And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase. Then will I command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. Leviticus 25:20,21
Farmers are a hardy lot, as they throw their energies year after year into their struggle to wrest a living from the soil. They battle against bad weather, all manner of bugs, an unending stream of diseases, and accidents and mishaps of all kinds. Some years, everything seems to go against them, and they almost starve; other years, there is a bountiful crop that makes the struggle through the preceding hard years all worthwhile. It’s always been that way with farmers. Today’s highly mechanized and vast acreage operations encounter the same struggles and setbacks and successes as those of bygone centuries. Even back in Bible times, in the land of Israel, there were good years and bad. But there was one year the farmers could count on for a bountiful crop, if they did what God told them to do.
God had a plan whereby the land was to have a sabbath. Every seventh year, the farmers were to take the year off, and plant no crops. The land would get its needed rest. But, to compensate for the lack of seventh-year crops, God would give the Israelite farmers an abundant harvest on the sixth year. The land would produce enough to see the people through until the crops were ready on the eighth year. And God kept His promise. Mind you, the Israelites abused that promise, and failed to give the land its sabbath. They planted on the seventh year. That is why the Babylonian captivity lasted so long, God took the people out of the land until all of the missed sabbath years were made up. The people didn’t get away with abusing God’s promised blessing after all. And neither will we.
As you and I travel through this world, we need to make our living and tend to the business of providing for ourselves and our families. At the same time, God has promised to bless us with all spiritual blessings, and he does so generously. But, just as the Israelites were instructed to give their land its sabbath, God expects us to give to Him that portion of our lives that enables Him to bring us into the image of His Son. We need to spend time in prayer and Bible reading, in assembling ourselves with other believers, in witnessing and service for our Lord, and in other activities that are for His glory. Maybe we are like the Israelite who decided he needed the crop from the seventh year, too. But, just like that Israelite, we need to be reminded that God will bless us and take care of us if we give to Him that portion of our lives that belongs to Him. If we do so, we will be blessed. If we don’t, we will suffer loss.
Have we ever taken God up on His promise to supply us during the time that we give to Him? How exciting it would be to really discover that God is no man’s debtor! -Jim MacIntosh