Sabbath - Days and Years

It's time to get ready.  We've now observed Passover, Week of Unleavened Bread, and Shavu'ot is coming to a close.  Although the debate will build before the Fall Feasts, many are at this time in agreement that next year, is Shemitah, the year the land is to rest.  I can't help but wonder if that is why we are getting so much rainfall this year in June . . .  The sixth year, the one before the land is to rest, is promised to yield enough to feed us until the harvest of the eighth year.  As I see many "teachers" posting about this, I can't help but wonder if we've really thought about it.

Obviously, many do not live an agrarian lifestyle, so what are their plans to let the land rest?  Are the non-agrarian folk buying extra canned goods to last them through to the eighth year?  Wouldn't buying produce through the year of Shemitah be refusing to let the land rest?  I've given this serious thought myself.  Do I truly have the faith that YHWH will provide enough in this garden to last until fresh produce comes on in 2016?  That also includes setting back seeds to plant.  I'm not always successful in that endeavor, just from year to year, much less skipping one.

Perhaps I'm sounding legalistic or even misguided, or wrong in my focus, but I truly do want to be obedient.  I think it will be imperative as the end of days unfold for the people of YHWH to be living according to Torah obedience, especially when the time comes for no buying and selling without the mark.  I feel like maybe I'm getting a preview as to what to expect and what will need to be put in place before that time comes.  I also know, by the grace of YHWH in Y'hshuwah, I've been given the opportunity to be obedient.  I didn't have an understanding of how to compute the last Shemitah, so I'm thrilled for the second chance!  What a privilege to be granted the opportunity to be Torah observant in regard to something that has been ignored for years?  We know from the book of Jeremiah, our Creator insists that His people are to regard the land in obedience to Torah to show our respect for Him.

It is my firm belief that the remnant will comprehend this truth and the communities will be gathering soon.  It could be, the coming Shemitah will be the catalyst.

And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.  Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.   And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.  Leviticus 25:1-7