Love Slaves

Deut 15:12, 16, 17     12 And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.               16 And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; 
                                         17 Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever.   And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

When you first come to God, and give Him your life, there is a honeymoon period in which you are inundated with His love and His closeness.  Hardly anyone will leave God during this period.

But if you walk with God long enough, you will invariably come to a desert place, where it’s hard to find God, and it may even seem like He has forsaken you.

This is your “seventh year”.   God has opened the door, and you’re free to go.  This is where God finds out if you really love Him and His house.

When Joshua reached his “seventh year”, he stated, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Job declared, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

And Peter simply said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

Choose God in the lean times, and I promise you, later you will “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”