I’ll never forget my first encounter with the periodic table of elements. You know, the big chart that contains all the chemical elements, sorted by their atomic weights and properties. I was a Freshman in high school when I first gazed at that massive chart on the wall in chemistry class, thoroughly intimidated by the seemingly reckless combination of squares, numbers and letters. The teacher then informed us that we had one week to memorize it and we would have a test on it the next week. What? Say that again, I thought you said one week. Well, I passed chemistry (barely) and I realize now why he started off with the periodic table. You see, every single thing you can possibly put your hand on today is composed of some recipe of these basic elements. I guess you could say it’s God’s grocery store and off these shelves He makes every single recipe in His cookbook. But today in Deuteronomy 16 we see a few different basic elements. The basic elements of worshipping and praising God. Two essential elements that God requires of us to assemble and worship Him. Remember and rejoice.
We see in our study chapter today, a close look at the three annual festivals of the Israelites. The Feast of Passover, the feast of Pentecost (or Weeks) and the feast of Booths (or Tabernacles.) God called for these three feasts to be attended by all males every year. This meant there was a mass exodus of people from all over the land to Jerusalem during these festivals. As we read about God’s requirements for each festival though, we see two basic elements that are common to all three.
“for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.” Deut 16:3a
“And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.” Deut 16:11
“You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.” Deut 16:12
“You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.” Deut 16:14
“For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, 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.” Deut 16:15
Remember and rejoice. Rejoice and remember. Two basic elements that God clearly commands be major components of these worship festivals to Him. These two elements are complimentary to each other, I mean how can you have one without the other. Let’s take a quick look at each and how they should reveal themselves in our personal worship and praise of God today.
Remember. If I asked you to sit still for 15 minutes today and remember God’s work in your life, what would come to mind? For me it is bathed in goodness. God has blessed me in ways that if I were to compile them would require either reams of paper of megabytes of memory. God has blessed me in ways I do not deserve and in ways that I am not yet even fully aware of. You see, God says the beginning of rejoicing in Him is to merely remember His good work in your life.
If I were to gift you with a million dollars today that allowed you with proper management of that money, to become debt free, retire from work and live a life that had greater purpose and meaning, would you forget me next week? Probably not. Would you forget me next year? Probably not. You see, the size of my gift and the tremendous impact it had on your life would more than likely land me on your Christmas card list for life. Each and every day you experienced that new life, would spur you to remember the one that was responsible. Folks, remember Jesus this way. If you have called upon Christ for salvation, He has gifted you with true life. An eternal life in Heaven with your creator. An eternal life of gazing upon the face of the Father. And in addition, He gifted you with real life here on this planet. Not a superficial life of drudgery and slavery to sin and desire, but a life that is abundantly full of freedom, peace, joy, goodness and purpose. To sit still and remember the goodness of Jesus in your life will automatically move you into the next element…Rejoice.
Rejoice is defined as “to show or feel great joy.” In fact, it could be spelled, “re-JOY-s.” You see the root of rejoicing is firmly based in joy. As you remember the goodness of God in your life, your heart will be filled with joy. And as that joy comes bubbling up, it will surface as rejoicing in the Lord. Now as you think about the fountain of joy and the true origin of its source, don’t mistake it with happiness. I wrote a 5MC on this topic a while back and the world today greatly misconstrues the two. In fact, as I wrote on the topic, God put a little poem in my mind:
“Happiness is like rain,
it only coats the skin.
But joy is so different,
It comes from deep within.”
You see, joy is from the Lord. True joy will lift you up. True joy will bring a smile that lasts a lifetime. True joy is keeping your mind on Heaven, knowing that your home and citizenship is there, not here. True joy is having Jesus. And folks, from this true joy in Jesus, flows your rejoicing of His good work in your life.
Today, I pray that you take some time to relax, be still and just remember how God has poured out His blessings upon your life. And as you do, let the rejoicing flow from your heart to your lips and to the one that gifted it.
Jesus is worthy.
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