Leviticus 26:1-6 (NRSV)
Read Leviticus 26:1-6 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 26You shall make for yourselves no idols and erect no carved images or pillars, and you shall not place figured stones in your land, to worship at them; for I am the Lord your God. Verse 2You shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. Verse 3If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, Verse 4I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Verse 5Your threshing shall overtake the vintage, and the vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and live securely in your land. Verse 6And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid; I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword shall go through your land.
Devotion
“I am … I am! I will … I will … I will,” God said in Leviticus 26! For millennia God had said these words to us. And for millennia we listened briefly but quickly turned to our own desires, our own idols. To our surprise and horror, peace was a fleeting dream. Peace eluded us. Fear filled us.
As persistent as the rains in their season, God will soon say again, “I am! I will!” God’s peace will soon be born, breathe, grow and walk in and among us.
Prayer
When fear fills us, God, remind us yet again that you are and always will be our peace. Amen.