We are social creatures! When we’re at a feast site where the atmosphere fosters worship, rejoicing, and fellowship in
community, it’s balm to our souls!! We totally “get” the imagery of dwelling in a dry and weary land; the richness of the Feast of Tabernacles is a vivid contrast to what’s back home.
But it doesn’t have to be that way! That is, it doesn’t have to be just once a year when we are rejuvenated! Every Sabbath we have the opportunity to come together in community worship and to feel God filling our souls again through worship, Bible study, and fellowship.
Additionally, in this age of instant communication, we should be intentional to stay in contact with new friends and long-time friends. We need each other. We need the encouragement and exhortation from each other - and all the more as we see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25). One song puts it this way: “We are pilgrims on a journey, fellow travelers on the road; we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.”
And here’s the kicker, you never know when a conversation will have a huge impact on someone, even if you deemed the words insignificant. Our great God knows exactly what we need, and, because He uses people sometimes to accomplish His goals, our chance encounters, conversations, and impulsive comments aren’t always as coincidental or unimportant as we might think. He can use each of us to “pour into” someone else His life-giving words.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem poignantly expresses this quite well:
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroken;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
The Feast of Tabernacles takes us out of our daily routines and environment. It eliminates the distractions of daily life. It immerses us in community, encouragement, peace, and love. It reminds us of the joy of fellowship. It gives us a taste of the family reunion to come - and leaves us hungering for more. Because you know how wonderful all of that is, you know it’s worth the effort it requires to taste it again and again in consistent small ways until we meet again next Feast.
P.S. Don’t be like cats: If cats could text you back, they wouldn’t.