Back in the summer of 2012, speaking at a campaign event in Roanoke, Virginia, President Barack Obama proudly proclaimed how much the government does for everyone. As examples, he mentioned indispensable infrastructure such as roads and bridges. Then he said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” In other words, even if you think that you built your business, you didn’t really do so because it was actually made possible by government. So, don’t think you built it.
He was wrong–but not entirely. You did build it, but you didn’t build it alone. You built it with the help of, not the small ‘g’ of government, but with the big G of God. This becomes clear from an important verse tucked into Moses’ farewell speech that almost every English translation quietly mistranslates. Get this one right, and it changes how you think about money for the rest of your life.
Moses warns Israel not to become arrogant after achieving prosperity.
[Things will go well for you] …and you will say to yourself, “My strength and the might of my hand has accumulated this wealth for me.”
But you must remember the Lord your God, for it is He that gives you strength to make wealth, in order to establish His covenant which He swore to your forefathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)
Read it in English and it sounds like a simple warning: don’t get cocky, remember God gave you your money-making ability. True, as far as it goes. But three words in the original Hebrew carry a teaching that most translations flatten completely. They put it this way:
But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth (King James Translation)
What the Hebrew actually says is “gives you strength to make wealth.” In the Hebrew original, the verb isn’t “get,” it’s la’asot — “to make.” It is the same word used for God’s work of creation in Genesis 1:31:
“And God saw all that He had made…”.
Nowhere does the text say God gives you power to acquire wealth. It says God gives you power to make it. That is a very significant difference. “Getting” implies wealth is a fixed pie you grab a slice of through luck, hustle, or someone else’s loss. “Making” implies wealth is something you produce through skill, labor, and value creation. The Torah is quietly rejecting a scarcity mindset before the phrase “scarcity mindset” existed.
Moses delivers this warning precisely when Israel is about to enter a land of abundance. A few verses earlier, he predicts that you will eat and be satisfied, build fine houses, multiply your possessions, and increase your silver and gold. Then comes the danger:
“My strength and the might of my hand made me all this wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:17)
Notice that God does not respond like a certain former president by saying, “No, you didn’t make it.” Quite the contrary. The next verse essentially confirms that you did make it. But you forgot where your ability to make it came from.
That distinction is the foundation of a healthy financial philosophy. We must simultaneously hold two ideas that appear contradictory.
I am responsible for improving my financial condition.
And also: The abilities with which I improve my financial condition are gifts from God.
Reject the first principle and you become passive. Reject the second and you become arrogant. Accept both and you become a Happy Warrior.
Ancient Jewish wisdom insists that we understand money as evidence of transactions between human beings. With relatively few exceptions, money comes to us because somebody voluntarily handed it to us. Why did he do that? Because we provided something he valued more than the money he surrendered.
This means that increasing your income is seldom primarily a money problem. It is usually a capacity problem. This is why the verse does not say that God gives you chayil (wealth). It says He gives you the koach la’asot chayil—the capacity to make wealth. Think about the implications.
Perhaps you don’t need a better-paying job nearly as much as you need the skills that qualify you for a better-paying job. Perhaps your business doesn’t primarily need more customers. Perhaps you need to become better at explaining to prospective customers why doing business with you will improve their lives.
Stop asking primarily, “How can I make more money?” and start asking, “What God-given capacity can I enlarge so that I become more valuable to other people?”
I am excited that so many of you are mastering our new video course, Sell -Influence – Persuade. I love hearing feedback as to how using the talents that God gave you is helping you increase your income.
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What Are You Selling Today?
You may not be selling a product. Maybe you’re presenting an idea, recommending a solution, leading others, or simply trying to get someone to see things differently.
That’s selling, too.
In Sell – Influence – Persuade, Rabbi Daniel Lapin shares practical, Biblical principles to help you communicate more effectively, build trust, and inspire action.
