With all that 2020 has offered, I know that many of you would like it to be over. One post I read said " I am not going to participate in Daylight Savings time this year as I don't want to give 2020 one more hour!"
Understood as this year has been a tough one for the entire planet. But today one year is coming to a close and another is beginning. In the scriptures we read about the Jewish calendar and how God laid out the annual seasons and celebrations.
“‘On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets.2 As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.3 With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths 4 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth 5 Include one male goat as a sin offering[d] to make atonement for you.6 These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are food offerings presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma.
The whole truth is that the Jewish New year celebrated tonight was an adaptation taken from pagan festivals. According to the Scriptures, tomorrow is the first day of the seventh month not the first month. March time frame is actually when the Jewish New Year should be celebrated as it falls right around Spring and the rebirth of the land from winter. This is also the time of the year Jesus died on the cross and was reborn in His resurrection.
The number seven is a sacred number throughout the Bible and it is understandable why it would be singled out in the calendar. Ten days from now is Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement and is also celebrated in the 7th month of the Jewish calendar.
Festivals and Holy days in the Bible were God's way of reminding the people of who He was and the blessings He has poured out for His people Israel. We humans get caught up in the daily grind and our own days of remembrance with Birthdays, Anniversary's and New Years that we sometimes forget about God and his love for us.
The Creator of the universe should not have to set a date for us to "come back again" to Him and seek His forgiveness. Us feeble humans just get lost in our own desires and pleasures that we lose sight of the reason we were created in the first place. Our relationship with God is a daily endeavor and one that must be cultivated just like a field is every day.
In Lamentations 3, we read
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassion's never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
We should understand that every day not every year is a blessing from the Lord and each morning we have the opportunity to start anew and seek Him rather than our own worthless objectives. God is in control of this virus and all of the happenings of 2020. Is it His way of reminding us who is in control and who we should be counting on? Maybe...
So Happy New Year to our Jewish friends who celebrate today and Good Morning to God who is my portion in whom I will wait all day long! Save us Lord and let us constantly EVERY day have You in the forefront of our minds.
And that is the Whole Truth!
May God truly bless you in your walk with Him.
And remember, God always answers His kneemail.
