Nehemiah 8:15-16

“…..Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one of on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Ephraim.

Nehemiah 8:15b-16

After hearing God’s word read by Ezra, the people were instructed to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles also known as the Feast of Booths.

During the seven days of this feast, the Jews would live in booths made of branches and usually built them on the flat roofs of their houses.  It was a time for looking back and remembering the nation’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness when the people were homeless and lived in those temporary shelters.

Sometimes it is good to remember where I came from!  It keeps me humble and it keeps me hanging onto God and straying too far.

If we are not careful, we can get this false concept of ourselves.  But the fact is, without God’s hand on my life, I am a big zero! When I remember where I’ve been and who I was, it keeps me hanging onto the Lord each and every day!

Remembering all the Lord has done for me,

Pastor Rich Kikuchi