Abundance of Life

Abundance of Life

“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.” Ex. 23:10-11.

God is rich and carefree. He does not need to have the soil cultivated every year. He wants us to be conformed into His image. God is good. It was His desire that the poor would be freely taken care of every seventh year and that His people should partake of His goodness.

“And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow or 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.” Lev. 25:20-21.

This blessing depends on only two factors: 1) God’s riches and goodness, and 2) on our obedience. Therefore it is in force under all circumstances, throughout all times, even in times of war.

“The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” Prov. 10:22. Instead of losing anything by not cultivating the soil during the seventh year, the blessing would be so abundant that they would gain by it. It is always rewarding to keep God’s commandments, because it is precisely when they were obedient to His precepts that they would experience this abundant blessing.

It would be so abundant that when the new crop was ready to be harvested, it would become necessary for the old inventory to be removed because of a lack of space!!!

What a powerful and glorious example this is of the abundant life in Christ in the new covenant; an illustration of the abundance of truth, righteousness, love, and all kinds of goodness that everyone partakes of who is obedient to the gospel, everyone who walks according to the laws of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This is a powerful example of an overcoming life. God’s riches of goodness surpass all the understanding; they go beyond all limits known by man. We receive an inexpressibly strong impression of it by meditating on Leviticus 25:6 and 7. And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: 1) for you and your servant, 2) your maidservant and 3) your hired servant, 4) for the stranger who sojourns with you, 5) for your livestock, and 6) the wild animals that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food!!!

What an abundant harvest! and even more goodness! What a rich God! What a caring and good God! How inconceivably great His goodness is. His goodness extends even to the wild animals. Who has thought of giving them some of his harvest!?

Most people’s care and supply of goodness doesn’t extend much further than themselves and their own; it rarely and barely extends any further.

Oh, how we must adore, praise, and desire God’s attitude of heart that is so rich in blessings! What a gigantic labor it is to impart to a selfish person such care for the strangers who live with him and for the animals—not just for the cattle, but even for the wild animals that live in the land! Care, for the very animals that kill and devour his domesticated animals, for the ones by whom we risk being devoured ourselves!!! It is dizzying!

Who can understand this?! Who would be interested in them all? And who could possibly think that this is right and reasonable? And who would believe that the produce would last so incredibly long—and all without cultivating the soil for a whole year!!!

In this we stand face to face with the living God and can measure ourselves by His standard.

We gain a reliable impression of man’s constricted heart and stinginess that so often hides behind nice words such as thrift and even behind the beautiful word faithfulness. This leaves us room for reflection.

How rich God is! He can afford all this! We are put in touch with His riches and goodness by faith! This is in harmony with Jesus’ words about forgiving every person seven times seventy every day. It also melts together with God’s word about dispersing all day long. Ps. 112:9.

As Jesus said, we have to become like children in order to enter this kingdom of God, this abundance of God’s goodness. Most people are far too “smart” and far too “grown-up” to partake of this glory.