. I pray that I will keep my trust in Him. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Not now--not ever.