We label a person who’s made their own success a self-made man. This is especially true if the person (maybe it’s you or me) started life without money, education or high social status. Recent surveys of people with a net worth of at least one million dollars in the US reveal that most consider themselves self-made. These folks did not inherit wealth or win the lottery, but worked and saved and skimped and invested wisely.

However, the psalmist reminds us that no matter how low we started, no one is truly self-made:

Know that the Lord is God. It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

None of us fashion ourselves from the dust. The Lord knit us together in our mother’s womb. Our lives proceed at his pleasure. All good things we possess come from his hand, including our ability to work hard, delay gratification and build wealth.

Does God approve of self-made men and women? The Scriptures certainly promote hard work and prosperity. But as we prosper, we’re encouraged to share with others and bless our fellow citizens on this earth. In the midst of our success we’re to acknowledge the Lord as God. We’re his sheep, grazing in pastures of his making.

It’s good for me to remember that God is the sculptor, and I’m merely the stone on which he pounds.

Psalm 100 in Through the Bible in 2024