It’s All His
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Psalm 24
1 The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein
I’ve been meditating on this passage of scripture last night and this morning. If we don’t meditate on the scripture, we can lose a lot of meaning from God’s Word.
We say “Yeah, the Earth is the Lord’s. That’s kind of a given isn’t it”? Not really.
If we start looking at our lives in relation to the Gospel, we don’t live like the Earth is the Lord’s. If we are honest, we live like our lives our ours to choose to live how we want, we spend our money like it is ours and we can do what we want, and we pick scripture that we choose to follow and others we choose to “not listen to”.
That phrase “and the fullness thereof ” accentuates the fact that everything truly belongs to Him and Him alone. From the oxygen you breath, your family, to the things that you worship and give a greater place to than Him. It is all His!
Do we (includes me) act like our lives are truly His? Do our actions reflect a life submitted to Christ? I’m sure everyone can say there is something they are struggling to trust and give God control of. This is why we need His grace so terribly. Our need reflects our inadequacy. Our struggle for control reveals our powerlessness.
Jesus does allow us to experience failure, loss, hunger, frustration, poverty. It is not out of anger that God does this because has already paid the full penalty for our sins and transgressions. He took the consequenses for disobedience, the shame of our failures, and the punishment for our transgressions. What didn’t God do that allows me to go through these things? Why do we suffer? We suffer to bring Him glory, that in these weak, disobedient, wicked shells that will one day pass away, His glory can be made manifest. I am no longer being punished for my sin. I may be disciplined, but I am never rejected. We are His children, and the Father disciplines those He loves. I may go through difficult times but the Father will never leave or forsake us. EVER. We experience suffering because our hearts wander, we lack trust in Him, or we try to find our needs met outside of Christ.
Why do we struggle financially? It is because we do not trust God to provide so we strive, stress, and look for any other way under the sun to find security and sustenance. He will allow us to continue to struggle financially not as a punishment, but that we may through that suffering come to the understanding that He is our provider. Why do people struggle to find peace and turn to drugs and alcohol? It is because they do not find peace in the cross of Christ and do not allow God to bear the weight of our cares. God allows us to experience this lack of peace till we understand where we are to find true peace.
The Lord contends for our hearts. His Spirit works in our lives to make us aware of our need for Him, and reminds us that everything belongs to Him.
Kevin
