God Always Had A Party In Mind

In my reading today, I was struck the following verse from the story of Creation:

Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. (Genesis 1:14 HCSB)

God has always had celebration on His mind. When He breathed the stars into existence and placed the Sun and Moon in the canopy of the heavens, He did so, in part, to serve as "signs for festivals (read: worshipful celebrations)". A part of day four of the creation of the universe was dedicated to party-planning. This points to God's eternal purpose for humanity - we are designed to worship. It is written in the heavens as a divine appointment for all people to worship our Creator God.

Additionally, this serves as a reminder of what worship should look like: not drab or dreary. Instead, the idea of "festival" should be always in the from of our minds as we come together to praise God. Does this mean worship isn't serious business or that we don't deal with life and death issues in worship? Not at all. Worship is the most serious endeavor of the human heart, but it doesn't have to be somber in order to be serious.

Our God is a celebrating God. He rejoices in the presence of the angels when a sinner repents (Luke 15). Should we not rejoice in His presence for the ability to repent and the gift of redemption? Let's party in the presence of God this week...the Sun Moon and stars all say it's time.