Deuteronomy 16:13-15

Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your Feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the Feast to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. 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.

Apparently God is working to get my attention right now. I keep seeing references to the Festival of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles in Scripture, in different areas of my life. I don’t yet know where this is leading, but I will definitely keep you posted. Now I realize that when I dig through certain parts of the Old Testament the same festivals and laws will appear again and again. But this is not the first time in my rummage through the joy verses that this feast has come up. This feast and joy must be tied closely together!

I just started leading a Bible study of the book of James, and today’s video session was looking into the life of the man who penned the book (James is the brother of Jesus). We ended up at one point in John 7, looking at a time when Jesus’ family was preparing for this very festival. Lord, where are you leading me with this?

I promise to keep all of you posted during this journey. I love how God can work in many ways in my life all at once, especially when I keep my eyes on Him! This journey into joy is also a journey into Sukkot (the Hebrew name for the festival, which means booths or tabernacles). I’m not planning to go out and live in a tent for 7 days to celebrate the harvest, but I am going to continue to read into this Jewish feast, especially since it seems to be a time filled with great joy and celebration.

More to come, I promise!