But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord; thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. Leviticus 25:4
Today’s farmers don’t know anything about observing a sabbath year for their crops, and so they know nothing about the benefits that a sabbath year would bring. To bring in a cash flow from crops, farmers must plant every year. To supply the nutrients to the soil robbed by constant cropping, they must pour expensive fertilizers into the ground. To assure a steady crop, they resort to hybrids and to genetically altered seed. And they get a steady crop, although the nutrient value of their crops keeps eroding. They make a living, but the soil keeps getting more and more depleted. And they wonder at times of drought and pestilence. How different is God’s plan for man’s management of God’s creation! God’s plans are always the best.
What happens if the land is allowed to lie fallow for one year in seven? It is true that there will be no cash crop for the farmer to buy his bread and butter with. And it is also true that among the random crop plants that do come up will be a vigorous crop of weeds. But the weeds will do more good than harm, drawing up the minerals and nutrients that the cash crops are unable to access, and restoring a good amount of organic content to the soil. The sabbath rules required that fruit be left for the poor, the passerby, and for the land, where it would fall and rot and supply more good organic content. The sabbath year – in many other ways as well – was a time of restoration that allowed more healthy crops and more healthy land. God’s first instruction for Adam was to keep and dress the Garden of Eden. So is instructions for the way in which the Israelites were to keep and dress the promised land would also have been for the very best for that land. Only as they obeyed did God bless their crops and harvests. Only as we obey God’s word does God bless our efforts.
There is a crop that God is asking His people today to sow, and that is His Gospel. Only by the preaching of the Gospel do sinners find salvation. Is this crop being planted according to God’s instructions today? In most cases, no. Many organizations will present some measure of the truth regarding the Gospel message. But they have reduced salvation to a formula of assent to God’s Word and a recital of a prayer of general repentance and ‘asking Jesus into their hearts’. Altar calls are frequent among these people. And they wonder that this type of conversion results in so little change in the lives of those involved. Following man’s plan of salvation does not produce the same results as following God’s plan.
If we follow God’s instructions, we will obtain God’s results. – Jim MacIntosh