I had a friend who posted this today:
“Why do people always give God credit for all their hard work?”
I think it’s an important question and here is my response:
Hey ______,
That’s a very deep question. Just to clarify your question, people don’t give credit to G-d for their effort; they give credit to G-d for their success. And I can tell you why I try my best to give G-d credit for everything. As a human, we occupy two worlds – the world of the physical and the world of the spiritual – we have a body but we also have a soul. So therefore our actions are bound by the rules of both the dimensions of existence we occupy.
So if I just rely on G-d for money without even lifting a finger and expecting to become wealthy is silly. Because the physical world (usually) requires effort for any outcome; praying to G-d without any effort is neglecting the laws of nature to which the human being is bound. But to work hard and expect to become wealthy without it being the will of G-d is also not sensible. We can work day and night, be super intelligent, but if G-d does not will it, we won’t have it.
I can tell you from personal experience, if you adopt this philosophy you will be bold, fearless, and secure. That’s because you judge yourself by your efforts and not the outcome. You can control how hard you work but hardly can we control the outcome. So even if you fail, but as long you know you worked hard, you don’t feel any less about it. And that’s powerful.
2021