The Year Of Jubilee

I am sitting on the porch at my daughter’s home in sunny South Carolina where the weather is wonderful today.  My heart rejoices at the birds singing, the butterfly’s return and the green grass.  Spring has sprung!  It’s funny how God’s creation just keeps humming along even when we humans, God’s children, are not.  The world as we know it, has practically stopped due to the Covid 19 virus.  Schools are closed, businesses shut down and grocery shelves are empty, ravaged by the desperation that has overtaken this frightened country and the world.  Money, careers and influential people do not matter at this point.  Money is of no value when you want to buy the items once in abundance but now sparse or nonexistent, careers have come to a standstill, and that client that was so important just a few weeks ago is huddled just as you are in his own home.

Inside, my granddaughters play games and look forward to going for a bike ride with their dad.  My beautiful daughter listens contently from the other room to the chatter and relishes the familiarity of it and the comfort it brings.

I was intrigued by some verses I found in Leviticus today.  Part of it sounded like what is going on now in the country and in the world since the Coronavirus has hit us.  
The scripture about this special year was intriguing.   It was the Year of Jubilee.  The Lord had commanded that they count off forty-nine years and on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year they should blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land.  They were to set apart a year as holy, a Year of Jubilee.  In this time, according to the ancient book, they were to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there.  In this year of Jubilee, they were not to plant but to eat just what the land produces on its own.  They were to depend on the Lord to supply their needs.  They were not to take advantage of their neighbor and were to forgive debts owed to them.  This was a time to reflect on their life and their God.
I wonder, as we sit in our homes awaiting an end to this very troubled time, if we as a nation look to God.

When we can no longer plant new crops, make new business decisions or buy and sell are we willing to eat what the Lord provides in this season of rest?  How many of us remember how to rest from the demands of this harried world?  Could this be a time to forgive others for debts, for things done to us in the past?  Perhaps this is a time to reflect on a debt you owe someone else?  Most importantly it’s a time to realize the debt that Christ paid for us and the freedom we receive when we ask him into our heart.   In verse 10 of chapter 25 it says “Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there.”  

Instead of the year of Covid 19 let us declare it to be the Year of Jubilee!  Let us use this year to grow closer to our Maker.  This could be a time to read His word more, pray more and love more.  A time to forgive and ask forgiveness.  A time to depend on the God of the Year of Jubilee!

“Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan. This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own.”
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭25:10-12‬ ‭NLT‬‬