God Gives Away

"It's all God's, and we're just passing it around." 

A friend said that to me once upon a time, when I was wrestling with being on the receiving end of her generosity, and I have never forgotten it. 

The truth is that everything we have comes from God. It is His gift to us. And as such, it it never really ours, but always belongs to Him, which means that He is free to do with it at any time whatever He wants. 

Take, for example, Israel. Old Testament Israel. This was the gift of God to His people, His promise to them fulfilled. He told them He was leading them to a land of milk and honey, a land that would be theirs. He told them He was going to make them numerous and prosperous in that land. And He delivered. 

But then, because of their sin, He took it all away. Every bit of it. Every bit of them. All their prosperity, gone in an instant. Given away to an invading nation, who was greedily eager to take it. And it's easy for us to read this story and to think that Assyria and Babylon are the bad guys, the ruthless pirates who take things that don't belong to them and conquer peoples just for the fun of it (and for their own ego). 

The prophets tell a different story. 

The prophets tell us that it is God who has given to them what they're taking. That God is giving away what He once gave to His people. That He is choosing to do this...for His glory. (Jeremiah 17:3)

It reminds me to live with open hands. 

I can sometimes become attached to my life the way it is. Become comfortable with what I have and what I'm doing with it. Take for granted the gifts of God that make today possible. And then, I feel a certain pain when those things disappear. When they are taken away. When they are stolen from me or just vanish. 

But if I think about what the prophets say, and what my friend said - that it's all God's, and we're just passing it around, then it's easier to reframe my experience of loss into simply another chapter in God's story. 

What if He's taking from me to give to someone else to increase His glory? What if He's just taking from me to increase His glory? What if my loss is His gain? 

What if it's just time to re-allocate some assets in the Kingdom? 

What if the room He's making in my life by taking something away from me is about to be filled up with some greater thing He's re-allocating from somewhere else...for my good and His glory?

What if we're just passing some things around for a season? 

What if those things I feel like I'm losing were never really mine to begin with, but always His? 

If God can take Israel and give it to Babylon for a season, only to eventually use even this as a glorious chapter in His story, then what can He do with the Promise in my life that I'm so desperate to try to cling to...if only I will open my hands and let Him take what He has given me...and give it away?