Leviticus 25:10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. I wish we still had a year of Jubilee! Essentially every 50 years all land reverted to its original owner, and all Hebrews who were indentured were freed. Can you imagine if we did that today? I have no idea how the land thing would work because we don’t work the land and don’t really think of it as part of our ability to survive. Land was more significant then when survival was based on what you could grow on your land. And, only land reverted to its original owner. Houses in the city were exempt (except in the Levite cities since they didn’t get a share of the land, according to the Torah), presumably because they weren’t necessary for survival. Houses outside the city were part of the year of Jubilee because they were on a portion of land. But what if all debts that enslave people were forgiven every 50 years? Imagine what that would do to the economy! If debts across the board were wiped out around the world, I think that would provide a HUGE boost to everyone’s economy. Even when we owe money to us, usually there’s someone who owed us money. For example, we owe money to China, but I believe England and several other European nations owe us money. It’s a nasty, tangled mess of intermingling lines. There would be, undoubtedly, some sticky points, but the writers of the Torah (or was it Jesus commenting on the Torah) said that you shouldn’t refuse to lend someone money just because it was close to the year of forgiveness (btw, monetary debt was supposed to be erased every Sabbath year – every 7th year). I also think it’s pretty cool that every 7th year the land was supposed to rest. There was to be no farming or reaping or sowing. But the people wouldn’t starve. God promised to make the land grow 3 times as much in the 6th year so that there would be food during the 7th year AND during the 8th year when the new set of crops were being planted and grown, as well as providing enough seed to sow in the 8th year. It’s amazing to me how God thinks of little details like that. I’d have been like, “Sure, I’ll provide enough food for the 7th year” but I’d not even think about the fact that it would take the 8th year to sow and reap before food was available! He thinks about the details. Kainoah is sick today. He came home last night with a nasty, tight cough and shaking with fever (poor little guy). Since John was laid off a few weeks ago, he’s had a lot of free days. This week he has every day off except for today. Of all the days! So, I’m taking one of my last sick days to stay home with Kai and take him to the doctor. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but I have 2 meetings to go to for Gavin’s preschool enrollment (they have to do an evaluation and we have to write an IEP) and needed the days off for that. BUT, I realized (and keep trying to remember) that this, like John’s jobless state, is not a surprise to God. He knows that I need to go to those meetings for Gavin. He knows that John has off every day but today. And He knew that Kai was going to get sick. So, it’s not an accident. It’s not a mistake. To every thing there’s a purpose, and so it is with this. I don’t know why Kai’s sick and I have to stay home, but I do know that it serves a purpose somehow and that God will work through it and in it. He’ll hand the details of sorting out the other issues, and if that means I get docked pay, well, He knows that and already has a plan in place for that contingency. So, God is God.
Psalm 24:11 Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD. It is so hard to wait patiently. Think about little kids and Christmas. They may not even know what it is, but they can sense the excitement and it keeps them up at night in anticipation. Or what about when you see something you really want. For example, every night we do the same routine with my two boys. They get dinner, a bath, a bottle, and then we read and they go to bed. And every night, when Gavin sees his bottle being warmed up in the microwave he starts crying because he wants it now. It’s almost comical because there’s never been a time when we haven’t given him the bottle, and he doesn’t like it if it’s cold. So he has to wait a whole 28 seconds before it’s ready, and you’d think he’d never get that thing fast enough! Even as adults we have a hard time waiting patiently. At least, I know I do. I don’t like to wait in lines, and I always seem to pick the slowest one. I have a hard time waiting when I see something I really want to buy. Sometimes I have a hard time waiting until the boys are in bed so that I can make dinner and sit down and eat (yes, this is weird, and hopefully it’ll change so that we can all eat together sometime). I think that story about Gavin made me realize a little of why we have to wait on God sometimes. He hates his bottle cold, but waiting for it to get warmed up is hard. I wonder how often God makes us wait because the reward will be better in the end. He’s just heating it up. Twenty-eight seconds seems like an eternity to a two-year-old, and waiting patiently on God’s timing can seem just as long to us. I, as the adult doing the microwaving, know that it’ll only take 28 seconds, but Gavin doesn’t understand time the way I do. It’s the same thing with God. He knows exactly how long it’ll take until that thing I want is just right. I don’t know that because I can’t understand time the way that God does, so it may seem like that thing will never happen or never come, but God knows it’s only 28-seconds away.