Leviticus 25

Verses 1-7, “And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.” ' ”

The Jews in the wilderness were instructed to take a Sabbath rest and not gather manna, trusting in God for their provision. Now they are being told not to work the ground in the seventh year, and survive on what the land produces without man's help. The lesson here is that the earth, and all that is in it, belongs to God. You cannot trust in your own ability to provide over God's ability, because you'll often take matters into your own hands and give yourself the glory that He is due. He allows us to be in trying situations in order to teach us to trust Him.  Deuteronomy 8:1-3, “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and  test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

Verses 18-22, “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 there in safety. ‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. 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.' ”  If God's children would just trust Him and obey His commands in this, He would provide so much in that sixth year leading up the the Sabbath year, that they would still be eating His provision for three years. God makes a similar promise concerning tithing. It no doubt takes a big step of faith to give when it doesn't make financial sense to do so, but God tells us to try Him in this area of giving.  Malachi 3:10, “ 'Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,' Says the Lord of hosts, 'If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.' ”  Those who do not trust and obey God in this, will never get to experience His miraculous blessing, and they may just be taught through financial trials that you cannot put your trust in uncertain riches.

Verses 23-24, “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.”  The land all belonged to God who gets to decide how it is distributed. Therefore, even if it was leased, the lease would run out in the year of jubilee, unless it was redeemed by a relative. When God blesses you, be careful not to assume ownership either. Maybe He wants a say in how you use this blessing. The same rule of release applied to people, who out of desperation, sold themselves into slavery.  Verses 39-40, “And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee.”  In our day, slavery is always painted in such a bad light, but here we see people taking personal responsibility and paying what they owe. They were not forced, but willingly became servants or slaves, giving back what they owed which is right.

We owe Jesus a debt. He is our kinsman redeemer, purchasing us out of the bondage of sin and freeing us. He paid the price to free us from sin's control. Serving Him is an easy yolk and light burden, which is why it is so crazy to willingly put yourself back under the slavery of sin.  Romans 6:16-23, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

We should not be slaves to anything or anyone on earth. There is One who already owns us, who purchased us with His very own blood...Jesus. He is the one we rightfully serve, with our money, our posessions, our time, and our very lives. It all belongs to God!