Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank the Father for the day and his Word, asking the Spirit for understanding and heart-level application.
Read
Scripture Passage
Provisions for the Seventh Year
18 ‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.
20 ‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” 21 Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. 22 And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Le 25:18–22.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Israel's sabbatical-year obedience required concrete faith: they were not to cultivate their fields in the seventh year, so God promised a sixth-year harvest sufficient for the sixth, seventh, and following years until new produce arrived. The command exposed whether they trusted God's promised provision.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Leviticus 25:21
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
It will bring forth produce enough for three years.
The transcript includes no explicit best-verse selection. Verse 21 answers the passage's practical question and displays the ground of obedience: God himself promises to command the abundant provision his people need.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Believe God's promises and act on them even before their fulfillment is visible. Walk by faith rather than copying Israel's distrust, confident that God fulfills what he says and does not turn away from his promises.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of... Coffee. Coffee. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from... Genesis. Genesis. Through... Leviticus. Leviticus.
Why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Milk. Alright, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word, and we pray now that your spirit would please help us to understand your word, and that you would apply it to our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.
Okay, Leviticus chapter 25. Leviticus 25. And we're going to start at verse 18. Oh, Leviticus. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. Exodus, Exodus, Exodus, Exodus. Keep going a little bit more. A little bit more. So many chapters. Exodus is long, you're right. Okay, Numbers, Leviticus. Leviticus 25. And we'll begin at verse 18. Okay, here we go. David, can you read verse 18 and 19? And Nathan, I'm going to have you read 20 through 22.
So you shall observe my statutes, and keep my judgments, and perform them. And you will dwell in the land in safety. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell therein safely. And if you say, what shall we do then, 7th Theosynth? We shall not sow, nor gather in for produce. Then I will command my blessing, sow, sow then.
I will command my blessing on... on... Wait, wait, wait. You're fine. Verse 21. Then I will command my blessings on you in the sixth year. It will bring forth so in the eighth year. Nope. It will bring forth produce enough for three years. You shall sow in the eighth year and eat old produce till the ninth year. Until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest. OK. So Nathan and I read about the Sabbath year. And Daniel and I yesterday read about the year of Jubilee, so on the 50th year. But people are going to have a question, right?
On the seventh year, they're not allowed to work in their fields. What are they worried about? Where's the food going to come from? Yeah, where's the food going to come from, right? Because if you don't have any, if you can't harvest any barley or wheat, well, you're not going to have food. But not just that, you're also not going to have seed for the next year.
And so they're asking, how's this gonna work? And so the Lord says, what is the answer to them? That's right. That's right. He says, I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year. And it will bring forth produce enough for? Three years. Three years. Right, so for that sixth year you'll have food, for the seventh year you'll have food, and for the ninth year you'll have food until the harvest. Right.
Do you think this would have been easy? Do you think it would have been easy for them to do this? Because they need to make money. Yeah, they need to make money. And they need? Food. Food. And so was this a real practical trust? Yeah, they really had to have faith. Guess what? The sixth year didn't last until the seventh. In the eighth, they needed food, but they also needed to get seed. And then for the ninth year, if there wasn't enough food, it was all over. That's right.
So Deborah, boys don't ask this. Deborah, how many times do you think they did this, the Israelites? How many times do you think they kept this commandment? They never kept this commandment. We don't have any indication that they kept this, and so this is one of the reasons why God exiled them out of the land. Remember when Babylon came and took them all captive? The number of years they were in captivity was based on the number of Sabbaths that they didn't keep. God had told them, guys, I'm telling you, you don't have to work. It's going to be good. I'm going to command my blessing. And guess what they said? I doubt it. I don't think you will. I doubt it. That's right. So, does God make promises to us? Yep, and he fulfills them. And he fulfills them, right? But does it take faith to believe it? Yep. Does it take faith to act on it? Yep. Sure does.
Alright, let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for the promises you have made us. Lord, we pray that even though we cannot see the fulfillment of those promises, we pray that we would walk by faith. We would trust in you that if you have said it, you will make it good. You will not turn away from your promises, but you will do what you have said. Lord, we pray that we would follow after you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, may God bless you as you walk in the confidence and peace of his word. Bye! Bye! Bye!
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.