A Party to Remember

03.11.13

Deuteronomy 16.5-7 5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. (ESV)

Several things this morning: the Passover would be celebrated at the place the Lord chose, not just any old place. The Passover would be eaten at sunset in remembrance of the Exodus. And they would not be allowed to go back home until the morning. It was an all-nighter for God.

I think God wanted them to remember. We get so busy in our everyday lives that we tend to forget things like so and so’s birthday; our anniversary, stuff like that. God didn’t want them to do that – He wanted them to remember that the world and all that was in it, as good as it looked, pales in comparison to the riches of His glory; and He wanted them to believe that.

The date of the Passover was God’s choosing. The place of the celebrating was God’s choosing, and they were to give a night of their lives to remembering what happened, when, and why. It was supposed to be a party to remember…

I regret that much of my Christian experience is forgotten: I can’t remember the date of the day I got saved – I barely remember when or where, or who baptized me. We don’t celebrate many religious holy days in our culture because for many of us, they’re just not that important. God wanted them to remember because it was (and is) important. That’s why all the rituals and the specific instructions as to where, when, why, and how. And from what I read, other than the Passover, which was supposed to be somber, humble, and serious, it seems the rest of them were to be fun!

When is the last time your church celebrated the day of its founding? When is the last time you threw a party to celebrate on the date of your salvation? I’m feeling like my life needs more of this kind of celebrating and less of just being happy because it’s Friday…

Lord, as I struggle to take more of my life back from my culture and give it to You for Yours, I pray for help in remembering the times and the ways You stepped in and made a huge difference in me and for me. I pray for strength to be more grateful and more introspective as I attempt to remember Who You are and what You do. I ask for creative and fun ways to remember what is important in the Kingdom – help me I pray. Amen.