In my logical, ‘fair’ mindset it would make more sense if God would smooth life out a little. Our singing group was preparing for Thanksgiving songs and many of them reflected on the harvest…the time of year when everything is made right. And it was beautiful….the thought that ‘you reap what you sow.”
But then my husband and I were reading through some of the less interesting parts of the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus. There are a lot of laws there. But we were in Leviticus 25 and in verse 18 it says “Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.” This is lovely….what a promise. What a smooth life is promised those who follow God.
But the next verse set me back a little. “You may ask, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?'” (verse 20). You see, earlier in Leviticus, through Moses, God had commanded that once the Hebrews had crossed into Canaan, they were to work their new land and cause crops to grow….then the seventh year there was to be no new planting…OR harvesting. The land and the people were to rest. Time was to be spent cultivating family and spiritual relationships, not working for sustenance. And the promise was that God would provide extra the 6th year of harvest for those who then chose to rest…. “I will send you you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.” (verse 21-22).
The first thought is Wow, look at how God provides. And of course, this is truth. But pause for just a second….this means that at the end of the 6th year there was a lot of food that could be thoroughly enjoyed, celebrating the wealth of the harvest…and while waiting for the harvest of the 9th year there could have been very little to eat? This doesn’t sound very economic of God
Wouldn’t it have been easier for God to just to send a harvest every year, whether the Hebrews planted or not? Wouldn’t it have been better to force the crops on the 8th year so that they didn’t have to make it through the 9th with the last of the left-overs? Wouldn’t it have been smarter to not gamble, and plant that seventh year just in case? Wouldn’t it have been healthier for all to have a steady diet and not take the risk of going hungry?
Now I’m not going to attempt to answer for God these questions. So much we have to take for faith, and a huge part is that God is God, He sees the end from the beginning. If God made these directives, then they must have been in Israel’s best interest. Re-read the whole passage put together above…”you will live safely…you will eat your fill…”
So I don’t garden….and I definitely do not grow a crop. But what can I take from this passage. Why can’t God just keep my life even-keeled? I’d trust in Him daily, right? There are times that God gives us MUCH GOOD…MUCH REST…MUCH FINANCIAL SECURITY. While we should enjoy these times…we should also be storing up for the times of LITTLE. Little good….little rest…little financial security. And we need to realize that this process, too, is healthy for us. Like when we’re fasting [Fasting and Praying] it is a time of ‘little’ that should focus us on thanksgiving for the sustenance that provided for us to not be hungry sooner and thankful for the promised provisions. It brings to light the importance of not giving in to gluttony and ease when we do have much. God is not limited to our sense of economy, our sense of stability…because it is in the instability of our lives that we find that God never changes, He always wants what’s best for us.
There are times when I feel God MUCH in my life….and there are times when I feel God little…. May I remember when I feel Him richly blessing my relationship MUCH…that I will likely need to REMEMBER what He taught me during those times, when I now feel Him little. He IS the God of economy, the God of thrift and providence.
economy
noun
2. careful management of available resources
synonyms: thrift – providence
