I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Leviticus 26. I will be writing this devotion a little differently today… this chapter is sincerely worth the divergence. “If you follow My decrees and are careful to obey My commands,  I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land” (Verses 3-5). Starting in verse one the writer of Leviticus tells us of the blessing that obedience will bring, my favorite by product is found in verse 13, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high”. Obedience means we can hold our heads up high and no longer be yoked to the sins of our past. In verses 13-39, the chapter takes a shift and shows the consequences of disobedience (and for the record it is NOT pretty), “If after all this you will not listen to Me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit” (Verses 18-20). Disobedience leads to greater punishment. In fact in reading it seems that until our sin and stubbornness is realized God will continue to heap punishment on us, but not like a spanking or timeout. No, the chapter talks about wars, famine, storms, floods, and fires…watched the news lately? Any of this sound familiar? Disobedience always has a cost, this lesson is one we learned from our earthly parents, why wouldn’t we expect our Heavenly Father to have to same rule? But alas He is a gracious loving Father and in verses 40-45, He gives us the option to repent, to turn away from our sin and to come back to Him. “‘But if they will confess their sins… I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land” (Verses 41, 42). If we confess He will remember His promise. From the very begin God gave us the choice obedience and peace, or disobedience and strife. Free will has always been His gift to us… the choice walk with our heads held high, or have our prides broken. Choose wisely.