Five Things God Has Given Us

God’s given us Himself and a myriad of spiritual gifts. Does He owe us anything else?

Ever feel like God owes you something? A nicer house, maybe? A better spouse, stronger health, or a job you actually like?

This age of entitlement makes it easy to feel we deserve more. Lest we fall into that mentality, let’s pause to ponder what God’s already given us. Isaiah 12:2 is a good place to start: “See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The LORD God is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.”

From this verse alone, I see five things God has given to those who love Him:

• salvation (“God has come to save me”)
• courage (“I will trust in him and not be afraid”)
• strength (“the LORD God is my strength”)
• a song (“the LORD God is…my song)
• victory (“he has given me victory”)

I look at this list and see that God’s covered everything. He’s given us eternal life—it’s hard to top that. He’s given us courage to face whatever comes my way. He’s given strength to do whatever He calls us to do. He gives us a song to sing even in the darkest night. And He gives us victory over temptation, evil, discouragement and whatever else seeks to defeat us.

These five things are all we really need to flourish. Strip away everything else—our creature comforts, our relationships, our securities—and the gifts God’s given us enable us to thrive nonetheless.  Does He owe us anything else? I think not. How about you?