Genesis 27:20
But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.”
I have one little thought to point out from this passage. The context is simple. Jacob is deceiving his father. Isaac is too old to be able to see Jacob, and so Jacob, by his mother’s scheme, is pretending to be Esau for the purpose of garnering the blessing for himself. When Isaac asks how he was able to get to him so quickly with hunted game (Isaac had sent Esau to hunt for him), Jacob declares that God had given him success.
Here is the tiny point I have: Not all who claim that God has given them success have really experienced God’s success. Talk to any pastor in any church, to any Christian leader in any ministry organization, and each of them will say that God has given them success. We all say this. If the church is growing, God has given us success. If we have enough money to build, God has given us success. If we have even one member go into the ministry or go on mission, God has given us success. Whether our methods honored God or not, if they worked, we declare that God has given us success.
Be careful, then, when someone tells you that God has given them success. Often it will be true. Certainly, no one truly honors God in their lives without God being behind it all. At the same time, even those who dishonor God are not escaping the sovereignty of God. But, be careful assuming that, just because a man says God blessed him, that he is doing what God really wants. Also be careful claiming that God has blessed you with success. First make sure that you are obeying the commands of God before you credit him with blessing your idea, your ministry, or your local congregation.
Again, I know that God is behind all that is good. Every good and perfect gift comes to us from the Lord. But let’s be careful not to, as Jacob did, use the name of the Lord our God in vain—an in an empty and meaningless and dishonest way.
Pastor Travis Peterson 