CELEBRATE GOD’S PROVISION WITH JOY
For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joyH8056 will be complete.
Deuteronomy 16:15
16:13–17 The “Feast of Booths” (v. 13) is so called, because for a week they were to gather at the sanctuary and live in temporary structures. It begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month (modern September-October), at the end of the agricultural season after the grain was threshed and the grapes harvested. Naturally, the tithe of the harvest was to be brought at this feast, which was also to memorialize Israel’s pilgrim experience in leaving Egypt (Lev. 23:43). In addition, this feast was to be a time of reading the law (31:10–13; Neh. 8).
Reformation Study Bible
In Deuteronomy 16, Moses summarizes three major festivals: The Passover (Feast of Unleavened Bread), The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths). The Feast of Tabernacles was a joyous occasion because they were celebrating the harvest of grain and grapes and praising God for His bountiful provision. The Israelites were also remembering their travel from Egypt to the Holy Land when they lived in tents because they were not yet in the home God had promised them. God took care of them in all their wilderness wanderings even though their journey was prolonged by forty years due to their lack of faith (Deuteronomy chapter 1). Their shoes and clothes did not wear out in forty years of travel (Deuteronomy 29:5)!
In modern America, we have set aside only one day to celebrate all God has done for us, and we call it Thanksgiving. We definitely feast, but how many of us truly count our blessings from God and praise Him with joy on that day? Have you ever experienced God’s provision in a miraculous way? We remember a time when after all the bills were paid for the month, we had about $12.00 left for groceries for the next three weeks. Talk about panic! However, God provided all we needed and then some through the generosity of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Reflect on the times that God has provided abundantly beyond your needs. Then “your joy will be complete.” Perhaps if we took more time to contemplate God’s provision and celebrate together with thanksgiving we would have less stress and more joy!
Father, help us to remember that every good thing in our lives is a gift from You (James 1:17). Replace any fear or worry with the remembrance that You have always and will always provide for us. Take our cares and replace them with joy as we remember how You care for us (1 Peter 5:7).