Does your schedule reflect that God is central to your life, or do you try to fit Him into whatever time remains?
Key Verse
“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me.” — Exodus 23:14 (NASB)
Background Context
YHWH has been teaching Israel how His people should live. Exodus 23:1–9 focused on truth and justice. Now the instructions turn toward the rhythms of Israel’s life.
God establishes a seventh-year rest for the land, reinforces the seventh-day Sabbath, and identifies three annual pilgrimage festivals: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering.
These weren’t merely breaks from work. God was teaching Israel to organize its work, rest, worship, and calendar around Him.
(Continued and expanded after scripture.)
The Sabbath and Land
10“You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, 11but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12“Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves. 13“Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
Three National Feasts
14“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. 15“You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 16“Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
18“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning.
19“You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the LORD your God.
“You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.
Reflection on Exodus 23:10-19
The passage begins with the land itself. Israel could sow and harvest for six years, but during the seventh year the land was to rest. What grew naturally was available particularly for the needy and even the animals.
Following that command required trust.
Leaving productive land uncultivated could easily feel wasteful. Israel had to believe that obedience to YHWH was more important than squeezing every possible bit of production from what He had given them.
Then God returns to the weekly Sabbath:
“Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor.”
The Sabbath had already been established clearly in Exodus 20 as the seventh day, rooted in God’s own pattern at creation. Here God highlights another benefit: rest was not only for the landowner. The ox and donkey rested, and servants and foreigners were refreshed.
God’s rhythm of life restrained the endless demand for more work and more production.
Then YHWH turns to Israel’s annual calendar. Three times each year the men of Israel were to appear before Him at His appointed festivals.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread reminded them of their deliverance from Egypt. The Feast of Harvest acknowledged God as the source of the firstfruits of their labor. The Feast of Ingathering celebrated His provision at the completion of the agricultural year.
Notice what God was doing.
Week after week, year after year, He was building reminders of Himself into the lives of His people.
Israel could not simply say, We believe in YHWH, while structuring life exactly like the nations around them. Their calendar itself testified that they belonged to Him.
That challenges us because our lives can easily become organized around everything except God. Work has its place. School has its place. Vacations, appointments, sports, entertainment, projects, and countless responsibilities all claim space on our calendars. Then we sometimes try to fit God into whatever remains.
God’s pattern points in the opposite direction.
We should build our lives around Him rather than trying to build Him into our lives.
That does not mean every moment is spent in a religious activity. Israel still worked six days. They planted fields, raised families, conducted business, and lived ordinary lives. But God established rhythms that repeatedly interrupted ordinary life and redirected their attention toward Him.
Those interruptions also reminded Israel that their prosperity ultimately came from YHWH. They could work diligently, but crops still depended upon God’s provision. They could harvest faithfully, but the firstfruits belonged to Him.
The same is true for us. We should work diligently and steward what God gives us well, but we should never become so consumed with the gifts that we forget the Giver.
A life centered on God doesn’t merely give Him leftover time. It allows Him to shape the rhythm of everything else.
Application
- Examine your schedule and priorities honestly: does God receive deliberate priority, or mostly whatever time remains?
- Honor God’s pattern of work and rest rather than allowing productivity to become your master.
- Build regular reminders of God’s faithfulness into your life so that His past provision is not forgotten.
- Receive your work, possessions, and provision gratefully while remembering that everything ultimately comes from YHWH.
Closing Prayer
Father, help me build my life around You rather than trying to fit You around everything else. Teach me to work faithfully, rest according to Your wisdom, and regularly remember all You have done for me. Guard me from becoming so consumed with responsibilities, productivity, or possessions that I forget the One who provides them. May the way I use my time demonstrate that You are not merely part of my life, but the One around whom my life is centered. In Yeshua’s name, Amen.
May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you.
John Golda
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