One of the things I love about Sukkot is how many simple reminders of God’s faithfulness surround us during this Feast. We build the sukkah, we sit beneath its branches, we share meals together as families, and we remember something our people have needed to remember for thousands of years: everything we have ultimately comes from God.
In the video I am sharing with you this Shabbat, I take you inside our family sukkah and show you some of the traditions and symbols connected with the Feast of Tabernacles. Sukkot comes at the time of harvest, and you will see grapes, olives, pomegranates and other fruits that remind us of the abundance God has given. But these things are more than decorations. They tell us a story. The rain had to come. The soil had to produce. The trees had to bear fruit. People worked with their hands, but behind all of it was the provision of God.
And I believe this is something we need to remember more often.
It is very easy for us to look at what we have built, what we have earned or what we have accomplished and slowly forget how much of our lives depends upon things we could never provide for ourselves. Of course we should work. We should plan, be responsible and use wisely what God has given us. But who gave us the strength to work? Who opened the door? Who carried us through the season when we thought we could not continue? Who placed the right person in our path at exactly the right moment? Who gave us another morning?
Sukkot brings us back to a very simple truth: God is our Provider.
Our people had to learn this in the wilderness. They lived in temporary shelters. They had no fields to harvest, no permanent homes and no way of knowing what the next day would bring. And yet God provided for them. He gave them food. He gave them water. He led them through the wilderness, and His presence remained with them.
Thousands of years later, we still build these temporary shelters during Sukkot. We leave the comfort and security of our homes for a little while and sit beneath branches. And every time I think about this, it is almost as if the Lord is saying to us, Remember where your security really comes from.
I think this is a good question for each of us as we enter Shabbat: Where have I placed my security? Is it in what I have saved? Is it in what I own? Is it in my ability to control what happens next or in the plans I have made for tomorrow? There is nothing wrong with planning or preparing, but these things were never meant to carry the weight of our trust. Only God can do that.
Sometimes we are waiting for something extraordinary before we recognize the provision of God. We are waiting for the big miracle, the big answer, the big breakthrough. But when we look carefully, so much of His goodness comes to us in very ordinary ways: food on the table, a family member sitting beside us, work for our hands, a friend who calls at exactly the right moment, strength to get through another day, or an answered prayer that we have already forgotten we once prayed.
How easily we can become used to the blessings we once asked God to give us.
This is why gratitude and joy are so closely connected with Sukkot. Deuteronomy says:
“The Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.”
Deuteronomy 16:15
I love this. First we recognize the blessing, and then we rejoice in the One who gave it.
But maybe you are reading this and saying, “Pastor Israel, right now I don’t feel that I have abundance.” Maybe you are wondering how God will provide for something you need. Maybe there is a financial burden, a family situation, a health concern or simply an answer you have been waiting for and still have not received.
The sukkah does not promise us that we will always know how tomorrow will work out. Actually, it reminds us of exactly the opposite. Israel walked through the wilderness one day at a time. They had to learn that the God who provided yesterday could be trusted again tomorrow.
And dear friends, the same God is still faithful.
There is also something even greater in Sukkot. This Feast does not only cause us to look backward at what God has done; it points us forward. Sukkot has a prophetic message. Scripture points us toward the coming Kingdom of God, when the nations will worship the King. Everything around us that feels so permanent today is actually temporary, just like the sukkah. But His Kingdom is not temporary. His promises are not temporary. And in Yeshua we have the greatest assurance that God has not abandoned us and that everything He has promised will be fulfilled.
So as we enter Shabbat, I want to encourage you to do something very simple. Look again at what God has placed around you. Remember the ways He has carried you. Thank Him for the things that have become so ordinary that perhaps you hardly notice them anymore. And for those things you still need, those prayers that are still waiting for an answer, place them back into His hands.
The sukkah is temporary. The faithfulness of God is not.
May the Lord remind you this Shabbat that He is your Provider. May He open your eyes again to the goodness that is already around you, and may He give you peace for the things you cannot yet see. The God who was faithful yesterday and has carried you until today can still be trusted with tomorrow.
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sukkot Sameach from Israel,
Pastor Israel Pochtar
