Get into ‘the booth’ this Christmas

[notice]A monthly column by farmer, preacher and writer  for Jesus, Angus Buchan[/notice]

At the moment we are so aware of the shortage of time.  As I write this column, it is nearing the end of another year. It is Christmas time.  I want to encourage you to take time out to not only “smell the roses”, but to spend quality and quantity time with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is so inspiring to see the reverence that the Jewish people have for God.  We really need to spend more time in the presence of God. Every year, Israel remembers what God did for them during the time of the great exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land.  To this day, the people of Israel celebrate this time called the Feast of the Tabernacles. They have a national holiday for seven days, where they build small dwelling places in their homes, on the sidewalks, on their verandas and even in their shops. They call these dwellings “a Succoth” (a booth).  They enter these little places and spend time remembering how God was so faithful to their forefathers for forty years in the desert. When God took them out of Egypt, they walked, yet their clothes did not wear out, neither did the soles of their shoes.  I have been to that desert, and I can tell you as a farmer, there is nothing that can live there, but by the grace of God, their animals did not die either.

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At this Christmas time, we need to take time out to have good quiet times with the Lord.  We need to pray more and complain less. We need to stop trying to tell our children and our loved ones how to live (especially if they are not interested in listening to us) and rather spend time in our “booth” and call upon the Lord.

I believe that the only thing that is keeping Israel alive at the moment, is their faith and trust in Jehovah. There is no logical reason why that small country (which is smaller than the Kruger National Park) should still exist with the might of the whole Arab world literally around them. It is because they continue to call upon their God (our God) and we need to do exactly the same.  We need to spend more time in prayer for our children, for our spouses, for our companies, our work places, our farms and God will undertake for us.

He says in Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV), “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, of which you do not know.” So in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, let us not fail to give Jesus the first fruits of our time every single morning. Jesus is a morning person.  It is in the morning that He went up the mountain to speak with His Father. It is in the morning that you and I need to call upon Him.

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May God bless you over this Christmas time when we remember that we have received the greatest gift that our Father God could give us, His very own Son.  May we not take it for granted. I am so optimistic about the future of our nation.  2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV), “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 

God bless

Angus Buchan