I somehow doubt that many people say, "Leviticus is a great book!" But, it really is. Even though much of it deals with skin diseases and weird ways of dealing with leprosy, there are still a few verses that really stand out at me, particularly Leviticus 26 this morning,
3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. 7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will make my dwelling[a] among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
This series of verses describes our farming life. As all farmers know, which I'm still just learning, is that you don't plant a seed and then get paid the next day. Farming is one of those "you're in it for the long haul". You don't see the payback for months and in the case of the grapevines....years of waiting. But this is what stands out at me from these verses. God gives "the rains in their seasons", "the land shall yield its increase and the trees of field shall yield its fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of grape harvest and the grape harvest shall last to the time of sowing." In the spring, the hay starts to come up. If we were on top of things we could start harvesting hay in June, but we often don't get to it until July or August as we're in the vines. Also in spring, the vines need pruning, so we start with that. We're hoeing, weeding, spraying. By the time we're done there we get to the hay. The grapes are now more or less managing themselves if we can stay on top of the weeds. We then take in the hay and fill the barn with it to the rafters, literally. Then, no rest, the summer is over and we start taking in the grapes...by hand. The grapes are then processed and moved into crushers, presses and vats. Still, not a penny has been exchanged. But then, the animal farmers start to reach out, "I need hay!" This one sheep farmer found us online and has asked that we deliver hay to him every two weeks or so. Now we start getting the income after all that work. And just like the verse says, that income gets us through to the time of the grape income, which then takes us to the time of the garden and the sowing of those seeds..it's so cool! Way back in March when I started making the vine trees, I had thought I might sell the trees, but to think that I would be selling them now is so interesting, too! I'm pretty much sold out. It took a long time to see that money, but well worth the wait!
"You shall eat old store long kept and shall clear out the old to make way for the new." Even that phrase is so neat. The sheep are literally eating all "the old store". The income from "the old store" feeds us. As we clear out the "old" we are making "way for the new". The new hay will come this summer. As the grapes get turned into wine, Lord willing we will sell that. That will also make way for the new grape harvest. It's a long cycle, but a great one and all the while it is God at work. We just follow the principles that He has set up - sow, water, weed, manage, harvest- and then we see this amazing harvest year after year and the way the land provides for us.
The verse at the end of this sections says, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect." We feel in some ways that we have been brought out of the land of Egypt, by moving out here from the city. We didn't even know that we were slaves when we lived in town, but in a way we were, as we tried to "keep up with the Joneses" as they say. But, in so many ways, God has broken the bars of our yoke and given us a very different life. In some ways it is a harder life, but it is so much more fulfilling. We don't necessarily walk erect physically as our muscles are sore from all the work, but we walk erect perhaps emotionally and even spiritually. Anyway, I just love that Leviticus, even that not-so-common book speaks to me. I've probably read that series of verses before and I doubt it jumped out at me when I lived in town. But now, to see the words like "threshing", "sowing", "grape harvest".....the Bible really becomes alive as THAT IS OUR LIFE!! Then I see it truly as God's blessing on us, to be living these verses in actual time, not even Biblical times. It's amazing. I'm so grateful. Even just writing it out helps me to see what a privilege it is to be on this farm. I will try to communicate this to the children this morning. It won't impact them the way it's impacting me as they've now grown up in this place. Some of them have only known the farm, but for me and the older kids to have experienced both types of living, it is really amazing to see the Bible come alive just because of where we live.
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