His To Give

This was not news to me, but this morning I was reminded of it again: there is not so much as one thing that I really want that I can acquire or attain by my own efforts. It could be argued that this or that little thing would be attainable, but there aren’t any of those little things that I really care about. When it comes to the stuff that really matters … I’m helpless.

At first, that’s heart-breaking. Being in a place of absolute, total dependence on someone else is scary. What if that someone doesn’t care about you? Worse yet, what if they’re feeling ornery, or malicious toward you? It’s scary; it’s heart-breaking; it brought tears to my eyes.

But, oh, my, are God’s promises ever a wonderful thing, on the occasions when we dig down deep and really take hold of them. In my own case, I know with certainty that the Lord sees bigger and better things for me, and wants bigger and better things for me, than I do. Already there is nothing of value in my life that I have acquired or attained by my own efforts, and my life—though still lacking in some things that I desire—is far bigger and better than I would ever have dreamed it could be, even ten years ago. Even five years ago. If He has already done far beyond my imagination for my life …

Somewhere, then, in the middle of this, I once again asked Him to give to me and to do for me those things that I desire, that I cannot gain by my own efforts. And in the middle of that, I realized that all these things are His to give.

The Bible is full of tales of God’s giving. Although He promised to pour out His spirit on all flesh, however, the gifts that He gave by His spirit were varied. To some He gave this, and to others He gave that. This little piece went here, that little piece went there, and the purpose was for all the parts to fit together and work together. If we look back even further, we find that He gave and He took, as He saw fit. He put Saul on the throne, and then He chose to give that throne to David, instead. When David’s grandson got too big for his britches, God took most of the people away from him, and put them under another king.

The Lord gave an enormous level of authority to Moses—and a lesser authority to his brother and sister. He gave a blessing to all of Jacob’s sons, but something far beyond, to Joseph. He can do that, because it belongs to Him; it’s His to give.

This is a beautiful thing, and so worth remembering. The One who made us also loves us. What’s more, He’s promised us wonderful things. Even more wonderful than that is that He can, because they’re His to give.

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