Shalom,

Psalm 83:1-5 sounds like it was ripped from the current headlines! Check this out:

¹KEEP NOT silence, O God; hold not Your peace or be still, O God.

²For, behold, Your enemies are in tumult, and those who hate You have raised their heads.

³They lay crafty schemes against Your people and consult together against Your hidden and precious ones.

⁴They have said, Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be in remembrance no more.

⁵For they have consulted together with one accord and one heart; against You they make a covenant--

There are many people calling for the destruction of Israel from various nations today. What they don't understand is what God actually said about Israel! Genesis 12:3:

³And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

We do NOT want to be among those who come against Israel! Now or forever! I really like verse 18:

¹⁸That they may know that You, Whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

He IS the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible! If HE says Israel remains a nation, then Israel will most definitely remain a nation!

Yesterday, in discussing Romans 10, we left off with the question, "What about the Jews"? We'll see what Paul has to say in Romans 11 today! Let's look at verses 1-7:

¹I ASK then: Has God totally rejected and disowned His people? Of course not! Why, I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin! [I Sam. 12:22; Jer. 31:37; 33:24-26; Phil. 3:5.]

²No, God has not rejected and disowned His people [whose destiny] He had marked out and appointed and foreknown from the beginning. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

³Lord, they have killed Your prophets; they have demolished Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.

⁴But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal! [I Kings 19:18.]

⁵So too at the present time there is a remnant (a small believing minority), selected (chosen) by grace (by God's unmerited favor and graciousness).

⁶But if it is by grace (His unmerited favor and graciousness), it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace [it would be meaningless].

⁷What then [shall we conclude]? Israel failed to obtain what it sought [God's favor by obedience to the Law]. Only the elect (those chosen few) obtained it, while the rest of them became callously indifferent (blinded, hardened, and made insensible to it).

Paul said that God had not rejected Israel. He never will! In Paul's day there was a remnant of the Jews who did believe. Paul went on to say that he would preach the Gospel to the Gentiles in the hope that his fellow Jews would become jealous. Verses 13-15:

¹³But now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I lay great stress on my ministry and magnify my office,

¹⁴In the hope of making my fellow Jews jealous [in order to stir them up to imitate, copy, and appropriate], and thus managing to save some of them.

¹⁵For if their rejection and exclusion from the benefits of salvation were [overruled] for the reconciliation of a world to God, what will their acceptance and admission mean? [It will be nothing short of] life from the dead!

Paul goes on to remind the Gentile believers that they are the wild branches grated in and that the Jews were the natural branches. Look at verses 18-24:

¹⁸Do not boast over the branches and pride yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root [that supports] you.

¹⁹You will say then, Branches were broken (pruned) off so that I might be grafted in!

²⁰That is true. But they were broken (pruned) off because of their unbelief (their lack of real faith), and you are established through faith [because you do believe]. So do not become proud and conceited, but rather stand in awe and be reverently afraid.

²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches [because of unbelief], neither will He spare you [if you are guilty of the same offense].

²²Then note and appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's gracious kindness to you--provided you continue in His grace and abide in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off (pruned away).

²³And even those others [the fallen branches, Jews], if they do not persist in [clinging to] their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

²⁴For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these natural [branches] back on [the original parent stock of] their own olive tree.

For those who may have set aside the call of God on your life, for whatever reason, look at verse 29:

²⁹For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]

Find out where God wants you and GET THERE! Everything He ever promised you in His Word is just waiting for you to get with God's program! I love the end of Romans 11! Look at verses 33-36:

³³Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!

³⁴For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has understood His thoughts, or who has [ever] been His counselor?

³⁵Or who has first given God anything that he might be paid back or that he could claim a recompense?

³⁶For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. [For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him.] To Him be glory forever! Amen (so be it).

AWESOME! That's our God! AMEN!

