Day 41: Lev 23:1 - 25:21

I think some people tend to only see God in terms of power and all knowing and just, but we don't always think of God in terms of festivity. But we see in these passages that God is very much concerned with festivals and feasts for a couple of different reasons. Much like the altars that we discussed weeks ago, God wanted the Children of Israel to participate different feasts and celebrations to remind themselves of where they came from. When a group of people that large migrates to a totally different land and develops totally different customs, it can sometimes be easy to forget how things used to be, and that was something that God did not want to happen. The other reason He  commanded them to have these feasts is so that they could relax. It's easy to think that a God as enormous and all-powerful as our God would probably want us to work at 100% speed 100% of the time, but we've seen from the very beginning of the Bible that God doesn't want us to just work ourselves to death. He even rested on the 7th day, not because He was necessarily tired, but because He wanted to set a precedent to be followed throughout the ages. 

- Lord, help me to set up holidays and celebrations along this path that You're showing me. Help me to not forget where I came from, and help me to remember the importance of resting and taking a breath every once in a while. Thank You for setting the precedent on the 7th day of creation and I pray that You give me the strength and help me to remember to continue to honor that even today. -