Trust God and Be Thankful.

“And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.” Ex 34:22

In Israel and throughout the world the Jewish people are celebrating “Shavuot” or as many of us know it in English as the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of the Ingathering at the turn of the year.

It is a wonderful time of remembering our dependence on God in everything in our lives. We bring back to God from the first fruits of what He gave us. We tell God that we are thankful for all that He has given us and that we know that He is our provider, the one who provides us with our daily bread.

I remember the wonderful times that we had in my Kibbutz during this time when everybody gathered together and the people from the different farms, factories, etc. brought and showed everybody the first fruit of their labor: the newest things that people had bought and, most exciting, the mothers with the new babies that where just born during that year.

It makes me think, how often do we stop and truly thank God for what He has given us. So often we as followers of the Messiah are spending much of our time worrying about the different things of life, we forget God and instead of trusting Him in all our ways (Prov 3:5-6) we focus on the “mountains of our lives” instead of looking at the one who can move the mountain from our lives.

Yeshua said in Matt 6:25 – 34 “For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?
“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
“And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span?
“And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.
“But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith?
“Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’
“For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We as followers of the Messiah are to celebrate our dependence of the Lord everyday of our lives. We are to stop our busy lives and acknowledge all the wonderful things that God has done in our lives, and is still doing and look forward for what He will do as we walk by faith day by day.

As we celebrate the Feast of First Fruits, we can’t forget God’s first fruit for us His followers. “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.” Psa 118:22.
Yeshua is our corner stone; He is the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2). He is God’s first fruit for us His followers.

Let us followers remember the way He has delivered us from the slavery of sin and let us rejoice in the new covenant that He has made with us, namely giving us a heart of flesh to replace the heart of stone. (Jer 31:31-34)