Day by Day - Jan. 7/8, 2012

On Loan

by Charles R. Swindoll

Read Job 1:21

With Job facedown in worship to God, the only one cursing is Satan. He hated it! He resented Job's response! Of all things, the man still worships his God—the One who would allow these catastrophes to happen. There wouldn't be one in millions on this earth who would do so, but Job did exactly that. The wicked spirits sat with their mouths wide open as it were, as they watched a man who responded to all of his adversities with adoration; who concluded all of his woes with worship. No blame. No bitterness. No cursing. No clinched fist raised to the heavens screaming, "How dare you do this to me after I've walked with you all these years!" None of that.

Instead he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. Blessed be the name of the Lord." That says it all. At birth we all arrived naked. At death we will all leave naked, as we're prepared for burial. We have nothing as we are birthed; we have nothing as we depart. So everything we have in between is provided for us by the Giver of Life.

Get that clearly in your mind. Get it, affluent Americans as we are. Get it when you stroll through your house and see all those wonderful belongings. Get it when you open the door and slip behind the steering wheel of your car. It's all on loan, every bit of it. Get it when the business falls and fails. It, too, was on loan. When the stocks rise, all that profit is on loan.

Face it squarely. You and I arrived in a tiny, naked body (and not a great looking one at that!). And what will we have when we depart? A naked body plus a lot of wrinkles. You take nothing because you brought nothing! You own nothing. What a grand revelation. Are you ready to accept it? You don't even own your children. They're God's children, on loan for you to take care of, rear, nurture, love, discipline, encourage, affirm, and then release.

Praise God for "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights" (James 1:17 NIV).

Reprinted by permission. Day by Day, Charles Swindoll, July 2005, Thomas Nelson, inc., Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved. Purchase "Day by Day" here.