Leviticus 26:3-5 (NLT) Blessings for Obedience
3 “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5 Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.
As I was reading Leviticus 26, I felt like the Lord was reminding me that our obedience to Him and His commands would bring about blessings in our lives. The idea of “Open Heavens” comes to mind and I think about a rain of blessings and favour pouring out on us. But then I saw it said “seasonal rains” and it gave me an idea of what the blessings of our obedience might look like.
You see if the rain was a blessing for the people and it rained all the time, the land would be flooded and the crops would not grow. But if it didn’t rain enough, the land would be too dry and the crops would wither up from the lack of moisture. So God had to design the blessings He had for the people in a way that would bless them and keep them prosperous. He did it by making it seasonal. The seasonal rains allowed the crops to receive the nourishment it needed from the rain, and gave it time for it to soak it all up and grow until the next rainfall.
In verse 5 it gives us a picture of what it looks like to live with seasonal rains that help produce crops and fruit. It says that your seasons will overlap with each other, ensuring that you will have your fill and live securely. Let me translate that for you, what happens in one season will produce something in the next. In this case I believe God is saying that the blessings He has for you in this season will carry you through to the next season and as you receive and grow what God has blessed you with, you will be filled and have enough, lacking nothing.
What if what is going on in this season, is really meant to set you up for the next season?
Every year I pray the same prayer at the end of Autumn, Lord just no winter this year, Thanks. You know as much as I pray and intercede for winter not to come, year after year I’m faced with the dreaded cold. Some prayers God doesn’t answer…But what God was showing me through this scripture was that some things are seasonal. There needs to be a season of rain, there needs to be a season of dry ground, that’s just how He designed it.
Do you know what gets me through the winter? The hope that spring is just around the corner. The hope that what is right now, is just seasonal. Sometimes when we are in a dark place and feel like it hasn’t rained in a long time, we think that this is our permanent state. Can I suggest to you that maybe you are in a season and that season has a beginning and end? That season has a purpose. Ask yourself, what season am I in? Ask God, What are you trying to tell me in this season?
Now I’m not suggesting to you that COVID is seasonal, trust me we don’t want it to return once it’s over but if we treat it like a season, in that it has a beginning and end, we might find some hope. We might not know how long a season will last but we know that seasons have to change by design. Let us place our hope in knowing that one day, this will pass. Let us place our hope in God, who knows all from beginning to the end. Let us place our hope in Jesus, who made it possible for us to live in relationship with God from season to season.
Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the blessings that you have for your obedient children. God I pray that you would help us to be obedient to you and what you have told us in every season. I thank you that your design for us and this world allows us to experience your fullness and abundance of your grace, mercy and love. I pray that we would turn our eyes and ears to you in every season. God I pray that you would help us to grow into mature sons and daughters of yours. We place our hope in you God. Lord have your way in us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!