Ownership Equals Obligation

Lamentations 2:20a Behold, O LORD; and consider to whom thou hast done this.      Jeremiah was a sensitive man. He looked around him and was dismayed by the sin of Judah. They had rejected God's message, and God's judgment upon them was severe. You can hear the sorrow in his voice when in Lamentations 2:20 he says, "Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this." God had meted out destruction on His own people. The question implied is-Why would God deal so severely with His own people? God was keeping to His own promise that was based on His own character. Verse 17 says, "The LORD hath done that which he had devised." Verse 8 says, "The LORD hath purpose to destroy the well of the daughter of Zion." He did what He said He would do. God's people had sinned, so He had to deal severely with them. In verses 6 and 7 note how many times the possessive pronoun is used in reference to God. Verse 6 says, "He hath violently taken away his tabernacle...he hath destroyed his places of the assembly." Verse 7 says, "He hath abhorred his sanctuary." In other words, one of the reasons God dealt so severely with these people is precisely because they were His people. He hated their sin: He didn't hate them.  Even though He hated their sin, He loved them, and because they were His, He had to deal with them.   The overarching truth is that ownership equals obligation. God's ownership of me obliges Him to deal with me in light of His character and my need. The Bible tells us that God chastens us as dear children. My ownership of what God has put in my hand equals obligation as well. God had given these precious people a king, princes, a law, prophets, and a temple. Because they had so misused what God had given them, God took it away and gave judgment instead. How we use what God gives us determines what God gives us. These people owned a temple, a law, princes and kings, but God owned them. I don't know what you own or are entrusted with today, but we need to remember that God owns us. My ownership equals obligation, and God's ownership equals obligation. I need to remember that how I treat what God has entrusted to me does in measure determine how God will deal with me. I am His and He is not indifferent towards me. Prayer Requests: - Services this weekend in Keysville, VA; Elizabeth City, NC; Cottonwood, AZ; and Rim Rock, AZ.       Enjoy more devotionals, sermon audio, and articles on our website!

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