Deuteronomy 14:26

In the Old Testament, God instructed the Israelites to bring a tithe — roughly a tenth of their harvest — to Jerusalem each year as an act of worship and communal celebration. But if someone lived too far away to carry all those goods, this verse offers a practical alternative: sell the goods for silver, travel to the place God chose, and spend the money on whatever you want — including wine and strong drink — and eat it in the presence of the Lord your God. This might surprise readers who assume God is fundamentally anti-pleasure. The Israelites were not merely permitted to feast; they were commanded to. The phrase 'and rejoice' is not an afterthought — it is the whole point of the gathering.

Father, I don't always think of joy as worship. Thank you for being a God who throws feasts, who designed pleasure, and who commanded your people to eat and drink and rejoice before you. Help me receive the good things in my life with open hands and a grateful heart — not guilt. Amen.

If you grew up in a tradition where faith felt like a long list of things you couldn't do, this verse might stop you cold. God told his people to take their tithe money — funds explicitly set apart for worship — and spend it on steak and wine and whatever else made them glad. Then eat it in front of him. On purpose. As worship. There's a version of faith that's all seriousness, all sacrifice, all restraint — and sometimes that's exactly right and necessary. But that's not the whole picture. God built feasting, joy, and abundance into the rhythms of worship from the very beginning. He didn't grudgingly permit celebration; he designed it. What would it do to your faith if you took seriously the idea that delight — real, warm, embodied human joy — is sometimes the most honest response to who God is? The celebration isn't a break from worship. It is worship.