I have a couple of thoughts to share on Numbers 10-11. Again, there was such an order to the plan that God had for the Israelites in the wilderness! He left nothing to chance, but had instructions even for what order they were to walk, who would go first, who would follow, and on and on until they were all in order! Amazing! I think we can trust Him to give us guidance to order OUR lives, don't you? The second thought was from chapter 10 where we see that they would move only when the cloud of God's presence would move. they never knew how long they were going to be staying in any one place. Sometimes it was a day and sometimes more. Sometimes they would leave in the morning, sometimes at night. How would YOU like to live that way? I wouldn't! And they wouldn't have had to either, if they had simply trusted God when the 10 spies came back with their evil report! God's mercy, though, is what kept them in the wilderness for those 40 years. The group that went on into the promised land was of a different mindset than the group that came out of Egypt. You and I can determine right now to have the right mindset! Find out what God wants you to do and do it! Keep a right attitude and right motives and you will not miss out on any good thing that He has planned for you! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

In Psalm 82:1:

¹God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.

Here we see that "God", the Hebrew word, "'Elohiym", the Supreme God in a plural sense, the Godhead - Father, Son , Holy Spirit, "stands", the Hebrew "natsab", which means: to take one's stand, to establish, to stand firm, in the congregation or gathering of the "mighty", Hebrew "`el", which means: God, God-like, mighty in strength and power, among "the gods", Hebrew, "'lohiym", which means: works or special possessions of God. He is talking about those He has trusted with His authority and they are NOT using it properly! He gives instructions in verses 3-5 as how they are to judge properly. Then in verse 6 we see this:

⁶I said, You are gods [since you judge on My behalf, as My representatives]; indeed, all of you are children of the Most High.

Then look in John 10:34:

³⁴Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

He has given us (believers) HIS authority over all the power of the enemy to set captives free. They weren't doing it right. You and I can learn from this example and make sure that we use the power and authority given to us by Word of God, the Blood of Jesus and the Name of Jesus to properly represent the way the Lord would do it if He were here! That's a high calling, but one we're well equipped for!

Romans 10:1-3 shows us the heart of Paul and why he would continue on in the ministry, even when he was ready to go home to Heaven:

¹BRETHREN, [with all] my heart's desire and goodwill for [Israel], I long and pray to God that they may be saved.

²I bear them witness that they have a [certain] zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to [correct and vital] knowledge.

³For being ignorant of the righteousness that God ascribes [which makes one acceptable to Him in word, thought, and deed] and seeking to establish a righteousness (a means of salvation) of their own, they did not obey or submit themselves to God's righteousness.

So what SHOULD the Jewish people have done? Look at verses 8-13:

⁸But what does it say? The Word (God's message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach,

⁹Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹⁰For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation.

¹¹The Scripture says, No man who believes in Him [who adheres to, relies on, and trusts in Him] will [ever] be put to shame or be disappointed.

¹²[No one] for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord over all [of us] and He generously bestows His riches upon all who call upon Him [in faith].

¹³For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking Him as Lord] will be saved.

Verses 14-15 tell us that the Gospel MUST be preached in order for people to be saved. But the Gospel HAD been preached to the Jews, so what was their problem? God certainly wanted them to be saved! Look at verse 21:

²¹But of Israel he says, All day long I have stretched out My hands to a people unyielding and disobedient and self-willed [to a faultfinding, contrary, and contradicting people].

So what is the answer? Tune in tomorrow as we look at Romans 11!

In Numbers 7-8 we continue to see the precision and organization of God! He leaves nothing out and specifically lists each detail when most of us would have lumped everyone together under a blanket statement of what was expected. Not God! Why? He wants to show the infinite attention He gives to each one of us! He is NO respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) and cares for each one individually and thoroughly! Don't ever believe the lie that God doesn't have time for you. He moves Heaven and earth on your behalf when You choose to do things His way! He always has and He always will! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I love how Psalm 81 begins in verse 1:

¹SING ALOUD to God our Strength! Shout for joy to the God of Jacob!

"Sing aloud" is the Hebrew word, "ranan", which means: to be overcome, to cry out, to shout for joy, to give a ringing cry in joy, exaltation and praise. "Shout for joy" is the Hebrew word, "ruwa`", which means: to shout a war cry or an alarm of battle, to shout in triumph over enemies, to shout in applause. As you have probably noticed, we seem to see these same words used a lot! Our God is worthy to receive praise and honor and glory! If WE don't give Him praise, the very stones will cry out! (Luke 19:40). Then the Lord reminds the people of all the times He delivered them when they cried out to Him. And yet they STILL continued to disobey! Then in verses 13-16 we see the promise that He makes if they would only hear and obey His Word:

¹³Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!

