Remember Where it Comes From

Today's Reading: Leviticus 25

Give Thanks-

Leviticus 25:2 (ESV)2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.

Personalize it method (Rick Warren's 40 Days in the Word): Lord, please reveal your message to me in this chapter. Please give me application for my day, for my life- In Jesus name I pray, amen.

See that you must not lose sight of my provision Jeff. Do not forget or overlook the answer to prayer or my deliverance of a promise ('When you come into the land that I give you'). Be certain to reflect and to give thanks and to listen for my guidance as you receive from my hand.

This sabbatical year is a reminder that it is I that have delivered you and have provided for you. Give thanks and be certain to not forget the giver in sight of the gift. Let your faith and trust be in me and not in my gifts.

From the Matthew Henry Commentary-

Now, (1.) God would hereby show them that he was their landlord, and that they were tenants at will under him. Landlords are wont to stipulate with their tenants when they shall break up their ground, how long they shall till it, and when they shall let it rest: God would thus give, grant, and convey, that good land to them, under such provisos and limitations as should let them know that they were not proprietors, but dependents on their Lord. (2.) It was a kindness to their land to let it rest sometimes, and would keep it in heart (as our husbandmen express it) for posterity, whose satisfaction God would have them to consult, and not to use the ground as if it were designed only for one age. (3.) When they were thus for a whole year taken off from all country business, they would have the more leisure to attend the exercises of religion, and to get the knowledge of God and his law. (4.) They were hereby taught to be charitable and generous, and not to engross all to themselves, but to be willing that others should share with them in the gifts of God’s bounty, which the earth brought forth of itself. (5.) They were brought to live in a constant dependence upon the divine providence, finding that, as man lives not by bread alone, so he has bread, not by his own industry alone, but, if God pleases, by the word of blessing from the mouth of God, without any care or pains of man, Mt. 4:4. (6.) They were reminded of the easy life man lived in paradise, when he ate of every good thing, not, as since, in the sweat of his face. Labour and toil came in with sin.
Henry, M. (1996). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Le 25:1–7). Peabody: Hendrickson.

Jubilee!-

Leviticus 25:10 (ESV)10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.

See Jeff that I gave this Jubilee that all would know that it is I who own the land and the people. In this year all property and all slaves would be "freed." Nobody could keep property they had purchased past the next year of Jubilee (every 50 years) so that the land would always return to the original family of inheritance. 

From the Matthew Henry Commentary-

The trumpet was sounded in the close of the day of atonement; thence the jubilee commenced, and very fitly; when they had been humbling and afflicting their souls for sin, then they were made to hear this voice of joy and gladness, Ps. 11:8. When their peace was made with God, then liberty was proclaimed; for the removal of guilt is necessary to make way for the entrance of all true comfort, Rom. 5:1, 2.  

(2.) The liberty which every man was born to, if it were sold or forfeited, should likewise return at the year of jubilee: You shall return every man to his family, v. 10. Those that were sold into other families thereby became strangers to their own; but in this year of redemption they were to return. This was typical of our redemption by Christ from the slavery of sin and Satan, and our restoration to the glorious liberty of the children of God. Some compute that the very year in which Christ died was a year of jubilee, and the last that ever was kept. But, however that be, we are sure it is the Son that makes us free, and then we are free indeed. 

(3.) It was intended for an encouragement to all God’s people, in all ages, to trust him in the way of duty, and to cast their care upon him. There is nothing lost by faith and self-denial in our obedience.
Henry, M. (1996). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Le 25:8–22). Peabody: Hendrickson.

See also Jeff that the theme of redemption flows through this chapter with reference to slaves being redeemed by their own sufficient wealth or that of a relative or that they wait for Jubilee. Do you see the beauty Jeff in how my Son died in the year of Jubilee as your redeemer and he paid the full price to free you from your slavery to sin and death and the life sold out to self?

Romans 6:6 (ESV)6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 

John 8:34–36 (ESV)34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Trust in My Provision-

Leviticus 25:20–21 (ESV)20 And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years.

So trust in my provision Jeff- as elsewhere in scripture I explain here that I will provide as you obey. When I call you to be generous and to give and to not reap all of your harvest, know that I will provide. Separate yourself from the gift of my provision that you are not taken by it in slavery to producing plenty but rest in my provision and trust not in your skill to reap the harvest.

Take Care of the Poor-

Leviticus 25:35 (ESV)³⁵ “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 

Leviticus 25:38 (ESV)³⁸ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

Remember that I brought you from slavery…remember that it is I who give and take away Jeff. Do not hold yourself above anyone but give of the blessing I provide and care for one another.

Luke 6:37–38 (ESV)³⁷ “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; ³⁸ give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Application and Prayer:

• Today I will give thanks to you Lord for being my provider
• Today I will remember how you have always provided for and cared for your people and for me
• Today I will rejoice in the jubilee, in the redemption you brought in your Son
• Today I will consider the poor and I will not place myself above others due to your provision that I would recognize gifts as gifts, not as earned payment
• Today I will worship the giver and be thankful for the gifts without undue focus or reliance on the gifts

Thank you Lord for redeeming me. Thank you Lord for being my provider. Thank you for delivering me from my sin and from my selfish life. Please ravish my heart today and let me have a focus on you that magnifies my gratitude for your gifts in my life. I ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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