““All your males are to appear three times a year before the Lord your God in the place He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one is to appear before the Lord empty-handed. Everyone must appear with a gift suited to his means, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.” (Deuteronomy 16:16–17, HCSB)
Moses reminded the men of Israel that they were to make the pilgrimage to worship before the Lord during the three major festivals. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was associated with Passover. Every year the Israelite people commemorated their deliverance by God’s power and grace. The other two festivals, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths, commemorated the harvest and God’s provisions.
Women and children would often accompany the men on the journey, but they were exempt because traveling was not always easy. Notice, that God emphasized that the men were to take the lead in worship before the Lord. Lest one thinks that God is misogynistic, it is helpful to note that God had given plenty of instructions on how men were to treat women. Jesus demonstrated God’s affection and honor of women frequently. Some of our Lord’s closest friends were women like Martha and Mary. Once, a group of men brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. This group was ready to stone her, but Jesus dealt graciously with her. One of the last things Jesus did before he died was to entrust the care of his own mother to a trusted disciple, named John.
Our culture has concluded that men are not important. We often hear that men, especially Christian men, are part of the problem. The truth is that real men who have answered the call to worship and serve God may be the one group, as a whole, that stands in the way of total disintegration of American society. Fatherless has been one of the key factors to the descent of American culture. When fathers are absent, there is a higher likelihood that children will drop out of school, become in violent, and live in poverty. Children without their fathers are more likely to become incarcerated. Our prisons and jails are full of men that grew up without their fathers in their homes.
God has a better plan. We want to help boys grow into men that understands what a man should be. We want to encourage men to demonstrate God’s model. We will not succeed if we ignore what God says about manhood. That’s why God calls men to come before him in worship
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