1 Chronicles 29:14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”

This is something we are all too prone to forget. We tend to feel, “God owes me,” even if we don’t put it into words. Our very existence is dependent on God! Physicists come up with all sorts of ideas, like “dark energy” and “dark matter,” to explain how things are in the universe, but the simple fact of the matter is that they don’t know! Paul gave the ultimate answer to all such questions: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17) Physics gets a lot simpler when you know the Creator! Once we have this fundamental understanding, everything, and not just physics, falls into place. When we are amazed, it is because we recognize God’s grace toward us, just as the hymn says. David was having just such a moment when he said this verse, at the dedication of the offerings for building the temple. The point for us is to remember that everything comes from God, so we are accountable to Him, before we are accountable to anyone else, for how we use it all. Right now in the US government there is an overdue push for accountability, exposing fraud and correcting it, but if people were cognizant of their accountability to God, we wouldn’t have had this issue in the first place. We can’t force anyone into a right relationship with God, but we can keep tabs on our own. We need to remember that our every breath is a gift from Him, and live accordingly.

I started this morning’s devotional time turned to 2 Chronicles 29:10-18, and thought it a strange passage when the theme was Hope! However, I started writing on verse 11, where King Hezekiah is charging the Levites with the work of cleansing the temple, and I thought it was an appropriate verse for my birthday. After all, I too am not to be negligent when it comes to the tasks the Lord has assigned to me. I had written a good bit, when I suddenly realized that I had the wrong book of the Bible! That is a reminder to me that absolutely everything I have, including my mind and my senses, is a direct result of God’s grace, just as David says here. Accordingly, I am to dedicate and return it all to Him, in gratitude and obedience. However much time the Lord gives me on this earth, it is very literally from Him, and I am to use it accordingly. Several years ago I sent in a DNA sample to My Heritage, and they continue to research my ancestors. Some of them lived long lives, but I have been impressed by how many didn’t, and I realize God’s grace toward me. That said, the length of life isn’t the issue, it’s whether it is lived in obedience to and fellowship with our Creator. I am to be a good steward of this body health-wise, but my focus is to be on what God wants me to be doing with it, and give Him my all.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for these 78 years You’ve given me, and for however many more You have in store. May today and each day be spent on Your schedule, accomplishing Your will for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!