WORTHLESS TO PRICELESS
Leviticus 26:32: “I will lay waste your land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.”
Appalled means shocked, disgusted, or sickened. Leviticus 26:14-39 and Jeremiah 16:17-17:6 partially list God’s punishment for disobedience, especially worshipping worthless idols as gods. The extreme costs that the Israelites endured after they failed to follow God’s Word were the pits! Jews exiled (removed from) their homeland and total destruction of Israel are historic facts that mirror prophetic punishment.
Yet…”Praise God” worship shines through that muck. Everything He causes—even the most horrific—is ultimately a blessing. God made His own land desolate for a reason. While His kids were scattered throughout the world for over 2,000 years, Israel became a desolate wasteland. Even “your enemies who live there will be appalled” was the silver lining of blessing.
Though many countries tried to develop the land and make it profitable, Israel’s fruit refused to come out of lockdown. If Israel would have been the blossoming garden she is today, her kinfolk scattered throughout the world would not have been able to return and invest in her as they did. As far into modern day as 1867, the famous writer Mark Twain visited the Holy Land and declared Israel a wasteland.
He said, “A desolate country given over wholly to weeds … a silent mournful expanse … a desolation … we never saw a human being on the whole route … hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”
God’s miracle unfolded a century after Mark Twain. On May 23, 1967, Israel’s rebirth as a united country became headline news! That didn’t happen as easily or as fast as that may sound. Beginning in early 1800’s, Jews had secretly been purchasing parts of the Holy Land. (There was no demand for that land everyone considered worthless). But to displaced Jews, Israel is priceless.
Despite how often His people are carried away from God’s promised covenantal inheritance to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Canaan will always belong to Israel.
Israel celebrated her 50 year anniversary on May 23, 2017!
Take Home Nugget
Consider this investment on May 24, 1626: Peter Minuit purchased a tiny island off America’s coast from Native Americans. They considered that land mostly worthless. Yet the Native Americans accepted a bundle of cloth, beads, and various trinkets worth 60 guilders as payment for the island. 60 guilders exchanges from $24-$1000 today.
That “mostly worthless” island became Manhattan, a “priceless” patch of land off New York City today.
Your ways, Your timing is perfect, Father. Help me to trust You in everything I do! Amen.
Adapted from “Hidden Blessings” from Holy Land Moments.com. Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. May 18, 2017.
J.D. Griffith
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