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So I was doing my devotions this morning. I was reading in 1 Chronicles 29. This is King David's last public prayer. Read what he said, "Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, We thank You And praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You. For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own." 1 Chronicles 29:10-16.

Did you notice how many times David says things like, " Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all." and "of Your own we have given You"? So I couldn't help wondering in my spirit, if everything belongs to God, then why does He allow us to deal so much with money issues? Why doesn't He just give us all we need without all the struggle? The next verse made clear at least part of the reason, "I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness." 1 Chronicles 29:17.

Then the Lord brought to mind something that our Pastor pointed out a few Sundays ago. After the 'Fall' God cursed the earth for our sake. Read, Genesis 3:17, "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life". Our minds at first take have a hard time understanding how this could be a blessing to us. That is until we remember that as children of God, this world is not our home. If it wasn't for the curse, we would not be looking so forward to our permanent home in heaven!

So God wants to test our hearts, not so He can find out what is there, He already knows! But so that He can show us what is there! He also wants us to not become comfortable here in this world but to be looking forward to eternity with Him! With this in mind we can say, "Thank you, God for all the financial struggles and for the curse on this world!" Amen???