SEASONS - MARTHA CHANGES BACK TO MARY

The time has arrived for The Feast of Tabernacles!

On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Sukkot, seven days for the LORD (Leviticus 23:34)

I LOVE Sukkot!!!!!  THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES!!!!! 

This year I am feeling so blessed to be spending the time with my family at the beach.  The anticipation is escalating every day as the feast time approaches.  I've caught myself thinking of how great it has worked out to have a place provided by a family member that is large enough for all ten of our minion!  Eight days with our grown kids and grandchildren in a lazy, fun atmosphere that gives honor to our Creator!  I'm so excited.  

It is a sweet, sweet time before the Lord that I treasure every year.  It doesn't always work out this easy and we have not always had a place to stay together and we can't always get everyone together under one roof every year, but that just adds to my joy of this particular year, to know it has all come together.  I've had different types of blessings on other years.  Of course, we can’t be in Jerusalem this year, and we are not a members of a Jewish congregation that understands the joy of this celebration, but we are a family full of  born again, believing Christians who have come to understand the great significance of The Feast of Tabernacles, and celebrating this time before the Lord is always a big HUGE thing in the year. 

Below are some notes of my celebration from the year 2012, two contrasting situations, but still, two great blessings!  God is good all the time.

NOTES FROM FEAST OF TABERNACLES DAYS OF 2012

This season I’ve have to literally claw my way through the trappings of the world in order to get to God’s way of celebration.   It should be easy, not hard, but it hasn’t happened that way this year. Arriving in the proper place has not been at all easy.  At least one thousand things have happened to distract me and try to prevent me from the joy of the feast.

I have dreamed all year of gathering the whole family together into a little mountain resort town, worshiping together every day, and celebrating the joy of The Lord together all during the feast week.  How nice it would be to just spend family time and relax together in the evenings.  Things gradually one by one fell apart for this plan.  Everyone has some other plans; work was busy for some; money was tight for some; people were too scattered; etc., etc. 

Well, yes, that was MY perfect plan, but alas, God has allowed a situation where I have unexpectedly had to forfeit MY plan for something much simpler. 

My first prayer was one of frustration.  Nothing should stop the joy of the feast, so I just begin to passionately hold that up to God.  He answers me that I am absolutely right.  Hmmmm…..seems to be a strange answer under the circumstance, so I say "but Lord; my budget will not allow a trip with the family this time.  I’ve done everything that I can, but it just isn’t happening."  

“Yes, I know” is what I hear back. 

But Lord, why has it worked out this way? 
And the answer is the most surprising thing, but I do hear it:

“Because I have called you to be content in all circumstances.”

I suddenly remembered the verse I long ago chose for my life verse; Philippians 4:11-13.

The words screamed out to me:   Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.


I had no idea that keeping this wonderful time I've previously kept with such ease was going to be so hard and complicated this year.  You know what?  Sometimes God REALLY calls on you to live out those life verses. 

Now, that word  “contentment” isn’t exactly what pops into my mind when I think of celebrating a week-long festival before the Lord.  I envision feasting, dancing, singing in crowds of joyful people with great fanfare. 

So finally I gather my courage and  I ask The Lord what HE has planned for me this week, knowing that asking HIM was the very first thing I should have considered all along.  He says back to me those hard to digest words I often hear:

“I will show you.  Trust me.”

I am sure it is wrong to complain, but those words didn’t give me much direction.  Next thing I know, my work calls to tell me they have a great need for me to be in the office on Monday and they want me to postpone my vacation time I’ve set aside for at least one day, maybe more.  I had been trying to regroup and at least make a not so extravagant plan for something special to do at home with the family during this feast, but now I can’t even get the first day off from work, and will possibly even have more time than that tied up at work.   

It seems that,The Ox is in the ditch. 

Some people would say it is a sin for me to go on to work, and I should just take the time off anyway.   I have to confess to these zealots that I am living in grace because I have for awhile been in a bondage that I created for myself – I have a mortgage and need my job in order to pay my bills.  We all were going through through tough financial times in the business world during 2012.  If you were employed you were one of the blessed, and you should not take that for granted in today’s economy either!    My heart was still hurting for those that I worked with that had been "let go" for no fault of their own.  I do have to remember that  God says we should be responsible stewards.  I must keep my word and pay my bills.  I need my job, and have actually had on my mind that maybe I no longer need the mortgage; but God will had to led me through that decision and process over time.  I couldn't change anything overnight.   It was something out of my control.  

There I stood in the midst of turning one way and the other until I finally just ended up saying:

 “Okay, Lord, I trust You.” 

