Deuteronomy 8:17-18a

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth...

From Background Notes [BN] for May 5^th & 6^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Whatever wealth we produce, we gain from the ability given us by God. That is why it cannot be entirely ours in the first place.

Were it not for talent and wisdom which comes from the Lord, we would not be able to generate the increase in our possessions.

God is the owner of all things because He created them. The Old Testament tithe is rooted in this most fundamental of all stewardship principles. As we summarize the Old Testament teaching on stewardship of treasure, consider these passages of Scripture:

Riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name... for all things come from you, and from your own have we given you (1 Chronicles 29: 12-14).

O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you (1 Chronicles 29:16).

The Earth is the Lord's and its fullness (Psalms 24:1).

I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine (Psalm 50:9-11).

The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty (Haggai 2:8)

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6)

..the whole earth is mine (Exodus 19:5).

The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants (Leviticus 25:23). [BN, 5]

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