Acknowledging God In The Harvest Festival

Today is our harvest festival. It’s the time of year when we formally thank God for the harvest.

I’d like to tell you a couple of little stories as a lead in to the subject of thanking God.

The first story is about Christmas when I was a child. A pile of presents would build up under the Christmas tree. I and my brothers would poke around, wondering what they were. Then, the big day! We’d go to church on Christmas morning and after we got home, we’d open the presents. And very soon after that, my dad would make sure that I and my brothers wrote thank you letters. What a pain! But my dad knew that it was important to say thank you.

In a similar way, we MUST thank God. It’s the right thing to do.

The second story is about Daniel [our son]. I remember that when Daniel was quite young, I gave him a Star Wars video game. At first, he was afraid of it. But it wasn’t long before he was really enjoying it.

In a similar way, we have to grasp what a gift is to appreciate it. When God created the world, Genesis tells us repeatedly, ‘And God saw that it was good.’ God didn’t just ‘see’ the universe he’d created. He saw with his comprehension. He grasped that it was good.

I hope those illustrations help us to understand what we’re doing at harvest festival. We formally say thank you to God. And we reflect on God’s gifts to us. We try to see them for what they are, see that they’re good.

The Bible gives us lots to think about in connection with celebrating harvest. It suggests answers to why, what, when and how. It would be interesting to look at what the Bible says about all of those questions. But we don’t have unlimited time so I’m going to focus on the why question. I’ll offer a few brief thoughts on the other questions. And then, we’ll take a look at what David thought of God’s provision.

WHY?

Why should we thank God for the harvest?

We might think, ‘Food grows by itself. A farmer harvests it. He sells it to Kellogg’s. They turn it into cornflakes. They sell it to Tesco. We buy it. Why should we thank God for it?’

There are three big reasons. First, God is the giver. Second, God desires that we acknowledge him. Third, God commands us to observe a harvest festival.

Is God the giver? The Bible doesn’t deny that there is a process of food production and distribution. But the Bible tells us that God created the world and assigned various plants and trees for food. That the world and everything it produces belong to God. That God cares for the land. That God sends rain and sunshine.

God doesn’t drive the combine harvester. But God is the ultimate provider of the food we eat. It’s because of God that we have food on our tables.

Let me go on to the second point. If I was to ask you, ‘What does God desire?’ what would you say? God once told the prophet Hosea the answer to that question. He told Hosea: ‘For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD RATHER THAN BURNT OFFERINGS’ [Hosea 6:6].

God told Hosea that he desired two things. One of them was ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD. Acknowledging God is REALLY important! Lots of good things come to us when we acknowledge God, but I don’t want to talk about them now. The main thing is that we understand that God really wants us to acknowledge him. We can’t treat God as though he doesn’t exist and doesn’t have anything to do with us. Thanking God comes under the heading of acknowledging God.

Let’s go on to the third point. God COMMANDS us to observe a harvest festival.

Normal courtesy requires that we thank people who give us a gift and normal courtesy requires that we thank God for the harvest.

But thanking God for the harvest isn’t just a matter of courtesy. God COMMANDED the ancient Israelites to observe a festival for the harvest.

Perhaps 3,300 years ago, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. God sent Moses to free them. The Israelites left Egypt on their way to Canaan. Somewhere along the way, God told them this:

‘You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labour, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labour’ [Exodus 23:16].

God said, ‘You SHALL keep the Feast of Harvest.’ ‘Shall’ is an imperative. It’s a command. God didn’t say, ‘Keep the Feast of Harvest IF YOU CAN.’ Or, ‘Keep the Feast of Harvest IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT.’ God gave those ancient Israelites a command. ‘YOU SHALL.’