THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)
DATE: TUESDAY, 7TH MARCH, 2023
TOPIC: HOLDING GOD BY HIS WORD
TEXT: LEVITICUS 25:19-44
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.]
23. ' The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land [is] Mine; for you [are] strangers and sojourners with Me.
24. 'And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.
25. ' If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold [some] of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.
26. 'Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it,
27. 'then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession.
28. 'But if he is not able to have [it] restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
29. 'If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; [within] a full year he may redeem it.
30. 'But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.
31. 'However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.
32. 'Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, [and] the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
33. 'And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites [are] their possession among the children of Israel.
34. 'But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it [is] their perpetual possession.
35. ' If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.
36. 'Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.
37. 'You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.
38. 'I [am] the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan [and] to be your God.
39. ' 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.
40. 'As a hired servant [and] a sojourner he shall be with you, [and] shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee.
41. 'And [then] he shall depart from you -- he and his children with him -- and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers.
42. 'For they [are] My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.
43. 'You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God.
44. 'And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have -- from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.
MESSAGE:
God instructed the Israelites not to farm in the seventh (Sabbath) year (Lev.25:1-4). In today’s passage, they wondered how they will survive by the seventh and eight year when they will commence farming. He assured them of His blessings in the sixth year that will last for two years before reaping their crops in the ninth year, contingent on care of the poor, reverential fear and obedience to His commands.
The global economic meltdown has caused untold economic hardship amidst such pressures, God still requires us to support His work and care for the poor. Like the Israelites we might wonder how to obey and still meet family needs. Today’s passage is a lesson that the Christian life is a faith walk with God and absolute trust in His power to provide in austere times. How He will do it is not our business. He said, ‘I will command my blessings during those years when there is lack’. God has innumerable blessings stored and waiting for His command to locate you. Some brethren have testified how they miraculously survived during the COVID 19 year. My family got a job then that employed many persons. Has God spoken to you about cancelling any debt, giving your life savings for His work and you are troubled about how to survive? Just hold God by His Word. Simply trust and obey!
PRAYER:
Lord, please reveal Yourself to me. Help me to trust and take You by Your words in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Happy birthday to me! Pray for me, beloved.
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