Until now my focus has been on JOY and being JOYOUS at the Feast of Tabernacles (FOT) every year, which is very good, most eagerly anticipated and welcomed as it should be, because God says repeatedly to REJOICE at His Feast. For reference please go to Leviticus 23:40 and Deuteronomy 16:14. It would be a fair statement to make that we all look forward to the annual celebration of the FOT and are pleased to REJOICE with others of like mind. REJOICEMENT will certainly be on the agenda again this year and every time the Feast is kept. However, from this year onwards there will also be another focus included, something along the lines of a sub theme, as it were. Why so?

While listening to a sermon last Sabbath four words caught my attention from Deuteronomy 14:26 and in this scripture I found myself wanting to focus more deeply on its meaning. REJOICING will still be the primary focus with and amongst God’s people, and added to this expectation will be “whatever your heart desires”. This may sound like quite a huge concept to imagine all the possibilities, yet we realise these desires should line up with principles from the Bible due to being led by God’s Holy Spirit.

The act of being JOYFUL is an attitude we choose to adopt as the WHAT of our experience whilst participating or engaging in conversation, interactions, or during activities with others while at the Feast. We can also REJOICE with God in prayer as we share our experiences from the Feast, even though He sees all and knows all — to begin and end our day in prayers of grateful and thankful delight builds our relationship with our Creator. Our Father wants to hear “all about it” to share in this REJOICING — after all, He gave us all these blessings so that we can REJOICE.

ENJOYING whatever our heart desires may look quite different for each one of us. Certain things such as food and drink is something we would all have in common even though our tastes are quite varied. Some may desire a goodly proportion of their funds spent on delicious foods as a JOYOUS treat while fine dining for 8 days as this is not ordinarily done for the rest of the year. Others may focus moreso on living in splendid temporary dwellings.

The thing we all need to be aware of is this...what does our heart truly desire? Fancy things for yourself such as luxurious living and expensive restaurants? Strong drink? We need to stay somewhere temporarily during the FOT period so we have a choice to make. We need to eat and drink daily and this gives many opportunities for further choices to be made. God is certainly watching our choices to see what we choose, what is truly in our hearts. This does not mean we deny ourselves by giving all our Festival tithe away — but could we be unbalanced in our decisions? Have you ever thought about being more balanced in this respect when it comes to “whatever your heart desires?”

For example...perhaps we have not had any trials during a FOT and things have gone really well because you have made wise choices. I cannot say that myself for every Feast attended. The two times I thought more about myself rather than others I had such an internal inner struggle with my human nature and found myself far from being JOYFUL. With the wisdom of hindsight I learned a lot about myself, others, and how God allows certain things to happen to test us, to see what is truly in our hearts, and thankfully He does, because we need to progress and grow in character.

Suffice to say I needed to learn two big lessons...quite surprising at the time as I had no idea I was so weak in these areas — but one thing I did learn, and that was that the enemy can use our strengths as well as our weaknesses against us. Something I was not aware of before. The devil wants us unbalanced and unhinged from making wise choices so that we make poor decisions based on our needs exclusively without considering others. It may not seem very important at the time where and how we spend our tithe but it is! Imagine our physical fathers giving us a considerable sum of money and then saying “You can buy whatever you like but you must spend it all within 8 days”. As a child we would buy things that would not be good for ourselves such as lots of lollies or candy. Perhaps we would get toys and things that would not last very long? Would we share any of our gain with our brothers or sisters or would we selfishly keep it all for ourselves? We know God’s way is the way of give and the devil’s way is the way of get.

As we develop spiritually and experience all these tests and trials hopefully we can learn that there are many amongst us who need a little help, or even bigger help to attend the Feast of Tabernacles. So many are elderly, on pensions, have health trials that affect accommodation needs and so forth. Are we thinking of others? Do we even know our brothers and sisters well enough to help them in ways that could be beneficial and make such a difference in being able to attend the FOT?

Perhaps while we are deciding on where to attend for future Feasts, we could add this into our planning phase and save part of our tithe for others who have genuine needs. Maybe we could set aside a tithe of the tithe for this very purpose? We could give directly to them, or if preferred, it can even be anonymous as we place some funds into a card/envelope that could be dropped into their bag. They wouldn’t even know who it came from. This is what happened to me one year when I needed an exact amount in order to live during the first week back home after the Feast. I kept the worry out of my mind during the Feast of how I would pay for necessities such as food, petrol and things of this nature, however as the FOT almost ended I had thoughts creep in of what would I do and how would I live? On The Last Great Day someone very kindly gave me what was left over from their second tithe. I will never forget it because the money was exactly the amount I had in mind to be able to afford to live until I could go back to work again and receive my salary. Back then I was a single parent and I felt the enormity of being responsible for my family, affording what was needed, and not touching any of this Festival tithe for after the Feast.

God knew my thoughts and I marvelled at this as I didn’t want to bother Him. I know better now that this is not bothering Him but including Him which is how it should be — open and honest communication. By giving me this specific dollar amount Father got my attention in a big way and this was another step in building my faith and trust that all would be well if I was obedient in using my second tithe how it should be used — wisely!

So can we be sensitive to the needs of others as we take the time and effort in getting to know the circumstances of our spiritual family? All those at home or in hospital who are ill could be blessed by using some of our Festival tithe for a JOYFUL blessing such as a gift with card whether delivered in person or popped in the post. Our brothers and sisters need our support and love in their incredibly difficult time of need. If we are willing, let us offer what we determine from our hearts...transport to the Feast and/or at the Feast, an invitation out to dinner, a soft toy and written words of encouragement to a youngster doing it tough in hospital for many weeks, a financial boost to a pensioner so that they can go to the Feast and afford meals out — and you can fill in the blank by providing any assistance you know of.

We need to develop our JOY more by giving. While God watches what we do with our free will and what our attitudes focus on, bring a positive perspective to ensure that everyone can REJOICE and ENJOY this Festival heartily before the LORD our God who is so full of JOY. This should be whatever our heart desires. Let our unity produce an abundance of JOYFUL activity in the myriad of ways possible between ourselves to show our loving Father and our Saviour that we are indeed becoming more like them through allowing their Spirit to lead us by loving one another, not just in thought and word, but in deed as well. The last word is REJOICE (Philippians 4:4).