Did God give my friend a new car?

Answer:

God "makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). All good blessings come from God. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17). Yet, many of those blessings are given to all of mankind equally.

Your friend was given abilities and opportunities to earn money, so in that sense, God blessed him with the ability to purchase a new car. However, we should not conclude that material blessings indicate righteousness. Asaph saw that wicked people sometimes had very good lives. "For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men" (Psalm 73:3-5). Eventually, however, he realized that their apparent success was only temporary. "If I had said, "I will speak thus," Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me- until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors" (Psalms 73:15-18).

There is nothing wrong with appreciating the blessings that come our way and expressing thankfulness to God for His generosity. At the same time, we must not make the mistake of thinking that material blessings mean we are favored by God because we deserve what we are given. "So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done'" (Luke 17:10).