Think of what you are holding right now that isn’t really yours.
It might be a borrowed book. It might be something far more precious, like a friend’s confidence or a child’s trust. Most of life is spent looking after things that belong to someone else.
But things entrusted to us can be damaged, lost or neglected, and sometimes nobody else is there to see it happen.
Exodus 22 asks what happens then, when something entrusted to us goes missing and there is no witness?
“If anyone gives a neighbour silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbour’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person’s property. …
“If anyone gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to their neighbour for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking, the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the Lord that the neighbour did not lay hands on the other person’s property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required.”
(Exodus 22 v 7–15)
What do you think of yourself?
Self-awareness is an overlooked key to the Christian life.
People who never want to be corrected have sometimes used Paul’s words to defend themselves. But I think his words help us understand something important in Exodus 22:
“Those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.”
(1 Corinthians 4 v 2–4)
Paul describes himself as a servant and a steward. He has been entrusted with something that belongs to another. He is not free simply to do whatever he wants with it.
And the measure is not popularity, recognition or success.
It is faithfulness.
That is the world of Exodus 22. Someone places something that belongs to one person into another person’s hands. Sometimes it is lost, damaged or stolen “while no one is looking.” So the law provides evidence, judges and, when there is no witness, an oath before the Lord.
Accountability to one another matters.
But behind it all stands God, who sees what nobody else sees and has the final word.
Ultimately, none of us owns anything outright. God has entrusted us with our lives, our gifts, our opportunities, our ministries and, for some of us, the responsibility of caring for His church.
So what matters most to us?
The world’s metrics, or God’s measure of faithfulness?
Are we willing to do the essential things when nobody applauds?
Are we willing to care for what God has placed in our hands even when nobody is watching?
And then notice verse 15. If the owner is with the animal, the borrower does not have to pay.
That is wonderfully reassuring.
Our Owner has not left us to manage on our own. He is with us.
So perhaps the real question is not simply, “What am I doing when no one is looking?”
It is:
“What am I doing when I remember that God is looking?”
Faithfulness is doing what is right not because someone else will see it, but because He does.
