It's all His

Forgive me if I cheat a little bit today. I want to take a verse from yesterday's reading and a verse from today's. Hopefully that won't offend you.....
The first verse is from Job 41:11. As God brings the book to a crescendo He makes this statement, "Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine."
That about says it all! God is never in our debt. We don't give anything to Him that He hasn't already given to us. There is not a thing under the heavens, or on the earth, in fact, even in the heavens that is not His. He made it all. As Creator He has ownership of all. He also has the right to require that all things are used for His purposes. If he wants to take those things away He can do it and it is right for Him to do it. He does not have to explain to us why He does what He does with what He owns.
The second verse is found is John 3:27. John has been baptizing and in doing so had been drawing some crowds. But now that Jesus was around, the crowds seemed to be leaving John and going to Jesus. When asked what he thought about this John aptly replied, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven." Which is to say, even the crowds that follow me, are sent from heaven, and if God decides to remove them, they are His to remove. That is a very biblical way of viewing life!
Think about it: everything - let me say that again - everything you have is God's and is given to you by His choice. Your intellect, your family, your home, your financial resources, your time, your abilities,.....everything is given to you by God and is to be used for God. In giving them to you or in removing them he does not need to give a defense for His actions. All things are His and as He sees fit He shares them with His creatures who are to receive them as stewards - merely caring for them and using them to benefit the Lord's glory and kingdom as long as the Lord sees fit.
Take a moment now and reflect. Do you see all that you have as given from heaven and are you seeking to use all you have to further the interests of the One who gave them to you and is their rightful owner? How you answer this question will make a dramatic difference how you respond to affliction in your life and likely how much joy you will experience.