After these words, while I’m looking out my bedroom window  still feeling a bit sorry for myself, I catch myself thinking sadly that I haven’t even built a sukkah!  I feel like a failure before God actually, not living up to my own testimony about keeping God’s feast and festivals.  It isn't a good feeling.  I know in my heart He wants us to keep them!   Then, almost as if someone was standing behind me and tapping me on the shoulder, God reminds me that my back deck is a three sided structure that you can see the stars through.

Hmmm……………

He has provided what I was not prepared for.  I think of this simple little miracle, a hidden blessing that My Father just points out to me, and my heart becomes happier.  I go about planning a festive outdoor dinner to be eaten on the deck for that night.   We may not be starting the feast in a fancy place, but our home is a GOOD place.  The view from our deck will be great!  There will be lots of stars shining through the shelter.  This is great!

I consider the food.  My planning has been bad.  My budget has been so tight that the menu will probably need to be very limited.  This is not how God wants us to feast.  I feel ashamed of my own poor planning.  I look in my pantry and find some great selections that I had just overlooked before.

God always provides what we need.  

How long will it take for me to always remember this and never doubt.  Even when I plan amiss, He blesses me anyway.  True grace.  I had the physical things all along without even realizing they were there.   

Now I just had to bring my mind and my spirit to the right place.  

That was the thing most needed.  I confessed my sins of worry and anxiety to God.  I felt His forgiveness flood over me.  I thanked God for his awesome provision, and asked Him to keep my eyes wide open to all the daily blessings He brings from now on.  I had everything that we needed right here under our own roof to offer a joyful feast of thanksgiving to God on the first night of the festival.  What more could a daughter ask from her Father?  I knew I was loved.  I felt the first spark of joy that belongs at the table of the King, and I welcomed it into my heart.

I thought of all the people of God throughout history who had to celebrate their feast days under truly hard circumstances.  I considered that I truly had no problems.  There were those who celebrated under  the rule of captivity.  I thought of those Jewish heroes that had to celebrate their feast days in concentration camps.  I remembered Corrie Ten Boom and her messages of how she found hope when there was no hope.  I thought of Joseph worshiping God in the pagan life he was forced to live in Egypt.  I began to see that my problems were all in my head.  It finally occurred to me that clearly my problems were very small and my God was very big.

I resolved that after work tomorrow, I can do the same again.  We could have our feast on our sukkah on the deck after dark and look up at the stars and thank The God of Heaven and Earth every night during this week. 

Suddenly I felt very rested and not at all stressed.    

Maybe I was just anxious for nothing? 

Once again, I apologized to God for being so stressed over the details.  I am usually such a “Mary,” always worshiping at The Master’s feet; but this week I have been caught acting and behaving just like a “Martha” getting all bogged down in the details and the work and so much so that I almost missed the whole point of setting aside the time to listen, worship, rest and just be thankful and joyful in  the Lord.  I rested in His provision. 

I  have been reminded this week that God simply wants me to sit at His feet and worship.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate, it can be as simple as a dinner on my back deck with my husband.  We will feast with the things that He has provided and offer thanksgiving prayers, ever grateful that we have food and shelter for this day, for this moment and for this season.   It is enough to bask in God’s presence right where we are, right in the moment that we are living in, in the temples of our bodies that He has given us and with our spirits that will never be destroyed or pass away. 

When the stars come out in the night sky, we will look up to see God’s story written in them. 

Is it not a great miracle? 

Is it not a wonderful thing just to sit after a full meal and look up at the night sky and be ever thankful that God is in control and we are not?  

The God who thinks way beyond anything that I could ever imagine reminded me that we own a telescope that is not even being used.  I had not thought of it in years.  I hurried out to the storage area to clean it up and place it next to our table on the deck.  Yes, we have everything that we need, and even more!

And so way back, even in the year of 2012 I was able to proclaim: Happy Feast of Tabernacles Everyone! I expect to do the same this year as our whole family gathers together at the beach.  

May you be able to see God’s blessing unfold before you as you worship and sit at His feet at your feast this year, no matter where or under any circumstances.  I pray that the world will not be able to keep you from all the good God has blessed you with.

May we all live in eager anticipation for the time when Messiah returns to set up His Kingdom and rule and reign, for a thousand years of peace on this earth.

He will graciously provide everything that we need, and it could just be that  the simple things are actually the richest things of all.

Right now, even before Rosh Hashanah comes, begin anticipating the feast times you will spend with God this year.  He is waiting with open arms in the places that He will put His name and call you, living and breathing and walking around inside his temples, to be!