¹⁴Speedily then I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵[Had Israel listened to Me in Egypt, then] those who hated the Lord would have come cringing before Him, and their defeat would have lasted forever.

¹⁶[God] would feed [Israel now] also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock would I satisfy you.

As born again believers, with a new and better covenant, we should hear and obey God's Word, too! Everything He tells us to do is so that we can be in position to receive His richest and best! Remember 3 John 2:

²Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.

That is God's perfect will for us! AMEN!

In Romans 9 we begin the first of three chapters that deal with the nation of Israel. Israel is the only nation in the world with a complete history, past, present and future. Chapter 9 deals with Israel's past election. It is to and through Israel that God reveals His presence, His Word, His covenant, worship, the patriarchs and the Messiah! In chapter 10 we will see Israel's present rejection and in chapter 11 we will see Israel's future restoration. We also see US in this chapter in verse 30:

³⁰What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not follow after righteousness [who did not seek salvation by right relationship to God] have attained it by faith [a righteousness imputed by God, based on and produced by faith],

We are in right standing with God through the precious Blood of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One and His anointing! Thank You, Jesus!

The general overview of Numbers 5-6 is that God wants the nation of Israel to be a people separated from the world and separated unto Him. They needed to be "clean" before God and to maintain that cleanliness. The purpose for that was to preserve the nation so that the Messiah could come through it! I won't even try to go into the specifics of the chapters this time. I can't even begin to shed light on chapter 5 and that is one of the many passages of Scripture I will be asking the Lord about when I get to Heaven! Why is this chapter all about the woman? What about the men involved? And does the man really get off free if he was wrong and falsely accused her? It just doesn't sound like God to me, so I know that I am probably missing something here! I am SO glad that I have a better covenant, though! Thank You, Jesus!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 80 starts out with an introduction:

To the chief Musician upon Sho-shan'-nim-E'-duth, A Psalm of A'-saph.

The word "Shoshannim" means: lilies, and the word "Eduth" means: testimony or law. Many Bible scholars have been puzzled by this expression. The best explanation I found was from the commentary by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown. It says that "lilies" express that which is lovely, the lovely salvation of the Lord. Note the three times we see : "we shall be saved". Adding that to the "testimony or law", we have a law which points out to the godly in trouble a way of obtaining salvation or deliverance. I like that explanation! And it makes sense to me in light of the three verses we mentioned: verses 3, 7 and 19:

³Restore us again, O God; and cause Your face to shine [in pleasure and approval on us], and we shall be saved!

⁷Restore us again, O God of hosts; and cause Your face to shine [upon us with favor as of old], and we shall be saved!

¹⁹Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; cause Your face to shine [in pleasure, approval, and favor on us], and we shall be saved!

Add to those verses 14-15:

¹⁴Turn again, we beseech You, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven and see, visit, and have regard for this vine!

¹⁵[Protect and maintain] the stock which Your right hand planted, and the branch (the son) that You have reared and made strong for Yourself.

... and we have the clear picture of a nation that has found itself in trouble again because of disobedience, realizing the mistakes of the past, calling on God for deliverance and the faithful God of the Bible WILL restore them! Not in their (or our) timetable, but restoration ALWAYS comes when we change our thinking to agree with God!

In Romans 8:1-2 I found something very interesting! The translators were always trying to make things clearer, so they sometimes added words to clarify. An occasional word or two sometimes DOES make things easier to understand. But sometimes, when they just couldn't comprehend what was being said, they added a lot by way of explanation. That is the case with these 2 verses! This is how it reads:

¹THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.²For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

...and THIS is how it ACTUALLY reads:

"Now, therefore, no condemnation to them in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death".

Remember John 3:17:

¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

Condemnation is never from God! He sees us free from sin through the Blood of Jesus! When we DO sin, and we will, we need to go to 1 John 1:9 and receive forgiveness. Remaining in sin will affect our fellowship with Him, but won't change His love for us OR our eternity in Heaven. It WILL affect this life, however, and that is not God's plan for us! We need to meditate on verses 34-39:

³⁴Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?

