“Who has preceded me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.”

“I would let them use my car but”… “I don’t want to let them stay in my house while I’m gone”… “It’s my money and I will spend it the way I want.” Whose is it? Well its mine I worked for it! G-D tells Job something different.

To often I forget that my prized posessions are really not mine but they belong to G-D and at best are just on a temporary loan to me, to use for His glory and as a praise to Him. So how tight do I hold on to the things that belong to G-D? Do I hold on to my things tighter than I do the hem of His garment?

I once had a stereo, I mean a gooood one…(that is why I can’t hear today!) It was mine, all 200 watts, all the woofers, tweeters and mid range speakers, all the microphones, the mixer, all mine! Right next to it was my shop; jointer, band saw, drill press and table saw, again all mine. After all, that was how I made my living, enjoyed my self and besides what would G-D do with them? I was not willing to give them up, not even to G-D… they were my idols. And then it happened.

The car broke down 750 miles away from where I lived. I didn’t have the means to get it fixed and I did the only thing I knew to do… I called a friend and asked him for some financial help. He was not willing to loan me the money. He said, “You know I like your stereo, the recording equipment and I always wanted a shop like yours.”

He wired me the money, the engine was rebuilt and by the time I got home he had come and taken the stereo and emptied my shop and it was all gone…all my stuff, all my treasure, all my idols… gone.

Why? Because no one or anything, not even my gods can stand between me and the L-RD G-D of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It has been maybe twenty five years since I said good bye to those things of mine. And since then I have tried to keep a lighter grip on His things and try to remember what He told Job… “Everything under heaven is Mine.”