On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
Leviticus 23:40
Yesterday I wrote about the tents of Sukkot. Today I want to address another aspects of the festival. God commands that this week be a week of rejoicing. In fact, today this last day is called Simchat Torah (the Rejoicing of the Torah). The Torah Scrolls are brought out and there is great dancing and rejoicing. It was fun to witness this last year in Jerusalem.
There arises a problem, however: what happens when you don’t feel like rejoicing? Does God give a pass on that? Does God want us to rejoice only when we feel like it? How can we possibly rejoice when there’s no joy? Life is full of good times and bad times. Does God only expect our praise when things are good? The Apostle Paul puts it this way: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) Being joyful is a choice. We cannot always choose our situations, but we can choose how we respond to them.
But why should we respond joyfully when things are bad? For one, we need to count our blessings. God has blessed us. And even if that wasn’t the case, he has still blessed us by his love and mercy and forgiveness. And if that isn’t enough, we should rejoice simply because he is so awesome. He is worthy of all our praise regardless of the circumstances. He owes us nothing. We do not deserve the multitude of blessings he has given us. I think the prophet Habakkuk understood that when he wrote:
Though the fig tree does not bud
Habakkuk 3:17-18
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
In spite of the threat of losing everything (not just personally, but nationally), he chose to praise our Savior and Lord. Will you?
