Lev. 23
I looked up the word, “convocation”. It is a formal assembly, or a calling together of people for a specific purpose. I looked it up because God declared His appointed times as holy convocations. It seems to me that God has appointed times throughout the human timeline. These times are related to His great redemptive plan for the world and are represented by these various days and feasts He appointed for the Israelites. Each one of these times is a major implementation of His plan. And with each one, He gathers together His growing remnant before sending them out again to continue working His plan.
It’s sort of like the team huddle at time outs and between segments of a sports competition. God first called together a family, from which He made a nation. He then gathered that nation, from which He brought a Savior. He called a small group of people to that Savior, then sent them out to start calling together His Church from all nations. And at His final appointed time, when the victory is won, He will assemble all of those who are His, forever weeding out all who don’t belong. It will be a holy convocation.
Ps. 30
David, through His Psalms, was often Jesus’ mouthpiece. I can hear Jesus singing this Psalm on that morning when He stepped out of the tomb, praising God for answering His prayer. “To You, O LORD, I called, and to the Lord I made supplication: ‘What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?’” (Ps. 30:8-9a). Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t for nothing. His blood covers all of our sins because God brought Him out of that grave.
Ecc. 6
My take from all the Preacher’s rantings is that there is no point in living this life if we don’t recognize it as the gift from God that it is. In the end, we gain nothing from pursing anything in this life. This includes pursuing enjoyment itself, since even enjoyment comes from God. When we pursue God alone, it is He who allows us to enjoy His good gift to us. He gives it substance, He gives it meaning, and if there is anything good to come after our earthly lives are done (and we know that there is because He tells us so), it also comes through Him.