In our study through Kings, we encounter God’s people not really caring about God at all, being either indifferent or sometimes outright ‘anti’.
Jeremiah 2 talks about God being grieved by His people turning to useless self-made gods:
…my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,”
declares the Lord.
13 “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. NIV
God is deeply saddened – after He has done so much for them, has called to them, shown them His love, they still don’t count on him, don’t trust him, don’t turn to him!
This is why regular remembering is so important – it was for Israel, establishing all the festive remembrance days every year, such as the Passover Feast and many others. It was designed to stop them in their tracks, to encourage them to reflect on God’s walk with them, and to thankfully turn back to him, the loving Father, to thank him for it.
It is important to us, too, and for the same reason: our church calendar allows us to refresh our awareness of God’s faithfulness. It aids our spiritual formation and maturity, and it centres on Jesus! Starting with Advent, anticipating his arrival, we celebrate his birth on Christmas, remember his 40 days of fasting in the wilderness (Lent), remember his carrying our sin to the cross on Good Friday, and his victory over death on Easter Sunday. We carry on through Pentecost, where we remember his Spirit being poured out over his followers, as we trust his presence throughout the year.
As we follow this ‘church calendar’, it also connects us with the world-wide church: millions of Christians all over the world unite in worshiping God for who He is and what He has done for us. He is that ‘living water’ that we want to turn to again and again:
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” NIV
