And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruits of the land, which thou, Jehovah, hast given me. And thou shalt set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship before Jehovah thy God.
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And thou shalt rejoice in all the good that Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in thy midst.
In Deuteronomy 26 a farmer carries his first crops to God and retells how God brought his family out of Egypt. He worships, and only then comes the command to be glad — with the Levite and the sojourner glad beside him.
Just before this, the worshipper had called his father "a wandering Aramean" and his people slaves. That memory does not dampen the joy of this verse. It feeds it.
The worshipper said out loud that God had done everything for him. This is how he presented himself. This acknowledgment was due to God, since Israel was indeed there through His faithful sustaining grace. If he had not come as an unconditional debtor to God's grace, he would have failed to recognise his true position. Is it then that he forgot his own wretchedness? No. But he was in it no longer, and it served to exalt the greatness of his deliverance. … All this applies in spirit to the Christian. He was the slave of Satan, and miserable in himself. God looked with compassion on his affliction and delivered him with "a mighty hand."
The command covers "all the good" God has given. That word "all" is deliberate.
"And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you." Yes, there is nothing He has given us that He would hold us back from enjoying. We can never accept too openly, or enjoy too fully, the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus. This joy opens the heart, it does not shut it up in selfishness and indifference.
The verse never lets the Israelite celebrate alone. The command names the Levite and the sojourner too.
They were to enjoy them with God. So notice that here the spirit of grace shows itself at once: "you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you." No one can truly rejoice in the blessing of God before Him without the spirit of grace being present. That means returning blessing for cursing, knowing that God has called us to inherit His blessing.
Each name stands for someone with no land of his own to harvest. That is why they stand beside a man holding a basket of his own crops.
The spiritual Israelite is not only to rejoice in every good thing which the LORD his God has given him. He is also to remember the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. That is, the one who has no portion on earth and gives himself fully to the Lord's work; and the one who has no home, the one who has no natural protector, and the one who has no support on earth. It must always be so. The rich tide of grace rolls down from the heart of God and fills our hearts to overflowing. As it overflows, it refreshes and gladdens our whole sphere of action.
Praise comes first. Kindness to others follows it, and does not replace it.
Worship gets the first, the highest place. Let us never forget this. In our wisdom or our sentimentality, we might imagine that doing good to people — usefulness, charity work — is the highest thing. But it is not so. "Whoever offers praise glorifies Me." God inhabits the praises of His people. He delights to surround Himself with hearts filled to overflowing with a sense of His goodness, His greatness and His glory.
A heart that counts up what God has given has no room left for complaints.
Such worship would involve rejoicing in all the good things the Lord had given (v.11). How right and true an attitude this is for every believer today. This spirit of worship and rejoicing would banish every complaint. God knows how we need to remember His great goodness in all the way He deals with us.
- Remember — the joy starts by confessing where you came from. The memory of slavery does not spoil the gladness; it "served to exalt the greatness of his deliverance."
- Receive — "all the good" means all of it. There is "nothing He has given us that He would hold us back from enjoying."
- Overflow — real joy "opens the heart, it does not shut it up in selfishness." The tide of grace fills you, then spills over into everything around you.
- Reach — the Levite and the sojourner name the person with no portion, no home, no protector, no support. The command names them; it does not add them as an afterthought.
- Order — praise first, then good works. Worship "gets the first, the highest place." Generosity follows praise; it never replaces it.