Surrender What Was Never Yours to Receive What Can Never Be Taken Away
Torah Portion: Behar-Bechukotai (Leviticus 25:1 – 27:34)
“The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.” (Leviticus 25:23)
There is a phrase that has the power to transform your life. It is not a complicated theological formula. It is not a secret mystical incantation. It is a simple statement of reality — a reality that most of us spend our entire lives trying to deny.
Here it is: Surrender what was never yours, so you can receive what can never be taken away.
Write it down. Put it on your refrigerator. Tattoo it on your heart. Because if you can grasp this single truth, the entire book of Leviticus — indeed, the entire walk of faith — will come into focus.
We have spent weeks in the book of Vayikra (“And He called”), the book of Leviticus. It is the book of drawing near to the Holy One. It is the book of holiness, of sacrifice, of priesthood, of clean and unclean, of Sabbaths and feasts and Jubilees. And now, as we conclude this book on the 35th day of counting the Omer — just 15 days from Shavuot — we come to its final, powerful message: Everything belongs to Him. Nothing belongs to you. And that is the best news you will ever hear.
The Addiction We All Share: Control
Before we can understand surrender, we must name our addiction. We are addicted to control.
We want to control our land — our property, our income, our retirement accounts, our investments. We want to control our spouses — shaping them, fixing them, managing them. We want to control our children, our employees, our circumstances, our reputations. We want to control our future, our health, our legacy.
And the Holy One, in His mercy, keeps placing us in situations where our illusion of control is shattered.
The Torah portion Behar (“on the mountain”) begins with the laws of the Shmita year — the seventh year when the land must rest. For six years, you may sow your field, prune your vineyard, and gather your harvest. But the seventh year is a Sabbath of rest for the land. You are not to sow or prune or gather.
This makes no sense to the controlling heart. “What will we eat?” you ask. “If we don’t work the land for an entire year, we will starve.”
The Holy One answers: “I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce for three years” (Leviticus 25:21).
Three years of provision from one harvest. The sixth year’s harvest must sustain you through the sixth year, the seventh year (the Shmita), and the eighth year until the next harvest comes in. This is not agriculture. This is supernatural provision. And it requires one thing: trust.
The Shmita year is God’s classroom for controlling hearts. It teaches us that the land is not ours. The harvest is not ours. The increase is not ours. It all belongs to Him. We are merely stewards, tenants, sojourners.
As Leviticus 25:23 declares: “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.”
Notice: you are not just a stranger and sojourner on the land. You are a stranger and sojourner with Me. The Holy One is not the absentee landlord. He is walking with you on the land that belongs to Him. He is your companion in the sojourn.
The Jubilee: The Ultimate Surrender
Beyond the Shmita year is the Yovel — the Jubilee. After seven cycles of seven years (49 years), the 50th year is proclaimed as a year of liberty. The trumpet sounds on Yom Kippur. Slaves are set free. Debts are canceled. Land returns to its original owners.
Everything goes back to its original distribution. Every 50 years, a cosmic reset occurs.
The Jubilee is the ultimate surrender. It says: “I do not permanently own anything. My wealth is temporary. My possessions are borrowed. My status is fleeting. Everything returns to its Source.”
This is the year that Yeshua proclaimed in the synagogue of Nazareth when He read from Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor… to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).
He was announcing the Jubilee. He was declaring that the time of surrender had come. He was about to surrender His own life — not because He owed anything, but because He owned everything and chose to give it away.
Surrender what was never yours (His life was His own, yet He surrendered it for us) so that you could receive what can never be taken away (eternal life, forgiveness, union with God).
The Terrible Freedom of Control: The Curses of Chapter 26
If chapter 25 teaches surrender, chapter 26 teaches the consequences of control. Verses 3-13 list the blessings of walking in God’s statutes: rain in due season, the land yielding its produce, safety, peace, enemies fleeing before you, five chasing a hundred, a hundred putting ten thousand to flight, God’s dwelling place among His people.
But verses 14-46 describe what happens when we refuse to surrender — when we insist on controlling what was never ours.
The keyword in this section is keri — often translated “contrary” or “hostile.” It appears multiple times: “If you walk contrary to Me…” The word describes two beings who were designed to walk together but are now moving in opposite directions.
The curses are not arbitrary punishments from an angry God. They are the natural consequences of walking away from the source of life. If you insist on controlling your own life apart from God, you will experience the chaos that comes from being disconnected from the One who holds all things together.
But here is the hope. Even in the midst of the curses — even after describing the most terrible consequences — the Holy One declares:
“And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 26:44-45)
This is the most hopeful verse in the entire chapter. No matter how far you have strayed. No matter how many times you have tried to control what was never yours. No matter how many Shmita cycles you have ignored. The Holy One will not break His covenant.
