What’s the purpose of acknowledging God? It’s to seek His wisdom, which is an admission that He knows best. When we humble ourselves like that, God is willing to show us the way (Proverbs 3: 6). The key to getting there, though, is to follow His direction, be it through His word, a dream, a vision, and/or a person. We can see this follow-principle played out in everyday life. For instance, having stopped driving to ask for directions, the way to reach the destination is to follow the instructions.

In a scenario like that, who should get the credit for arriving at the right place? The driver did what he or she was told to do, but that is expected. So big deal! I submit that, ultimately, it was the person who gave the directions.

When we turn to God for direction, it is sort of like the above example. The difference is that almost all the time, we don’t know where it is that we need to be. The similarity is that when God tells us where to go and what to do, we are simply obeying Him.

Here too then, credit belongs to the direction-giver; that being the Lord. He is the one who sends us. It is His vision. It is His power enabling us to arrive at the works He’s always had planned for us (Ephesians 2: 10).

So we shouldn’t accept accolades for the works that we do. The motivation and ability to arrive at destined righteousness comes from God. We are simply following His lead.

“So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’” Luke 17: 10 (NET Bible)