Wednesday
If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
(Leviticus 26:3-13, NIV)
Following the Israelite’s exodus from Egypt and their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Lord eventually led them into the promised land of Canaan. The chapters in Exodus following the 20th chapter, which contains the Ten Commandments, and the entire book of Leviticus record the laws which the Lord gave to his chosen people to help them form a nation out of twelve disparate, nomadic tribes. Detailed regulations are given concerning religious worship and sacrifice, economic life, the administration of justice, political rule and family structure. The new nation of Israel was a theocracy ruled by Jehovah who lived in the midst of his people.
Today’s chapter in Leviticus offers us insights into God’s intention for his people by clearly stating that if the people obey God’s commands, they will experience his blessings and his peace. God promises to put “his dwelling place” among them and walk among them – isn’t that a fascinating promise? He says he will be their God and that means they will experience his peace, not only spiritually but materially. Their faithfulness will bring blessing. The verses that follow today’s selection (vv. 14-46) make it very clear that disobedience will result in disaster.
Jehovah God intends for us, even in a fallen world, to experience his peace. His promised gift of peace, once offered to Israel but now to his church, His “called-out people,” has been offered to us through God’s son, Jesus Christ, who “Himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14).
Today’s verses highlight a tension that exists in Scripture, a tension between our understanding that peace is a gift of God, not a result of human activity, and at the same time, the promise that as we follow God’s commandments for righteous living, we will create more peaceful conditions.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus Christ, who is our peace. Help us through your Holy Spirit to live according to your commandments so that we can experience your peace in our daily lives, a peace that brings both spiritual and material benefits. We desire to be obedient, but we are so weak. We need your help, Lord. Amen.