You Didn't Build It

There was quite a dustup last summer, as you'll recall, when President Obama (and, more forcefully, Elizabeth Warren) made some relatively anodyne remarks, reminding the nations greedier business owners that they did not build the schools that educated their workers, the roads and airports that distribute their goods, or the police and fire departments which protect them. I am surprised that any evangelical took part in that discussion, given the words of Deuteronomy, which were read out at St. Stephens church during the Thanksgiving Eve service last week. Let me note that I am not in the habit of citing God, or for that matter, the Old Testament, in support of my political views. But I believe people who do cite God and the Bible might be well advised to read the whole thing.

When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions.
 He made water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good.

 Do not say to yourself, "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth."