07/25/2024 – Count the Days
Leviticus 23: 15 “From that Sunday morning (the day you bring the sheaf to be presented to God), count seven weeks. 16 On the Sunday following the seventh week (that is, 50 days later), you will bring a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 On that day bring two loaves of bread from your homes. That bread will be lifted up to show it was offered to God. Use yeast and 16 cups of flour to make those loaves of bread. That will be your gift to the Lord from your first harvest.”
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Every adult can recall the excitement they experienced as a child when they were given a desirable promise by their parents. Maybe it was a trip to the beach, or the country. Perhaps a much-requested toy. Our excitement was so overwhelming that our parents would often resist the temptation of letting us know. They preferred to keep it a secret until the very day, lest we would drive them absolutely insane. Without prompting, we would count the days. Some of us still do that now.
But God does not keep His promises a secret. He encourages us to count the days! God commanded the people of the Old Covenant to count the days to Pentecost. Starting on resurrection Sunday, every male would count out loud every day until Pentecost Sunday. I am not sure they realized the greatness of that promise. In the Old Covenant, on Pentecost Sunday the people celebrated a ritual that was symbolic of our reality.
God wants you to anticipate the fullness of His blessing, and to live every day in the expectation and the awareness that you are one day closer to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the fulfillment of your ministry, the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to live in this hope. We are to count our days with the promises of God as our reference points!