Most of the leaves have fallen from the tree branches. The late root vegetables are done. The busy-ness of going to the Feast of Tabernacles and then getting caught up again is past. There is still plenty to do. There’s always plenty to do. But there’s a slower pace to the days. There’s more time spent sitting in front of the fire, more time spent on projects that were put away last spring when we really got busy. There’s more time to think, more time to reflect, more time to consider.
That’s good. One of the things which works against an ever-increasing intimacy with our Lord and Savior is the craziness, the busy-ness in which we engage ourselves. It’s very good to sit and think and contemplate. It is not a coincidence that God tells us to celebrate the Feast at the end of the harvest. It is not just happenstance that we’re told to remember to thank God for what He has done, lest we somehow think that we’ve accomplished these blessings by our own efforts (Deuteronomy 8:11-20). And God, in His great mercy to us, makes it easy! It is natural, when the work is done, to celebrate. It’s a natural extension to celebrate and praise and honor the One who has made these blessings possible, Who gave us the strength and wisdom to accomplish the goal, the One Who blessed us in the first place.
But is that it?
Do we just thank God and then merrily go about our business, pouring over seed catalogs for the next planting season and drawing up plans for the next project?
Oh, I hope not!
I hope that we spend some time thinking about what God has taught us during this past season. I hope that we think, not only about new ways to improve our physical lives, but also concrete ways to draw closer to the One who blessed us. I hope we prioritize and get rid of activities which are not profitable for the kingdom. I hope we have learned, really learned, something this year - enough to have made a significant difference in our relationship with God!
I think that’s what Solomon did. He sat down and contemplated his life, what he’d done, the choices he made, the lessons he learned. At the end of it all, the wisest man (outside of Jesus Christ) determined this: fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man. Fear God. Reverence Him. Show Him respect and awe and unquestioning loyalty. And how do you do that? You do what He says. You obey Him. You keep His commandments. Those commandments are for your good. They help make life work smoothly. They are given to you by God for your benefit. And when you do what God says to do, you demonstrate your reverence and fear for Him.
So then, when you fear God and keep His commandments, you are doing your duty. . . . which makes you an unprofitable servant, according to Jesus (Luke 17:10). Fearing God and obeying Him is only what you’re supposed to do. Maybe we’d better spend some more time thinking about what it is that makes us profitable servants of our God.