EVERYTHING BELONGS TO GOD
After pleading with God about feeling like nothing truly belonged to me since the move, I begged Him to give me something I could call my own. As I waited in expectation for increased engagement or a new opportunity at work, He whispered, Everything you have is mine. Later, the message shifted, and He whispered again, Everything you have is borrowed. Immediately, I began reflecting on my life. The house I live in isn’t mine. The food I cook and eat doesn’t belong to me. I don’t have a car to move about freely. Even the language of this country isn’t mine. I paused, shifting my attitude from lack to gratitude, but the whisper continued: Everything you have is borrowed, everything you have is borrowed, everything you have is borrowed.
The following day, I started spotting unexpectedly and immediately prayed, “God, please keep my baby safe.” And again, I heard it: Everything you have is borrowed.
“look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belongs to the lord your god” dEUTERONOMY 10:14
We are all created beings, in a created world, with resources and abilities gifted to us through the grace, kindness, and favor of God. People suddenly die every day—how did you save yourself from death? Perfectly healthy people wake up with terminal illnesses—what did you do differently to remain healthy? Equally qualified people pursue opportunities daily—what set you apart?
Everything we have and anything we can do is because of God. When we allow pride to enter our hearts, we grow angry and bitter over things we had no hand in giving to ourselves. This understanding of our temporary stewardship leads us naturally to consider how we respond to God’s guidance, as seen in the story of Jonah.
scriptural break down
Jonah 1:1 “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise go to Nineveh that great city and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.”
Emphasis on ‘for their wickedness has come up before me’, this was not Nineveh’s first or second offense. Correction came after a persistent unrepentant heart.
God is not waiting with a belt after you make a mistake. You will not be perfect, but you are called to be righteous. Repent and turn. Repent and turn.
Jonah 3:3 “And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
God takes the warning, correction, and prophetic messages given to others seriously. When Jonah was told to go to Nineveh the first time he ran away and got swallowed by a fish. Don’t be disobedient.
Why does God take correction and warning seriously? Because without it people will not be aware of their sin or need for repentance.
Why does God want us to repent? Because He doesn’t want any of us to die and go to hell. He literally wants all of His creation to choose eternal life through Jesus.
Jonah 3:5 “So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.”
Do not harden your hearts in rebellion when God brings warning or correction.
Jonah 3:10 “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”
God responds to true repentance.
There is power in humility, fasting, and prayer.
God sees the work you do. Again, He is not sitting on the edge of His throne like, “HA! Caught you in sin again.”
jonah’s anger with god exposed a darkness in his own heart.
Jonah 4:1-2 “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
As soon as you start taking ungodly ownership over your life and time, it very difficult to be used by God.
Jonah is angry right now because instead of smiting a country to hell, God showed grace? How can another part of creation tell the Creator what to do with His creation?
When you choose to walk with God you don’t get to tell God how to be God.
Jonah 4:6-7 “And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.
God can give or take away. He can allow us to live in seasons of abundance or sustainability.
Everything belongs to God. Anything He allows us to have, for however long, is more than we could ever provide for ourselves with our own power.
Jonah 4:9-10 “Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” But the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.
How many of us are unrighteously angry over things that God has allowed or “taken away” from us?
People, life, careers, health, intelligence, breath, peace, joy, strength, favor, blessings—none of it belongs to you. Everything you have is from the grace of God.
Jonah 4:11 “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
Emphasis on ‘persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left’—LOL. God takes into account exactly where you are in the way He parents, corrects, leads, and guides you. God’s parenting is specific.
Pity in this scripture means to look upon with compassion, regard, or to spare.
God is not looking forward to destroying any of His creation.
He wants to look upon us with compassion and regard. He wants to spare us from His wrath. We choose how we experience God by our willingness or unwillingness to make Him the Lord over our lives.
therefore, as scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the lord” 1 corinthians 1:31
There is a pride that naturally comes with life. So many days of waking up, you forget who is doing it. When business takes off, you attribute it to your own efforts. When the right group of friends or a perfect partner walks into your life, you take all the credit. Similarly, when dreams die, we blame God for not keeping them afloat. When plans change, we question His heart for us. And when the people we love die—we ask where God was, as if they were not also part of His beloved creation.
It is so easy to forget that everything we possess—our homes, our health, our talents, even our very breath—is borrowed from God. This realization should humble us and draw us closer to Him, fostering a spirit of gratitude rather than entitlement. The story of Jonah reminds us that God's grace is as much about correction as it is about compassion. We may not always understand His ways, but we can trust that everything He allows in our lives serves a greater purpose. As we navigate the joys and trials of life, may we remember that our true identity is found not in the things we own or achieve, but in our relationship with the Creator. Let us boast only in the Lord, recognizing that all we have and all we are is by His grace alone.
