“The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to Me. You are only foreigners and tenants working for Me.”
(Leviticus 25:23 NLT)
The Israelites had yet to set foot in the Promised Land, yet God was issuing instructions for a season still to come. We tend to think of the Israelite’s wilderness years as a punishment, and it was, but also a preparing. This group of slaves was not ready to rule themselves. The decades in the desert served as a training ground. It was in the wasteland between Egypt and Canaan that they learned to live as God’s people.
God’s rules for the land were good. Every seventh year was a Sabbath; the land and it’s inhabitants were instructed to rest. God promised plenty if the Israelites held to His sabbath directive, but obedience was required to receive the blessing. Every fiftieth year marked Jubilee; a time when all the land bought and sold was returned to it’s family of origin. (Remember the Promised Land was subdivided by tribe; each tribe received due inheritance.) Debts were forgiven. Slaves were set free. This would have served as a great reset; economically and socially. Bad luck or bad decisions had a limitation; a line in the sand where one generation ended and another began with a clean slate.
With these instructions, God reminded His people that the Promised Land ultimately belonged to Him. Always had. Always will. This is a truth that is reinforced throughout scripture.
“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all it’s people belong to Him.” (Psalm 24:1 NLT)
God’s people would reside in the Promised Land, but at the end of the day, they were just passing through. Foreigners. Tenants. On their way to a better place.
I pause here and whisper my breath prayer again. “Set my heart on things above.” Friends, we are just passing through. We don’t observe Sabbath and Jubilee years any longer, we’ve misplaced these incredible traditions of trust and grace. We must instead remind ourselves over and over again; this world is not our home. We are tenants and everything we have is only on loan for a little while. The sooner we learn this the less tightly we’ll hold to everything temporal: position, possessions, opinions and grudges.
Over and over, God asks us to lay our selves down. I think of the rich young ruler and I hear the Savior inviting us to a lesser life. I realize, Western Culture collectively struggles to surrender our stuff: our toys, our rights, our agendas and preferences in order to follow Jesus fully. We have a hard time remembering it all belongs to Him. We have a hard time setting our hearts on things above.
“Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing that you haven’t done,” He told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” (Mark 10:21 NLT)
I started this blog as a response to the great untethering that the Lord began in my life more than five years ago. Looking back, I can see how He has carefully, consistently unwound my fingers from the things that seemed to matter most. Of course, I’ve squawked and balked because my flesh is loud like everyone else’s, but the Savior has been patient and persistent. He offers His hand to hold tightly to move forward, together.
Jesus still asks us to trade our stuff for His friendship. We lay down what we have in exchange for intimate fellowship with the living God. I’m convinced, we get the better end of this deal. Jesus doesn’t ask to punish us, He asks because He loves us. He knows that stuff is temporary and that surrender is the singular requirement to propel us into deeper relationship with Him. He knows full well how our affections get in the way of our following. He knows that in the flesh, today tends to obstruct our view eternity.
Lord, we recognize again that it is all Yours. Why do we struggle to let go of that which does not belong to us? You are the Lord and apart from You we have nothing good. We are just passing through and all this stuff just weighs us down on our walk with You. Give us the courage to hand our lives over completely, to return everything to it’s original owner and trust in You alone. Amen.