Let It Go!

Wherever you are right now, look at the things around you that you consider yours. Your glasses, your cell phone, your car, your hands. These things "belong" to you, and not just the items themselves, but the benefits that come with ownership: glasses give you vision, your phone allows you to communicate with others, your car provides freedom, and the ability to use your hands for a task as simple as making a sandwich enables you to feed yourself and remain independent. What about intangibles, your schedule, your goals, tomorrow? Are they yours as well? We believe time is our own and, therefore, we possess opportunity and control over our own plans, agendas and itineraries-- our own destiny, if you will. In reality, however, nothing is promised: schedules get interrupted, goals go unmet, and tomorrow? Well, the number of our days was planned out long before we were even born. None of what we own, or think we own, is truly ours. When God decides to wrest those things from our grip, our reaction proves just how deluded we are into thinking we own them, and how important those things have become to our identity.

Allow me to introduce you to a guy named Jonah. Jonah was pretty sure his life was his own. As a result, his plans belonged to him, his will belonged to him, and so did his cash. Or so he thought. When he heard God speak, Jonah considered it to be more of an option than an order; he wasn't on board, as they say, so he took his cash, paid his fare, and hopped a boat in the other direction. One dangerous storm and a big fish later, Jonah was beginning to rethink his autonomy. He cried out to God, who gave him a do-over. Though Jonah obeyed, his heart hadn't much changed. The evil people Jonah had been sent to warn repented, and God refused to punish them. Isn't this exactly what I said was going to happen? Jonah whined. This is an evil nation that deserves punishment. They turn from evil and You take pity on them. Remember Jonah's do-over? Yeah, but somehow he was upset God had done it for the Ninevites. God is sovereign, choosing to have pity on whom He chooses, giving orders and opportunities as He sees fit. None of the things Jonah thought belonged to him were truly his. He wasn't free to do what he pleased with the things he'd been given, nor was he entitled to condemn or spare a nation-- no matter how wicked. He was a servant and God was His Master.

And then, there was Job. Job had it all, in abundance! But Job's most cherished possession was his relationship with the Lord. Satan asked permission of God to strip Job of everything short of his life, just to prove Job's heart was set elsewhere. The enemy did what he could, but so long as Job's "greatest possession" remained, Job held on in faith. Job had no illusions about the things of the world: money, land, livestock, even his children; none of it was promised to him, and he knew it. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, Job declared. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Things, Job knew, were not the endgame; things were just things; they didn't give him identity or complete him, God did. 

Wherever you are right now, look at those things again. Are you a Jonah or a Job? Well, we all tend to be a little of both at times. The good news is, it's not about us. It's about the God of Jonah, who shows mercy and gives second chances (and more) to those He has chosen. It's about the God of Job, who is sovereign even when it doesn't appear that way, and He doesn't turn His back on His people, even when our other friends do. It's about the God who reigns over all today, the God of the Bible, who doesn't change, who has sent us a Savior and given us His righteousness even when we have trouble letting go of things; He teaches and trains us until our hands are empty and our hearts are full of Him alone.