Self-sufficiency is an illusion. Whether you earn lots of money, or live in poverty, this still holds true. "The creature's illusion of self-sufficiency must, for the creature's sake, be shattered; and by trouble or fear of trouble on earth, by crude fear of the eternal flames, God shatters it 'unmindful of His glory's diminution''' [ie. when we then come to Him as a last resort]*. In all our work we are at best like the physicians who cannot heal, only make the conditions optimal for healing; or farmers who cannot make things grow, only sow seeds into fertile soil and make conditions optimal for growth to happen. In all things there is an element of provision needed for which we are dependant on our Creator. Job 8:5-7 (NIV) says:
5 But if you will seek God earnestly
and plead with the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself on your behalf
and restore you to your prosperous state.
7 Your beginnings will seem humble,
so prosperous will your future be.
* "The Problem of Pain" in The Complete CS Lewis Signature Classics, pg. 607
