Leviticus 25:2 and 4-5

S When you enter the land which I’m going to give you, he land will observe a sabbath to God…don’t reap what grows itself; don’t harvest the grapes of your untended vines.

O I love God’s reminder to the Israelites–and to us–that He has given us all that we possess. He gave the Israelites their land just as He has given us our homes, our families, our jobs. How easily we forget Who produces the fruit in our lives.

We need times of rest to stop and remember the source. Even the land gets a rest from our poking and prodding and ‘doing’! I think it’s hard for us to stop producing because when we stop producing we can’t prove ourselves to God, to others, and sometimes worst of all, to ourselves. But it is so good that God reminds us that it’s not about us. When we stop, the cycle of life, including the harvest cycle, still produces. Why? Because God’s got it all under control. It’s nothing we can attribute to our own efforts or success. It is for His glory alone.

A I want to bring all of my efforts, successes and failures back to a motivation that brings glory to God. It’s easy to be distracted with the pursuit of doing things just to prove our worth and chalk up our successes. But, it is a divine reminder that we cannot take credit for the things that God sows and the works God is doing in our lives and in those around us. This is part correction but also part freeing when we realize that people will get saved because of the Holy Spirit drawing them and not our perfect witness. It’s freeing to know that God will heal families and marriages because of his compassion and not because of our perfect prayers. It’s freeing to know that I stand forgiven because of His life, death, and resurrection and not because of my attempt to produce perfection.

P Lord I’m grateful that You are big and I am small. I’m grateful for your word that reminds us that you are in control of every created thing in life. Help us bring everything that we do back to you, that we would remember it’s for your glory. Thank you that you take our efforts and allow us to be a part of the miracles you are doing on earth but thank you that you are Big enough and able enough to do it without our help. Bring us back to this truth today Lord. Amen.

1. This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 10:30 am and is filed under Journal Entry, Katelyn Pierson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.