We are in the midst of the Feast of Tabernacles this week. And a big part of this holiday is the command to be joyous! How many times have you heard of people being commanded to ‘party hardy’? But in Deuteronomy 16:13-17 Moses gave the instructions for the Feast of Tabernacles,
“And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow…because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.”
And in Israel, the people take this command seriously. Of course, the succahs (booths or tabernacles) on every street and balcony throughout the city will be filled with people eating and fellowshipping together. Vans equipped with loudspeakers on the roof will drive through town playing upbeat music and encouraging people to be happy. Some people will even spontaneously get out of their cars at red lights and dance around their vehicles for a few seconds while waiting for the light to change. And on the final day of the feast, called Simchat Torah, people will have a special service to rejoice over completing their Torah reading. They will literally dance with the Torah scroll and thank God for His Word!
So what do you have to ‘party hardy’ about? God wants His people to be happy! He desires that we are flooded with ‘joy unspeakable and full of glory’. What thought gives you the urge to kick up your heels and praise the Lord? There is no shortage of reasons to be glad and rejoice in the Lord, but if you need a suggestion or two, here are some ideas:
“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:19-20)
Or how about this verse?
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:11-15
I am a friend of God!!! His is my friend!!! Are you His friend too? What a pure joy it is to be a friend of God. That alone is enough reason to ‘party hardy’! If for no other reason, simply “’Rejoice in the Lord always,’ and again I say, ‘Rejoice!’” (Philippians 4:4)