The Lord is gracious, He is patient as He is just. If He weren’t patient and gracious, who can stand? His justice – to His children, discipline – comes with warnings, with reminders. It is us who ignore, who choose to go our own way. And when we do we will be disappointed. Time and again, we see that those who put their hope and trust in God have peace (even in the midst of troubles) and are never in want. You’ll see.

The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure. (Isaiah 33:5, 6 ESV)

What does the Lord require from His children? He wants us to live with integrity. To walk the right path. To be salt and light.

He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. (Isaiah 33:15, 16 ESV)

And in due time, we will see God. It will be awesome.

It takes faith to not work on the Sabbath week, but it takes even more faith to not work on the Sabbath year / Jubilee year. It unthinkable to me how this is achievable in this day and age.

I was reminded from yesterday’s message that the working of the field began after the fall of man. Before that man did not have to sow or prune. I think with the Sabbath, what God is saying essentially is that there will come a time when things will be back to the way it was. Back to Eden. It is both a reminder and a promise. Faith, again, comes into the picture. Are we able to trust in the goodness of God? Are we able to trust that His commands are good? Are we able to say no to the lies when they come? We can practice – strengthen – our faith, by keeping the Sabbath.

And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives. (Leviticus 25:20-22 ESV)

Of course, God addresses our fears. He knows we’re worried. 3x yield on the 6th year, enough to tide us over on the 7th and 8th, just in time for the harvest of the 9th. How specific! Why not 3x yield on the other years? How can you predict the weather and environmental conditions in the years to come? This is how God displays His power. With man, this is impossible. With God this is very easy.

With this, it makes sense to not be greedy. To be generous – although does it qualify as generosity if it does not belong to you in the first place?

There is still more here about redemption, still more to learn for another day. Thank you Lord for your message.

Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! (Psalm 119:5 ESV)

My prayer as well.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. (Psalm 119:9 ESV)

I have not guarded it as much as I could have in my youth, but catching up now. I hope to instill this love for God and His Word to my son.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11 ESV)

God is telling me now that ” not good in memorizing ” is not an excuse. Besides, if I can’t remember the book / chapter / verse number that’s fine. Those reference numbers were added to the Bible years after it was written. It wasn’t there when the psalmist wrote Psalm 119. As for word for word memorization? Not as important as knowing God’s message. If we are going to be strict about it then we should memorize in the original Hebrew or Greek version. The important thing is storing God’s Word in our heart. That is only possible by daily reading and meditating, letting the Holy Spirit speak and teach us. Remembering God’s Word will come naturally then.

The Father’s commands are for the good of His children. As a father, I now know this to be true. I pray that both my son and I will grow in our trust in God, and seek His will.

The mystery (great spiritual insight) that was revealed to the apostle Paul is this: that Jesus came as an atonement for the sins of all men, the ushering in of the new covenant that is by grace and not by human effort, that we can become heirs to the promise not by physical lineage but by spiritual rebirth. This mystery was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, bringing together the message of the Old Testament and of Jesus’ teachings.

This revelation came with a mission: he simply cannot just keep this great news to himself. In spite of troubles, he is able to persevere and be joyful. His prayer is for us to know and understand the “breadth, length, height and depth” of God’s love shown through Jesus.