Thanksgiving Built on Repentance (Harvest Thanksgiving Service)

When the harvest was gathered in, the people of Israel built booths and lived in them. Yet just before this feast of thanksgiving comes the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting on which they were to deny themselves.

Before the joy of the harvest, a clean heart was required. Even after his victories, David kept examining himself and repenting. When Peter’s nets were so full of fish that they began to break, he did not give thanks but fell down and said, “I am a sinful man.” A vessel that is unclean cannot fully receive and enjoy the grace poured into it.

Repentance means leaving the place of sin, and thanksgiving fills that emptied place with grace once more. There is no Feast of Tabernacles without the Day of Atonement, and in the same way true thanksgiving grows deeper whenever it is built on repentance. It was in repentance that David received victory and Peter received a new calling.