Absolute Trust

In my daily Bible readings I am in the book of Leviticus every Thursday. For those of you who have ever committed to read through the Bible in a year, you have probably already cringed at the memories of trudging through Leviticus with its many rules and laws that make about as much sense as the IRS tax code.

Yet I have been pleasantly surprised by what God has revealed through this book. Today I was reading in Leviticus 25 which describes the rules of the Sabbath years and a concept called Jubilee. Jubilee occurred every 50th year in Israel and it was a time when all debts were forgiven and people could repossess any land that they had previously forfeited. Along with this, every seventh year there was to be a Sabbath imposed on the land. Nothing was to be planted and nothing to was to be harvested on that year. Practically speaking that sounds awful impractical, especially when it came to feeding your family.

But God had that part figured out too. He told His people (vs.18-22) that if they did this then in the sixth year the crops that would be produced would be equal to three years worth of crops. That way when it was time to sow in the eighth year they would still be able to survive off the harvest from the sixth year and would even have enough left over when the next harvest came in on the ninth year. In other words, if they trusted in God enough to give the land a Sabbath rest He would provide for all their needs.

This kind of trust is pretty steep. Do we trust God to provide for us when work cuts back on our hours? Are we able to trust Him when sickness strikes within our families? Can we keep our eyes solely on Him when our relationships begin to buckle and fail? The question isn't whether God will provide but rather if we will allow ourselves to rest in His provision.