“If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ 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. 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. [Leviticus 25.18-22]
The significance of the Sabbath amazes me. We have so overlooked the fact that God provides that we have missed an important testimony not only to ourselves, but to all who witness it (the world).
If a weekly Sabbath was not enough, Israel was instructed to observe a Sabbath every seven years.
Imagine what that must have been like... As agriculture was an important part of nearly every families sustenance, it was a big deal that on the seventh year they could only eat what the land produced without having been cultivated. Furthermore, they could only 'harvest' what they could eat - they could not store up the harvest for the future.
Just as God provided extra manna on the sixth day (during Israel's wilderness journey), so God said He would provide enough on the sixth year to keep them for two additional years (enough for three years total). Simply put, God would provide through no efforts of the people. God alone was responsible for their food. They and all who witnessed their lives would see a miracle!
I think of Paul's letter to the church in Galatia:
Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. [Galatians 3.23-25]
The Sabbath was intended to be a teacher to Israel and all who would ever become God's followers. It was like going to school - it would not last forever. The lesson of the schooling was that God will provide. While we as New Testament believers enjoy being "out of school," I am afraid we have forgotten the lessons we were taught (in all the stories of God's miraculous provision for Israel). Instead of believing God is our Provider, our freedom from the Law has allowed us to grow lazy, and subsequently, lacking in faith and powerless in our witness. Consequently, God's children are caught up in the world's broken systems (economy included) just like everyone else.
The greatest shame of it all is that, because of our faithlessness, Christ is not glorified in His life and work, death and resurrection. Jesus redeemed us from the 'school of the Law' - 'graduated us,' if you will, into the works of faith whereby we and the world see God's power (even after we are no longer under the compulsion of the Law to do so). We talk about Jesus but do not live like Jesus (Who ironically 'broke' the Sabbath, but still proved God's provision and miracles through faith).
The depth of this is mind-blowing. I come to the thought of obedience. While in the 'school of the Law,' obedience is to the Law. But while in the 'graduated' state of freedom provided by Jesus, obedience is to faith - to live and walk by faith. Just as God promised blessings upon those obedient to the Law, so now, God has promised blessings upon those obedient to faith.
In fact, faith is the only thing that pleases God. We know that even with the Law as in intermediary, it was still faith that God blessed in those who obediently (in faith) obeyed the Law. Jesus removed the intermediary Law and replaced it with His obedience on the Cross, thus 'graduating' us who believe (in Him) without the Law.
So, why do we not see greater evidence of God's provision today? The answer can only be one thing: we are not living by faith.
Father, I am convinced that I do not glorify You as I should with faith. Please forgive me this wrong. I want to rid myself of my self-sufficient (and consequently miracle-less) living, and begin more and more to witness Your power in my life. I want that power to be so evident that the world can see it is YOU and not ME doing it.
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