Blessings Based on Obedience

And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store. The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. (Leviticus 25:20-23)

Faith isn’t always about witnessing miracles but rather it is trusting God even when situations don’t seem to make sense based on what you know. In Leviticus 25, God asked Israel to do something difficult: stop working. Instead of planting and harvesting their fields, they were to let the land rest. They weren’t to sow, reap, or rely on their own strength. For an agricultural community, this was a hard pill to swallow. If they didn’t sow and reap, there would be no harvest, and they would have to depend on stored supplies. However, God promised that if they obeyed, they would receive something even greater: a multiplied blessing. See, God wasn’t punishing His people; He was demonstrating His provision. When Israel obeyed by faith and let the land rest, He promised that the sixth year would produce enough for three full years.

God’s blessing isn’t based on effort, skill, or strategy; it’s based on obedience—doing what He tells us, even when it doesn’t make sense. God was teaching His people that provision comes from how they steward what God gives, not from how much they own or how much they can do on their own. Sadly, Israel chose to disobey and sowed and harvested during the years God commanded them to rest. Because of this, the curse was intensified, and they missed seventy Sabbath years as God allowed them to be taken into captivity.

Practical Application

We live in a world that celebrates hustle and ambition rather than obeying God. What about you? Are you trusting Him when it doesn’t make sense? Are you obeying even when it feels risky? God can do more with your obedience than you can with your effort.

Exodus 23:11; Deuteronomy 28:8