time to Celebrate, Grateful People Celebrate

Time to Celebrate

The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.—Exodus 15:2

The most grateful persons I know are those who have been through great hardships. The Pilgrims of 1620 and origins of our modern Thanksgiving holiday serve as one example. During the first winter on America’s shores, they lost ½ of their party. As they faced a second winter, grateful for having survived another year, they prepared for the hard, cold winter with a celebration of rejoicing and thanksgiving.

The children of Israel, spent over 400 years in Egypt. In the beginning they experienced blessing and favor. The final years, however, consisted of hardship and cruel forced labor. God finally delivered them from Egyptian enslavement through Moses’ leadership. They fled to freedom in the wilderness only to have Pharaoh change his mind and pursue them with his army.

In Exodus 15, they praised God for delivering them from their enemies. God parted the Red Sea, and the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. The sea flowed back onto the Egyptians and drowned them all. Their enemies were defeated, and they were finally free. They sang this song of celebration, “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him” (vss. 1-2).

Considering the many opportunities we have to rejoice, give thanks, and celebrate, I am reminded how simplistic our rejoicing can be. For those of us who have lived life with few struggles, thanksgiving becomes an exercise in trying to consider what we should be thankful for. Those who suffer from great challenges, immediately know what to be thankful for.

Looking through the scriptures, one might be a bit shocked at the things the people of God rejoiced about. In Acts 5, after being arrested, threatened to never teach again in the Name of Jesus, and flogged, the Apostles rejoiced, “because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (vs. 41). 

Paul, the missionary evangelist, late coming Apostle, and human author of half of the New Testament, asked the Lord to remove from his life, a physical impairment, a thorn in the flesh. The Lord did not deliver him, but told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul responded by saying, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

One of the greatest reasons to rejoice and celebrate is for salvation. Through Jesus Christ, because of His sinless life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection, we have been accepted, forgiven, and made children of God. Jesus taught, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).

What struggles have you faced this past year? You may rejoice in the many ways God has sustained you. Celebrate the victories God has wrought in your life. And most of all, rejoice and celebrate that God loves you and included you when He said, “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Today is a good time to celebrate.

Randy Bain is the Senior Pastor of Oakland UM Church at 1504 Bedford Street, Johnstown, PA 15902. You may reach him through the church website www.oaklandonline.org.