TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL PASSAGE

Please read Leviticus 23:22

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God.'”

DEVOTIONAL

by Sandra Chua

If you were born into a Chinese family, your training would include being industrious and thrifty. It is common practice to reuse and recycle items such as milk bottles, fast-food napkins, used notebooks, and even disposable food packaging, plates, and utensils. Old clothes are turned into rags. Ice cream tubs become home for frozen fish. Old notebooks are cut and bound by padding glue to make notepads. The list goes on and on. 

The verse Leviticus 23:22, therefore, popped out like a sore thumb in the midst of all the festival laws in Leviticus 23. How can you purposely leave grains in the fields when you were trained to finish the last morsel of food on your plate? 

Our God is not only a  generous God. He is a thorough God. In the midst of abundance, He did not forget charity. When he gives to us abundantly, the reason is not to hoard but that we might have something to share with those in need. 2 Corinthians 9:11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. In the midst of instructing the Israelites for festivities, God made sure they did not forget the needy.

Another striking thing for me in this passage is how charity is not like a dole out. The people in need also had to work by gathering the stalks. God instructed it so that the needy would still have the dignity of working for their food.

 

PRAYER