Some will read a passage like this and assume unmerited blessing. Others will read it and assume unmerited cursing. Solomon reminds us that both prosperity and adversity come from the hand of the Lord, and that wisdom learns from each. The posture Scripture calls for isn’t suspicion or entitlement, but attentiveness.
Abram and Sarai are a good test case for that posture.
When God calls Abram, there is no résumé attached. We are not given a list of virtues, accomplishments, or spiritual credentials. What we know is surprisingly unimpressive. He is married to a barren woman. He comes from a long line that traces back to Noah—close enough, in fact, that Noah missed Abram’s birth by only a couple of years. People lived a long time back then, but proximity to faithfulness is not the same thing as faithfulness itself.
If anything, the only “qualification” Abram and Sarai seem to have is their lack of qualification. God promises to make Abram into a great nation precisely where there is no visible path forward. No children. No land. No influence. Just a promise and a command to go.
And Abram doesn’t suddenly become a spiritual hero once the promise is made. Almost immediately, fear gets the better of him. In Egypt, he tries to protect himself by offering up his wife to Pharaoh’s household. It’s not subtle, and it’s not flattering. The man God has just chosen to bless the world makes a cowardly, self-serving decision that puts others at risk.
Scripture doesn’t clean that up. It lets it stand.
Which should tell us something important. God’s call is not a reward for competence or moral consistency. It rests on grace, not performance. Abram is chosen not because he is impressive, but because God is faithful. The covenant moves forward not because Abram gets it right, but because God keeps His word.
The same is true for us.
God’s call on your life is not anchored in who you are, what you’ve done, or how well you’ve held it together. It’s anchored in whose you are. That doesn’t make obedience optional, but it does make despair unnecessary. Whether you are walking through a season of prosperity or a season of refining, God is at work in both. Blessing can shape us. Difficulty can shape us. Both can be gifts, if we are willing to learn.
But Scripture offers a warning alongside that encouragement. Pride still comes before the fall. The people of Babel mistook opportunity for autonomy and ability for authority. God did not hesitate to frustrate their plans when they began to think more highly of themselves than they ought. Calling is not permission to self-exalt. It is an invitation to humility.
So walk with God. Learn in every season. Hold your calling with gratitude, not entitlement. And move forward with humility and submission, trusting that the God who calls the unqualified is also the God who shapes them.
God,
You are the One who calls and the One who keeps Your promises.
Forgive us for the ways we confuse blessing with entitlement, or hardship with rejection. Forgive us for the pride that creeps in when things go well.
Teach us to learn in every season, to trust You in prosperity and in refining, and to follow You even when we feel unqualified or unsure.
We submit ourselves to Your work in us. Shape us with humility, faithfulness, and trust, so that our lives reflect Your grace and not our pride.
Amen.