Freedom- Shmita

In Deuteronomy 15, Moses instructed the people about the sabbatical year of rest (shmita). Inn Genesis 2, God rested on the seventh day after he had finished all of his work. Seven symbolises completion and God wanted people to remember the importance of rest. In the same way that God wanted his people to have a seventh day of rest, he also appointed a seventh year of rest. Some of God’s instructions to Moses regarding the seventh year was that everyone should be released from debt. “And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed” (Deuteronomy 15:2).

God’s intention is that no one should be poor among his people. Many people are in poverty and adversity due to debt and unpaid loans. God’s desire is that his people would have more than enough to give. I don’t believe that God wants the church to be indebted to financial institutions. “For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you” (Deuteronomy 15:6). If we are Abraham’s seed, then I believe that we share in these promises as God’s children.

Moses also instructed the people to bless anyone who had fallen into poverty. The other instruction from Moses was to release anyone who was a servant after six years. For instance, someone may have owed a debt to his neighbour that he could not pay. In order to pay the debt, the debtor would agree to work for his neighbour until the debt was paid off. On some occasions, people would trade adult children to work to pay off debt. God’s instructed was that anyone in such a situation should be released in the seventh year.

Brothers and sisters, we are not Jewish, but God’s instructions to his people in the Old Testament, holds significance for the church. The significance of the Jewish calendar symbolises what is being released in the realms of the spirit. We can consider this a season of freedom, restoration and liberty. I don’t know about you, but I am tapping into this anointing and claiming complete restoration over every area of my life. I want everything lost or stolen to be returned to me double and even up to a hundredfold. “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:14).

A.P.-Y.