Remember and Rejoice

Yesterday, my six-year-old son had a complete meltdown in Kroger for this very important reason: his four-year-old sister got on front of the cart to ride through the parking lot, and he wanted to be on the front of the cart. 

(If you know my kids, this sounds perfectly legitimate. Right?)

I mean, he was wailing and making a complete spectacle of himself. I took away the sucker he had gotten at the bank and made him stand next to Customer Service while I checked out. That way, maybe people would think he was just a lost child and not mine. (I AM KIDDING. A little. KIDDING!)

When we got in the car, I gave him a speech worthy of a king. I told him, not so much in bullet form, but these main points:

• Your life is amazing.
• You have too many things to be happy about.
• You need to consider your entire life and how this one event really affects it. [Not much.]
• You don't get your sucker back until you tell me 10 things you're thankful for.

It took a while to get going on his thankful list, because a wailing kid (made even angrier by a smug sister, already eating her sucker) doesn't want to be thankful. He wants to dwell in his selfishness, his it's-not-fair-ness, his anger.

But by the time he finished his list, the smile was back on his lips. Because it's hard to be self-centered when you're thanking God. 

The Israelites had the same problem. In Exodus, God protected them from the ten plagues, freed them from 400 years of slavery to the Egyptians, parted the Red Sea, swept away Pharaoh and his army, and let them walk to freedom. No fighting. No battle. No death.

And they get not very far from perhaps the greatest victory in all of the Old Testament and they start grumbling: "I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. God doesn't love us."

This is why God gets to be God. I would have pulled out my holy hair at this point. I mean, give me a break. Don't you think the One who can part the Read Sea and destroy every firstborn can get you some breakfast? Come on!!!

So it doesn't surprise me that God gives them this command in Deuteronomy 16:

"Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you," (verses 16-17, NIV).

Those three feasts had very significant meanings and purposes for the Israelites. 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the same as Passover, the anniversary leaving Egypt, when they remembered and reflected on God freeing them from slavery (Exodus 12). God's people were to go six days without eating yeast--or even having yeast in their homes. On the seventh day they held an assembly to God. Part of the purpose of this was "so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt," (Deuteronomy 16:3). 

The Feast of Weeks came at the wheat harvest was celebrated by "giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you. And rejoice before the Lord," He said, remembering "that you were slaves in Egypt," (Deuteronomy 16:10-11, 12). Remember. Rejoice.

The last one, the Feast of Tabernacles (also called the Feast of Booths or Feast of Ingathering) came at the end of the growing season, when all the grain and grapes were in. God told them to "be joyful at your feast," for "the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete," (Deuteronomy 16:14, 15).

Counting blessings. Rejoicing in all God has done. 

Three times a year they returned to Jerusalem to do just that: remember and rejoice. It wasn't just a thought or a moment of silence; they had to go all the way back to Jerusalem (the capital city) and spend a significant amount of time there.

CARRYING GIFTS ACCORDING TO HOW MUCH THEY HAD BEEN BLESSED.

What if three times a year, you had to look around, take inventory of all you had been given by God (which, let's be honest, is everything you have), and transport a portion of it to a place hours or days away--by walking or riding a donkey--thanking God for His blessings all the way and telling about all He had done for you.

You might have a different attitude. 

You WOULD have a different attitude. 

I'm really hard on the Israelites, wondering how they forgot about all God's goodness and complaining about their current situation without considering where they had come from.

But we do the same thing. We have very short memories. We focus on right now, paying no heed to ALL GOD HAS ALREADY DONE FOR US. All He has given us. All the blessings, the opportunities, the love. 

Now, our mature, adult woman meltdowns don't look like the one my son had. (Well, most of the time :) ) But don't be fooled. We still have our meltdowns. We might disguise them as hormones or drama or completely justified anger, but I would say this to you in the midst of your not-so-terrible moment:

• Your life is amazing.
• You have too many things to be happy about. 
• You need to consider your entire life and how this one event really affects it. [Not much.]
• You need to list ten (or 20 or 100) things you're thankful for. Right now.

Seriously. 

Remember and rejoice. 

Just a few things to get you started:

• Who has God put in your life that is truly a blessing?
• What do you do on a regular basis that brings you joy?
• What daily needs are met? What daily wants are met? 
• What do you have that you take for granted?
• When did you come to know Christ?
• Who guides and teaches and encourages you in your faith?
• How are you blessed by your church?

Most of the feasts of the Old Testaments took seven days. So let's try this: join me in celebrating for seven days starting today: let's daily remember something God has done for us and rejoice because of His overwhelming, overflowing, unending goodness. 

Feel free to comment with your remembering and rejoicing below. Or email them to me (myleslienotebook@gmail.com).

Or join me @leslienotebook with #rememberandrejoice. I'll be celebrating with you for seven days.