Numbers 12-14

Mark 5:21-43

“Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours.” 1 Chronicles 29:11

Have we ever thought that everything that we have, everything that we own actually belongs to God? James 1:17 tells us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights...” Everything that is ours actually originates from God. He is our Provider and He has entrusted His resources to us to steward carefully.

In the Old Testament, there are numerous verses to highlight this truth. In Deuteronomy 10:14, after God delivered His people from their bondage of slavery, Moses reminds the Israelites, “To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.” Later, during the period of the Kings, David penned, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters” (Psalm 24:1-2). Everything in our lives is a gift from the Creator. What may surprise us is that even our very lives belong to God. This is why when God spoke to Job after his time of testing, He said, “Who has a claim against Me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to Me” (Job 41:11).

When we take a closer look at the time when God brought His people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, He made it clear that it is His Promised Land, not theirs. The Lord said, “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is Mine and you reside in My land as foreigners and strangers” (Leviticus 25:23). God also instituted a system of worship, whereby we can rejoice before Him as we make our offerings. In Psalm 50:9-12, He says, “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is Mine…If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all that is in it.” Throughout Scripture, we find God letting His people know that “I don’t have need of your resources. It’s all Mine to begin with, but I have entrusted it to you to steward.”

Have we considered the home that we live in, the vehicle that we drive or the money that we have in our wallet—they all belong to God. What we have is entrusted to us by God, given to us as a tool, as a sacred trust and as a testimony to His faithfulness.

If the money in our wallet could speak, what would it say about our stewardship?

Almighty God, thank You for everything that I have, as it all belongs to You. Teach me to steward the money and resources that You have entrusted to me for Your kingdom and Your glory. Amen!