³⁵Who shall ever separate us from Christ's love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?

³⁶Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.

³⁷Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.

³⁸For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,

³⁹Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

AMEN!

In Numbers 3-4 we see the division of the tribe of Levi for the work of the priesthood and the service of the Tent of Meeting. I thought it was interesting that the men involved in the service were from 30-50 years old! Evidently God didn't trust anyone under 30 for this work! As always, God is very precise and detailed in His instructions. Numbers is more interesting to me this year than ever before! I hope it is for you, too!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

In Psalm 79 we see that Israel is reaping the results of their disobedience to God's Word. They have been overtaken by other nations, blood was shed and the temple destroyed. Verses 1-4:

¹O GOD, the nations have come into [the land of Your people] Your inheritance; Your sacred temple have they defiled; they have made Jerusalem heaps of ruins.

²The dead bodies of Your servants they have given as food to the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.

³Their blood they have poured out like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.

⁴[Because of such humiliation] we have become a taunt and reproach to our neighbors, a mocking and derision to those who are round about us.

Now God's people are calling out to Him to deliver them - AGAIN! The psalmist is also calling on God to avenge them by judging their enemies. Verses 5-7:

⁵How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever? Shall Your jealousy [which cannot endure a divided allegiance] burn like fire?

⁶Pour out Your wrath on the Gentile nations who do not acknowledge You, and upon the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.

⁷For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling and his pasture.

Then he remembers their sin, which is what got them in that predicament in the first place! Verses 8-9:

⁸O do not [earnestly] remember against us the iniquities and guilt of our forefathers! Let Your compassion and tender mercy speedily come to meet us, for we are brought very low.

⁹Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name! Deliver us, forgive us, and purge away our sins for Your name's sake.

Then he calls again for vengeance in verses 10-12:

¹⁰Why should the Gentile nations say, Where is their God? Let vengeance for the blood of Your servants which is poured out be known among the nations in our sight [not delaying until some future generation].

¹¹Let the groaning and sighing of the prisoner come before You; according to the greatness of Your power and Your arm spare those who are appointed to die!

¹²And return into the bosom of our neighbors sevenfold the taunts with which they have taunted and scoffed at You, O Lord!

And FINALLY in verse 13 we have a reference to praise to the One, True, Most High ,Living, Almighty God of the Bible! The God of Creation! The God of our Salvation! And he doesn't even actually praise Him, he says they WILL praise Him.

¹³Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will give You thanks forever; we will show forth and publish Your praise from generation to generation.

I'm still pondering this Psalm! I'm not too impressed with the fact that praising God sounds a little like an afterthought and that it SOUNDS like they will do it WHEN they see God deliver them. Faith praises Him BEFORE you see the results of what you've asked Him for! And the Fear of the Lord praises Him for Who He IS! Hallelujah! Glory to God!

In Romans 7 Paul is again talking about the law. A key verse here is verse 9:

⁹Once I was alive, but quite apart from and unconscious of the Law. But when the commandment came, sin lived again and I died (was sentenced by the Law to death)

When we were born, we had no sin, but the moment we knew right from wrong, and inevitably chose wrong, then we died spiritually and needed a Saviour. Thank God for our Saviour! The purpose of the Law is to show us our need for the Saviour! Too many times, though, born again believers think that they must NOW go back and try to live by the Law in order to be pleasing to God. NOT SO! We have been given the Holy Spirit Who began a GOOD WORK in us the moment we were saved. Philippians 1:6:

⁶And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.

We have to rely on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in order to live a life free from the bondage of sin. Look at what Paul says about himself! Verses 19-24:

¹⁹For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.

²⁰Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].

²¹So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

²²For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].

²³But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].

²⁴O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?

So what is the answer for Paul AND for us? Verse 25a:

²⁵O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord!

Spend time praying in the Spirit and meditating on the Word of God so sin will lose it's hold on you. Then, WHEN you DO sin, go immediately to 1 John 1:9 and receive the forgiveness that God provides for you! AMEN!

