A + B = C until God steps in and it doesn’t -Leviticus 26

I will also break down your pride of power; and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. Your strength will be consumed uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit. (19-20)

In this chapter, God tells the Israelites all of the blessings that come from obedience to His law and the curses that come from disobedience. While we no longer directly live under Levitical law, the principles are often the same. We face the consequences of disobeying God, and we benefit from obedience. Yet, one of the most striking timeless truths in this text is the concept that God is in control of every aspect of our lives. We sometimes feel as if life is like a scientific formula where if one does “a” and then “b,” the result will be “c.” There are specific physical laws and universal truths that are consistent in the physical world. If you step out of a boat and onto a body of water, there are laws of gravity, displacement, inertia, and many more that will inevitably ensure that you sink to the bottom. These physical laws are consistent, and they occur 99.9% of the time; that is until God intervenes and the miraculous happens, like where Jesus and Peter walk on water.

The point is that “a” plus “b” usually equals “c” until God steps in and it doesn’t. In that same vein, we often think that if you plant the right seed, in suitable soil, with the right amount of sunlight and water, you will yield a crop. This process is valid… until it isn’t. One of the punishments God warned the Israelites about is the possibility of planting but never harvesting. Even though there is a season of rain, God Himself would make the sky “like iron” and the soil “like bronze.” No matter how hard they worked or how much experience and technique they employed, the land would not produce. My point is that we often think universal physical laws govern these everyday things (like agriculture). This idea is logical and accurate… until it isn’t. God is in control of everything, and He determines whether you produce a crop or not. He can also create a bumper harvest where there should be no hope of produce. Even the everyday aspects of life are in God’s hands, and we must never forget this. We must obey Him, live for Him, and trust Him with everything. Sometimes we are “uselessly consuming our strength” when the solution is in trusting more instead of trying harder.