This is part of my year-long series exploring human-centered alternatives to the spiritual promises in Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Today’s entry, “Don’t Calculate without God”, promises that believers who “bring God in as the greatest factor” in all calculations will avoid worry and have their plans succeed, claiming that trusting Jesus means you “can’t set aside for a rainy day” and that God will “make your righteous reward shine like the dawn.”
Here’s what calculating with God as the greatest factor actually delivered:
“Don’t calculate without God,” their church financial counselor advised earnestly. “Bring him in as the greatest factor in all your financial decisions. Trust completely—you can’t set aside for rainy days if you’re truly following Jesus. God will make your righteous reward shine when you commit your way to him.”
Lisa and Mark were drowning in credit card debt while facing an increasingly uncertain job market. But instead of practical financial planning, they were offered spiritual financial advice. Such faithful trust would surely trigger divine provision and economic blessing.
They took this guidance seriously. Instead of creating an emergency fund or reducing expenses, they continued tithing faithfully and avoided “calculating with evil in view” by planning for potential job loss or medical emergencies. Such preparation would demonstrate lack of trust in God’s provision.
They committed their financial way to the Lord and waited for divine blessing.
But the promised divine intervention was a financial catastrophe.
When Mark lost his job during company restructuring, they had zero emergency savings despite months of mounting financial stress. Their “righteous reward” didn’t shine like the dawn—instead, they faced eviction, crushing bills, destroyed credit. The calculations that excluded practical planning for difficulties proved financially disastrous.
Meanwhile, their neighbors Carlos and Elena approached financial uncertainty with zero expectation of divine provision. They didn’t expect God to replace careful planning. Carlos worked extra shifts while Elena took freelance projects, building an emergency fund covering six months of expenses. They reduced unnecessary spending and researched backup career options.
Carlos and Elena’s approach included “calculating with evil in view”—they planned for job loss, medical emergencies, economic downturns. Their financial decisions weren’t based on religious trust but on practical assessment of risks and preparation for contingencies.
When the same company layoffs affected Carlos, his family weathered the crisis successfully. Their emergency fund covered expenses while Carlos retrained for a different field. They didn’t need divine intervention because they’d prepared for exactly this scenario through human foresight and disciplined saving.
Where was God as the greatest factor in Lisa and Mark’s financial calculations? Where was the righteous reward that was supposed to shine like the dawn?
Lisa and Mark’s breakthrough came when they abandoned spiritual financial principles and started working with a secular financial advisor. Instead of trusting God to provide, they created realistic budgets, built emergency savings, planned for potential setbacks.
Their financial recovery came through human effort and practical planning, not divine blessing. The “righteous reward” that actually helped was Carlos and Elena’s emergency fund and backup plans—created through human wisdom, not spiritual trust.
The silence where God’s provision was supposed to manifest revealed the truth: there was no divine factor that could replace practical financial planning. Only human preparation and realistic risk assessment that actually protected families during economic uncertainty.
Reflection Question: When has practical financial planning been more reliable than trusting divine provision for economic security?
This story is part of my upcoming book “The Undevoted: Daily Departures from Divine Dependence,” which offers 365 human-centered alternatives to the spiritual certainties in Chambers’ devotional. Each day explores how reason, community, and human resilience can address life’s challenges without requiring divine intervention.
God or Delusion? 