Inside Out Living

Every seven years Israel was to have a fresh start or a new beginning financially. It was not a total reversal of someone’s financial outlook, but it was an opportunity for them to have a fresh start. This was accomplished in two ways: the first was the canceling of financial debts that a fellow Israelite had incurred. The second was granting of freedom to anyone who had willingly entered into servanthood.

Why would God place this provision in His law? The first reason is that God was demonstrating that all of Israel’s wealth (Leviticus 25:23) and their very lives ultimately belonged to Him (Leviticus 25:55). Because God ‘owned’ the land and they owed their lives to him as their redeemer, it was within His right to place these provisions on them. A second reason, I think, was to reinforce the concepts of forgiveness and redemption. This process that would occur every seven years was a picture of God’s grace and forgiveness of sin. How do you view your possessions and your very life? Will you be willing to view them as belonging to God, the Author and Sustainer of life?