Everyone loves a party—including you, and most importantly, including God. And while we, as New Testament believers, aren’t required to celebrate the Old Covenant feasts and special days, I say why not repurpose your parties. How? Include God in them. In fact, make God the center of attention at the next get together you have, and then have fun!
The Journey // Focus: Numbers 28:1-2
The Lord said to Moses, “Give these instructions to the people of Israel: The offerings you present as special gifts are a pleasing aroma to me; they are my food. See to it that they are brought at the appointed times and offered according to my instructions.
I apologize if the title sounds a bit irreverent. I don’t mean any disrespect. But as I read the Bible, I see a God who loves to celebrate—and the way he celebrates is through the special days and feasts he commanded his people to observe. Yeah, God parties through you.
Note that he didn’t send out party invitations; he commanded them: “These are the instructions to the people of Israel.” (Numbers 28:1) Following that, throughout this chapter, there are several “you must’s” that God gives the Israelites: Numbers 28:3,5,7,9,12,14,15,16,19,22,23,26. The high point of the “you must’s” has to be the command to celebrate the Passover:
On the fourteenth day of the first month, you must celebrate the Lord’s Passover. (Numbers 28:16)
Again, note the “you must celebrate” as well as “the Lord’s Passover.” It’s the Lord’s party and you are commanded to enjoy it. Apparently, God was deadly serious about having fun—in the most worshipful way.
Once more, let me say that I mean no irreverence here. But the truth remains, God wants his people to party. Not in some sort of fleshly way, not to indulge our base nature, not like a good deal of the partying that goes on in our culture—through meaningless activity. No, this was partying with a purpose. And here is the rub: the celebrations were to remind the people of how good their God was. As the generations passed from one to the next in Israel, these feasts and special days were to be a perpetual reminder that Yahweh was a God worthy of celebration.
Of course, self-denial and privation were and are to also be a part of the worship life of God’s people, but do you realize that much more space is dedicated to feasting than fasting in the Bible. God wants you to enjoy him, and there is nothing more enjoyable than remembering who he is, how he has led you, met all your needs, guided you to a good place all along the way, and how each satisfying moment in the journey of faith as you have followed him as his dearly loved child has given way to a higher level of satisfaction in him than the previous. And ultimately, each feast points forward to the day when this life will be done, and the most indescribable pleasure will be finally and fully realized through unending life in the eternal feast of God. That, my friend, is party-worthy!
Everyone loves a party—including you, and most importantly, including God. And while we, as New Testament believers, aren’t required to celebrate the Old Covenant feasts and special days, I say why not repurpose the parties you have throughout the course of your life. How? Include God in them. In fact, make God the center of attention at your next get-together, and then have a lot of fun.
It’s worshipful—and it makes the God who loves to party happy indeed!
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.