Good Morning My Friends! Today is the first day of Spring! Let us rejoice and be glad!
Morning has Broken
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24, ESV).
A new day has begun, a new week, a new season! It’s time to rejoice! It’s time to celebrate!
Rejoicing is celebrating!
God loves it when we rejoice, when we celebrate. In fact, He commands us to rejoice and celebrate.
I did a quick search this morning on just those two words: rejoice and celebrate. I discovered that the word “celebrate” is found 68 times in the NIV Bible and the word “rejoice” over 150 times! I think God is quite serious about us rejoicing. (By the way, all the remaining verses come from the NIV version.)
You know, God created lots of festivals for the Israelites. I guess He figured they needed a reason to celebrate.
He started with having Moses and his brother Aaron tell Pharaoh that he needed to let them go so they could celebrate! Listen to this message from the Lord to Pharaoh:
Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’” (Exodus 5:1)
Can you imagine Pharaoh’s expression when he heard this message? I can and that just makes me smile.
Pharaoh: “You want me, to let all my slaves go so they can have a festival in the desert? Yeah, that isn’t going to happen.”
Okay, that’s my own imagination. That’s not actually in the Bible, but seriously, God really told Pharaoh He wanted His people to party and celebrate.
Festivals Galore
During the 40-year journey in the desert, God created some festivals for His people.
Here are just a few of the festivals God told the Israelites to celebrate:
- Celebrate a festival to the Lord (Exodus 10:9)
- Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:17)
- Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. (Exodus 23:16)
- Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. (Numbers 9:2)
- Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy16:13)
I don’t know about you, but this makes me really stop and think that I should probably go to a festival. Okay, maybe I can’t today because I have to go work, but I can have a festival-kind-of-day!
I think we should take Job’s attitude today and refrain from all those things that make us sad and instead be of good cheer.
“I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer” (Job 9:27).
Refrain from the Monday blues. We are alive and can get up to a brand day, week, and can I say again, Spring! Spring is here everyone! We did it! We made it through winter again. I know for sure because I saw my first robins! That alone is worthy of rejoicing!
Rejoice and Be Glad
So, let’s celebrate today. Let’s rejoice together.
God wants us to rejoice always:
“Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).
God wants us to celebrate with others:
“Rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:12).
God wants us to be glad and praise Him:
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!” (Revelations 19:7).
I think that means He wants to be at the festival too! Let’s be sure to invite Him today!
Practical Application
How can you celebrate today? Well, I have some ideas of course. Did you think I wouldn’t? If I were going to an actual festival today, here’s what I imagine I’d experience:
- Uplifting music
- Food
- Friends
- Laughter
- Fun conversations
- Joy
Today is worthy of celebrating. Let’s include some of the things above into our day.
Let’s rejoice and give thanks to our Great God. For He is good. He is faithful. He loves us. He is kind and compassionate. He likes to party! So, let’s have a rejoicing, celebrating festival-kind-of day!
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)
Just for Today
Refrain from Sadness. Embrace Rejoicing!
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