Joy of the Law

Read Leviticus 21, 22:1–16, 25
 
Leviticus 25:1-4 While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord said to him, 2 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the Lord every seventh year. 3 For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, 4 but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year.”  
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25:18-22 “If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. 19 Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. 20 But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ 21 Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. 22 When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year.”
 
PERHAPS you are weary of reading about so many laws. But instead, I hope you are energized to see once more in this passage how El Shaddai uses the law as a means to bless his people.
   The land Sabbath year would be quite a faith test, wouldn’t it? Having been around farming in some connection all my life, I have never known anyone to consider this command, let alone do it. How is it both practical and possible to have enough food and income from land that lies idle for a full year?
   It is practical because God promises he’ll prepare you for it. And it is possible because the LORD God said it is. God makes the law for your good and the earth’s good. Then he makes it possible for you to be blessed as you obey it. “Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years.” “Be assured!” how good it would be to live with a complete conviction God’s Word is absolutely true! Remember, this is God’s Promised Land. The good land represents the Father’s good grace to generously care for his children when they obey him.  
   But then, Israel did not believe this command. There is no record they obeyed this Sabbath for the land. Still God gave the land its rest. God exiled Israel into Babylon for 70 years. Why 70? For nearly 500 years – 70 segments of 7 years – the Jews had neglected the Sabbath year. The land of Judah received its Sabbath during the exile.
   God will accomplish his will with or without your obedience. Wouldn’t it be better to join with God rather than neglect and oppose him? Wouldn’t it be better to live securely in the land, follow (his) decrees and obey (his) regulations?
 
Psalms 1:1-2 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.