Leviticus 26: 1-13, “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 1And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.”
Israel’s God was the God of all creation, they had to be careful not to reduce God in their minds by representing Him as something less than He is. If they assumed that the Lord God was like the sun then they would soon assume that He was restricted to size of the sun. The same is true today; if we believe in the Lord God, Who created the heavens and the earth, then we have to be careful not to reduce Him in our minds. If the Lord God is in complete control of all creation, as He indeed is, then we must come to Him on His terms and not demand that He comes to us on our terms. He wants His people to enjoy the fact that He only does perfect things and celebrate the fact that creation was perfect when He finished it. This is celebrated by resting on the seventh day to celebrate the fact that the Lord rested on the seventh day because everything was perfect and He had nothing left to do. If Israel kept the Lord’s commandments then He would bless them and give them everything they needed. This would be an abundance defined by the Lord’s ability to supply rather than by Israel’s ability to produce. They would be great because they were relying on the great God. The Lord would establish His presence among them and they would never again be slaves. However, all this depended on their appreciation of the fact that the Lord God is God and must be served.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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