There is something unusual in God’s instructions for the Feast of Tabernacles. He does not simply tell Israel how to build temporary shelters or how long the Feast should last. He does not only tell His people to remember how He provided for them in the wilderness. He tells them to rejoice:
“You shall rejoice in your feast”
Deuteronomy 16:14
What strikes me about those words is what God does not say. He does not say, Rejoice when every prayer has been answered. He does not say, Rejoice when your family has no problems, when the future is certain, or when you finally understand what I am doing. He simply tells His people to rejoice, and that can be much harder than it sounds.
All of us carry unfinished things.
There are prayers we have prayed for a long time, people we love whose situations have not changed, decisions we still do not know how to make, and questions about the future that remain unanswered. When something has been weighing on our hearts for a long time, it can slowly begin to occupy our whole field of vision. We see what is missing. We see what has not changed. We see the answer that has not yet come.
The Feast of Tabernacles interrupts that way of living. Sukkot was given to Israel as a time to stop, gather, remember, give thanks, and rejoice before God. For seven days, ordinary work was interrupted so that God’s people could remember something they were always in danger of forgetting: the God who provided for us before is still with us now.
That truth is being lived out across Israel again today. Temporary shelters called sukkot are standing on balconies, in gardens, beside apartment buildings, and sometimes wherever a family can find enough space. My own family has one six floors above the city. We sit beneath its branches, share meals, pray, and look out over the lights below. The sukkah itself is temporary, but the faithfulness of God is not.
Perhaps that is one reason joy belongs so naturally to this Feast.
Biblical joy is not pretending that everything is fine. It is not denying grief, disappointment, uncertainty, or unanswered prayer. It is remembering that our circumstances are not the only evidence we have of God’s goodness.
Sometimes we simply need to look again. There is still breath in our lungs. There are still people God has placed around us. There are prayers He has already answered that we once thought we would be praying forever. There are mercies we have become so accustomed to receiving that we hardly notice them anymore. And for those of us who belong to Jesus, there is a hope that does not depend upon whether this particular week goes the way we hoped. That gives us reason to rejoice even while some chapters remain unfinished.
But there is another beautiful part of God’s command that we should not miss. When He tells Israel to rejoice, He immediately begins naming other people: “You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter… the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates.” God’s picture of joy has a wide table.
The blessing He has given us is not meant to end with us.
If God has encouraged us, perhaps there is someone we can encourage. If He has provided for us, perhaps there is someone with whom we can share. If He has given us a place of belonging, perhaps there is someone standing outside the circle who needs to be invited in. So the question of Sukkot is not only, What has God given me? It is also, Who can experience some of His goodness through me?
You may never have sat inside a sukkah. You may be thousands of miles from Israel as Jewish families celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles this week. But you do not need a sukkah to practice what God was teaching His people. Perhaps there is still something unresolved in your life today. Bring it to Him. Keep praying, keep trusting, and keep asking—but while you wait, look again.
Remember what He has already done. Notice what He has already given. Thank Him for the people He has placed around you, and then look for someone who needs some of the encouragement, generosity, or joy God has given you. We do not have to wait for every answer before we rejoice in the One who has been faithful all along.
“You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter… the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates.”
Deuteronomy 16:14
Chag Sukkot Sameach—Happy Feast of Tabernacles,
Pastor Israel Pochtar