Deuteronomy 16:5-6 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the LORD your God gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.
Life is filled with rhythms, rhythms that we often overlook. We have just finished two rhythms, Christmas and New Years. Both of these are events were placed on the calendar by people. They aren’t connected to the movement of the moon, sun, planets, or stars. Jesus wasn’t even born in December! The shortest day of the year isn’t January 1st.
So why do we put things on our calendars and make such a big deal about them. We make resolutions, or at least we used to do that. We reevaluate our lives. We take stock in what we are accomplishing. But why do it around January 1st each year?
These patterns of life, like working five days and taking the weekends off, become part of the fabric of how we live. They help propel us through life. But we can miss out if we don’t take time to choose which rhythms we want in life and what meaning we ascribe to those events.
The Israelites had their events prescribed by the LORD as they were coming out of Egypt and as they were being established as a nation dedicated to the LORD. Their new rhythms were there to set them apart from their neighbors and to infuse meaning into their everyday existence. It wasn’t enough to go through the motions, they needed to reflect on the meaning of the events in order to live the kind of life that was pleasing to the LORD, and that led to the godly character.
Our text pinpoints a moment in time that was to be remembered every year, the moment when they left Egypt, the land of their bondage. They left as the sun was setting. They walked out of what they knew into a setting sun and an evening of uncertainty as they obeyed the LORD’s call for them to leave.
Do you remember moments in your life when the LORD spoke to you and called you to go out of the old life into a new life, one that wasn’t fully known! I know I do. In fact, I went back to Maastricht, Holland and stood on the street corner where I made that life decision. I saw the street light that shone over my shoulder.
I not only remember that moment, but commemorate it each year on May 31st. It has meaning to me, and by extension to my wife, kids, and grandkids. That moment changed the course of our history, just as much as the Exodus sunset did for Israel.
What dates have positive impact on your life? How do you celebrate them? What meaning have you brought to them, and what meaning flows out of them?
The Arnold Journey 