SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 16
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“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.” [Deuteronomy 16:15] The Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths, or Ingathering) was a joyful occasion when the people celebrated the harvest of the land. The people set up tents around Jerusalem, remembered how God led them through the wilderness, and brought gifts from the harvest to sacrifice to the Lord [see Leviticus 23:39-43]. He had blessed them, and their joy was complete.
As the promised messiah, Jesus is the fullest realization of all the Jewish dreams. The promise of deliverance, forgiveness and blessing in the old covenant were incomplete as long as the messiah was still to come. He would complete the blessing promised by God. Then, and only then, would their joy be fully complete. Prior to His coming, the Jews could only have a foretaste of blessing; in Jesus, that blessing would be complete. In Jesus’ Name, they could receive full deliverance, forgiveness and blessing: “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” [John 16:24]
Complete joy is more than physical or material joy. It is more than peace in the land and produce in the barn. It goes deeper, to peace in the heart and fullness in the soul – perfect harmony between God, us and His world. This perfect joy is only possible through Jesus, through His death and resurrection. Through Him, our joy is complete!
So many people are satisfied with the appetizers. Having nibbled on material blessings, they ignore spiritual blessing. Jesus did not come to give us money, or popularity, or health, or nice homes, or worldly success. He came to give us God, the kingdom, and His righteousness. All those other things are just the fringe benefits.
Here is a test. When we ask Jesus for things, what do we ask for? Do we invest as much into our spiritual bank account as we do our temporal one? Do we have joy and contentment, no matter what the circumstances, whether rich or poor, healthy or sick, strong or weak? Too many of us are still living in a spiritual wilderness, in a tent, instead of finding joy in the Lord, in His house with many rooms. Is your joy complete? Is mine?
PRAYER:
Lord, I do not want to be happy, I want to be joy-filled. Fill me with joy complete!