As we go through Numbers you may be tempted to skim over it because of the sheer volume of numbers and names. I encourage you to take the time to read each one. God took the time to speak each one! He does NOT waste time, His or yours! Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through this book and you will be amazed how organized your life will become as you begin to get the picture of a God of so much order and exactness that you will never again allow the enemy to convince you that God can't be bothered by your little needs and desires. Just remember this in Luke 12:7:

⁷But [even] the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be struck with fear or seized with alarm; you are of greater worth than many [flocks] of sparrows.

He truly does care FOR and ABOUT you! Rejoice in that daily! AMEN!

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Psalm 78 is a very long psalm! It is also a "History Psalm"! The German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, once said that one thing we learn from history, is that we don't learn from history! This has been shown to be particularly true with Bible history. Again and again and again God's people sinned, called on God, He delivered, they praised Him FOR A TIME, and then went right back to doubting Him again! A sad story, but one WE can learn from! Read through Psalm 78 and use it as a gauge for your thoughts, words and action concerning God and His wonderful promises found in the Word! See verses 1-8:

¹GIVE EAR, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth in a parable (in instruction by numerous examples); I will utter dark sayings of old [that hide important truth]

³Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children, but we will tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonderful works that He has performed.

⁵For He established a testimony (an express precept) in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, commanding our fathers that they should make [the great facts of God's dealings with Israel] known to their children,

⁶That the generation to come might know them, that the children still to be born might arise and recount them to their children,

⁷That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but might keep His commandments

⁸And might not be as their fathers--a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their hearts aright nor prepared their hearts to know God, and whose spirits were not steadfast and faithful to God.

That is God's intended purpose in having this Psalm in here! He wants us to each make that determined purpose that WE will remember the Lord, our God! The rest of the verses detail the wonderful works of God and the profound foolishness of a people who take it so lightly! Check out Luke 12:48b:

For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required; and of him to whom men entrust much, they will require and demand all the more.

We of the New Covenant have been given extremely much! Let's stay aware of it daily! But also remember that God NEVER gave up on them and He won't give up on you, either!

Romans 6 talks about the fact that a born again believer has been freed from sin because Jesus was MADE sin with our sin and we were MADE the righteousness of God through Him - SO act like it! Verse 11 is our key verse:

¹¹Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

AMEN!

Then we have Leviticus 26:1-13 where God tells of all the good things that He will do for His people if they just simply obey Him:

¹YOU SHALL make for yourselves no idols nor shall you erect a graven image, pillar, or obelisk, nor shall you place any figured stone in your land to which or on which to bow down; for I am the Lord your God.

²You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary. I am the Lord.

³If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them,

⁴I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit.

⁵And your threshing [time] shall reach to the vintage and the vintage [time] shall reach to the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.

⁶I will give peace in the land; you shall lie down and none shall fill you with dread or make you afraid; and I will clear ferocious (wild) beasts out of the land, and no sword shall go through your land.

⁷And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.

⁸Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

⁹For I will be leaning toward you with favor and regard for you, rendering you fruitful, multiplying you, and establishing and ratifying My covenant with you.

¹⁰And you shall eat the [abundant] old store of produce long kept, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new.

¹¹I will set My dwelling in and among you, and My soul shall not despise or reject or separate itself from you.

¹²And I will walk in and with and among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people.

¹³I am the Lord your God, Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should no more be slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect [as free men].

Then we see in the rest of the verses through verse 39 what the future holds in store for those who don't! But these are followed with what God will do when His people repent and change their thinking to agree with Him! Then he proceeds with more instruction in Leviticus 27. My favorite verse here is verse 30:

³⁰And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord.

The tithe (the first 10% of our income) was declared by God Himself to be "holy", the Hebrew word, "qodesh", which means: apartness, dedicated, separated, set apart. God sees it as set apart from the world and set apart unto Him! When we agree with God by presenting our tithe to our High Priest Jesus, according to Deuteronomy 26, and by bringing all the tithes into the storehouse (Malachi 3), then He has promised to bless us in every way! Check out Malachi now! You'll be glad you did!

Shalom in Him!