Leviticus 25:17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.

The passage as a whole is fascinating, saying that land can never be sold, but only leased. That is an enormously equitable system in an agrarian society, but it falls apart pretty quickly in an industrialized society. That said, this verse is still an eternal principle, even though it is ignored all too often. If we indeed fear God, we are not going to harm our neighbor, because we will understand that God sees everything, and He settles all accounts in the end. Those who cheat, steal from, and otherwise do harm to others obviously are not looking at things from the eternal perspective; their greed has blinded them. These days there is a lot of uproar over government surveillance in the US, but even modern technology can’t touch God’s omniscience. The problem with government surveillance is that people and governments can’t be trusted not to make wrong use of what they know, but God is totally trustworthy. Many people would like to hide from God, because their ways are evil, as Jesus expressed in John 3:20, but as He said in verse 21, those who are obedient to God are happy for Him to know everything. It comes down to knowing who and what God is, and choosing to trust Him.

I have been aware of God’s omniscience for as long as I can remember, but it hasn’t kept me perfectly straight! That’s evidence that knowledge alone isn’t sufficient: there must be the choice to act on that knowledge. As a pastor/teacher I can impart knowledge, but I can’t make people’s choices for them. However, I can help them understand what the choices really are, because the devil is good at disguising them. Often we think we are choosing freedom, when we are really choosing bondage to sin. I have had people strongly resist being told that, and choose sin anyway. That can be heartbreaking, but the decision is theirs to make, not mine. I am to be faithful in warning and encouraging others, but I am not to take their choices on myself as burdens, because I can’t bear them. I am to pray for them and trust God’s grace and mercy.

Father, You know the particular example that came to mind as I wrote that. I don’t have direct input into that situation, but I pray for wisdom, strength, and peace for the Christian parent who is understandably distraught at what is going on. Tough love isn’t easy! I do pray for the child, that they would come to their senses as to what is really going on, so that they may repent and turn to You. I pray that the whole family would be united in Christ, even though some are very far from Him. May Your name be hallowed and Your kingdom come as Your will is done in that family, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!