He may discipline you. He may send you into exile. He may allow you to experience the consequences of your choices. But He will not abandon you. He will not cast you away. He will remember His covenant.
Why? Because His motivation is not your performance. His motivation is His own faithfulness. “I am the Lord their God.” That is enough.
The Gentile Inclusion: You Were Far Off, But Now You Are Near
This is where the apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 2 become so powerful. He writes to the Gentile believers: “At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13).
Before Messiah, the Gentiles had no covenant. No promise. No hope. They were strangers to the covenants of promise. But through the blood of Yeshua, the enmity is abolished. The dividing wall is broken down. Those who were far off are brought near.
Now — and this is crucial — now, the same covenant faithfulness that God showed to Israel is extended to you. The same promise of Leviticus 26:44-45 applies to you. Even when you walk contrary, He will not cast you away. Even when you struggle to surrender, He will remember His covenant.
This does not mean there are no consequences. It does not mean obedience is optional. But it does mean that His faithfulness does not depend on your perfection. It depends on His character.
The Practical Application: Working Hard and Resting Hard
One of the great misunderstandings of surrender is that it leads to passivity. “If it all belongs to God, I don’t need to do anything. I’ll just let go and let God.”
This is not the teaching of Leviticus 25. The Holy One commands six years of work. You are to sow, prune, gather, labor, and produce. You are to work with all your might. The Shmita year is not a license for laziness for six years; it is a command to rest after six years of diligent labor.
Paul captures this balance perfectly: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Plant and water as if everything depends on you. Then rest as if everything depends on God. Both are acts of faith.
Surrender does not mean doing nothing. Surrender means doing everything you can, and then releasing the outcome to the One who owns it all.
The teacher in this week’s portion shares a powerful insight from his own life. For years, he practiced the Shmita year with his garden. In the sixth year, he worked hard. In the seventh year, he let the land rest. And the sixth year’s harvest was always more than enough — not just for that year, but for the seventh year and into the eighth.
This is not magic. This is the faithfulness of the One who owns the land. And it works.
Chasing Your Enemies: The Offensive Posture of Faith
Leviticus 26:7-8 gives a remarkable promise: “You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight.”
Notice: you are not hiding from your enemies. You are not cowering in fear. You are not hoping they will go away. You are chasing them.
This is the offensive posture of faith. When you know you are walking in His statutes — when you have surrendered what was never yours and are resting in His provision — you do not run from the enemy. The enemy runs from you.
The teacher says: “I am always looking for four other people. Five individuals who are saying, ‘I’m all yours. I’m going to walk in obedience to you. Even if I don’t understand, I’m going to do it.’ Five of you chase a hundred. Twenty groups of five make a hundred, and a hundred put ten thousand to flight.”
This is the power of covenant community. When believers walk together in surrendered obedience, the enemy has no chance. The gates of hell cannot prevail. The darkness flees.
The End of Leviticus: Chazak, Chazak, V’nitchazek
The book of Leviticus ends with these words: “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai” (Leviticus 27:34). The journey that began with “And He called” (Vayikra) ends with the commandments firmly established.
And the Jewish people have a tradition at the conclusion of each book of the Torah. They say: “Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek” — “Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened.”
Why strong? Because finishing the book of Leviticus is not easy. It is the “speed bump of the Torah,” the book that many avoid. To complete it is an act of spiritual strength. And that strength is not for show — it is for action.
We are not meant to stand before the mirror and recite affirmations: “I am strong. I am beautiful. I am victorious.” We are meant to act strong. To chase enemies. To work the land. To rest on the Sabbath. To release debts. To set captives free. To live as strangers and sojourners who know that everything belongs to Him.
Conclusion: Receive What Can Never Be Taken Away
We return to the phrase that began this article: “Surrender what was never yours, so you can receive what can never be taken away.”
What was never yours? The land. The harvest. The money. The spouse. The children. The reputation. The career. The ministry. It all belongs to Him. You are a steward, not an owner. Surrendering it is not a loss; it is alignment with reality.
What can never be taken away? His covenant faithfulness. His love. His presence. His promise that He will not cast you away. His guarantee that He will remember His covenant. Eternal life. Union with the Aleph and the Tav. These things cannot be stolen, cannot be lost, cannot be destroyed.
So let go. Release control. Trust the One who owns everything. Work hard for six days — and rest on the seventh. Work hard for six years — and let the land rest in the seventh. Let the Jubilee reset your soul.
And as we count the final days to Shavuot — as we prepare to stand again at Mount Sinai to renew the covenant — let us say together:
“Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek.”
Be strong. Be strong. And let us be strengthened.
Shalom.
“I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.” (Leviticus 26:12)
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