In fall 2009, my world was crumbling.
And God gave me an oasis of joy.

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With only two weeks’ notice, I joined a group headed to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, or in Hebrew, Sukkot. Before the trip, I searched the Scriptures to learn the significance of this feast. I discovered amazing things.

Already, God had shown me: He still keeps the times of celebration he designated in Scripture, and he still invites his people to keep them too. In the Old Testament, God called the Jews to keep his appointed times according to the Mosaic Law. In Christ, the Father calls us to do so by the Spirit, who gives freedom, reveals the Word and teaches us all things.

Preparing to go to Jerusalem, I realized: The Spirit and the Word point to Sukkot as the Feast of Joy. Seeing that, I couldn’t conceive how I could experience it. Not then. I felt too beaten down.

Still, I asked the Lord for what he had promised. And he answered.

The joy he gave wasn’t a giddy – “really up, then really down” – feeling. Nor was it a “rose-colored glasses” view of life.

No, joy bubbled up deep within me, yet somehow undergirded me. It was, at once, bedrock and an underground spring.

It did not tell me to deny hardship, injustice or grief. In fact, by welcoming joy, I found I had new permission to feel sadness, anger and fear. And each time I did, after they were spent, the joy remained.

Indeed, the joy of that week lifted me and carried me through a very hard time.

Invitation to joy

Regarding Sukkot, we read:

This festival to the Lord will last for seven days. … The eighth day is another holy day on which you present your special gifts to the Lord (Lev. 23:34, 36 NLT).

Celebrate this festival to honor the Lord your God at the place he chooses … This festival will be a time of great joy for all (Deut. 16:15 NLT).

Our Lord has set aside a week plus a day every year to give his people a new infusion of joy!

As we trace Sukkot through Scripture, we see:

• Joy flowed as the Israelites remembered all the way God had led them.
• Joy flowed as they celebrated each new harvest he gave them.
• Joy flowed when Solomon dedicated the Temple, and God’s glory filled the house.
• Joy flowed when Zerubbabel and the returned exiles celebrated their first feast back in the land.
• Joy flowed when Haggai and Zechariah prophesied, and the people rose up to complete work they had left undone for so long.
• Joy flowed when Ezra read to the people from the Law, and they understood and embraced God’s ways.
• Joy flowed – and still flows – as God’s people rest in his impossible promises, including the Sukkot promise of Zechariah 14:16.
• Joy flows when people answer Jesus’ cry, “Come to me!” – and find living water streaming from within them.

Invitation to celebration

As I was invited to Jerusalem in 2009, I invite you to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles wherever you find yourself now.

I’ve published a post for each day of Sukkot. Each post focuses on Scripture related to the feast. Each explores an aspect of the joy this feast evokes.

• Day 1. The joy of God’s faithfulness in the wilderness and the harvest.
• Day 2. The joy of surrender to the Lord.
• Day 3. The joy of experiencing his Presence.
• Day 4. The joy of making a new start.
• Day 5. The joy of courageously following through.
• Day 6. The joy of welcoming God’s words.
• Day 7. The joy of embracing the Spirit’s indwelling.
• Day 8. The joy of resting in God’s promises.

The “appointed time” for Sukkot occurs within the months of September-October. In 2024, Sukkot begins the evening of Wednesday, October 16 and ends the evening of Wednesday, October 23.¹

Also, remember: In Christ, you have freedom to explore the feast or to celebrate it at whatever time, in whatever way and for however long he leads you.

As you meet him at the place and time of his choosing, may the Spirit and the Word guide you into true celebration with the Lord your God.

And oh, dear one! May he bless you with a new infusion of the joy that is at once bedrock and a bubbling, underground spring.

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Image © David Ohmer, flickr, Evening Light on Cedar Lake Fountain, CC 2.0

See also

• Celebrating God at his appointed times
• I will change your name

Footnotes

1. To find the dates of Sukkot for any given year, visit hebcal.com. ↩︎