Fifty days after the exodus from Egypt, God spoke to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) is the Biblical feast which celebrates this giving of the law on Mount Sinai. God’s intent in delivering them from Egypt was that they could hear His voice, they could be His people, and He could dwell among them in a real relationship (Ex. 19:5-6).
During the 50 days between the exodus from Egypt (Passover) and the time at Mount Sinai, God was working on their hearts to prepare them to hear His voice and be in a true relationship with Him. These important days are described in Ex. 15:22 through Ex. 17. In Deut. 8:3 God says He was humbling them and feeding them manna that He could make them understand that man does not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God. They saw the miracles that delivered them out of Egypt, but God still needed to remove Egypt from their hearts. Knowing there is a God is different than having a faith that changes our hearts and impacts our lives. God wanted to teach them to hear and live by His voice with trust and thankfulness instead of grumbling (Ex. 15:24-26).
This simple but powerful spiritual formula was to create faith in God’s Word and receive what He wanted to give them. Shavuot is a unique feast because it does not happen on a specific calendar date, but God asked Israel to count seven Sabbaths from Passover and celebrate Shavuot on the next day. These days between Passover and Shavuot are referred to as the Counting of the Omer and it’s interesting that the amount of manna they were to collect each day was an Omer (Ex. 16:16, 36).
Is it possible that God asks us to count the days leading to Shavuot so that we can simply be aware each day of our response to His Word while experiencing life’s challenges? The spiritual principles God wanted to show the sons of Israel are true today. There is a difference in knowing there is a God and having a faith that impacts our lives and thoughts. The world is in a crisis of faith that allows people to be very influenced by the opinions of social media. Instead, we can have a living faith that is a daily personal experience of trust in God and produces thoughts and actions based on God’s word.
Today as in the days of the wilderness, God will allow us to face challenges in our lives to do good for us in the end (Deut. 8:16). During these times we have a choice. We can complain and harden our hearts (Ps. 95:6-8), or we can be diligent to read, hear, and remember God’s word and His promises. Filling our hearts with His word in a state of trust and thankfulness will create the faith in our hearts to receive all the blessings He wants to give us (II Pet. 1:3-4). At Mount Sinai and again 2000 years ago at Pentecost, this Feast of Weeks marked the beginning of God changing an age through His people.
Announcements: We are very pleased with our 2026 Solidarity Tour which is blessing Israel in many ways. We have posted videos taken during this tour so that each of you can see and enjoy the tour. We have been invited to visit a church in Albania on June 8 through June 11 and ask for prayer that the time there is both led and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Finally, please continue to pray for Israel and for our ability to safely bring many Christians from around the world to come and have a life changing tour of Israel.