10/02/2026
21 TISHREI 5787 | OCTOBER 2, 2026
HOSHANA RABBAH | SUKKOT DAY 7
HAGGAI 2:1â9
WHAT IF WHAT YOU ARE CALLING âLESSâ IS SIMPLY UNFINISHED?
That question sits differently today.
Because today is 21 Tishrei.
The seventh day of Sukkot.
And on this exact biblical date, God spoke through Haggai:
âIn the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the LORD cameâŠâ
âHaggai 2:1 NKJV
The people were rebuilding after exile.
And rebuilding carries its own tension:
YOU REMEMBER WHAT STOOD THERE BEFORE.
Some remembered the former Temple.
They knew what had been lost.
So when they looked at what was being built now, comparison came naturally.
God knew it.
âWho is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now?â
âHaggai 2:3 NKJV
God did not argue with what they could see.
He addressed what they were concluding from it.
Because something can look different without being outside the purposes of God.
Something can appear diminished without God being absent.
Something can be unfinished without being insignificant.
So God tells them:
âBe strong⊠and work; for I am with youâŠâ
âMy Spirit remains among you; do not fear!â
âHaggai 2:4â5 NKJV
There it is.
Not:
LOOK HOW IMPRESSIVE THIS IS.
But:
I AM WITH YOU.
That is a different kind of evidence.
And look at when God gives them this word:
DURING SUKKOT.
For seven days Israel dwells beneath a temporary shelter.
Not a fortress.
Not a permanent house.
A sukkah.
The feast itself reminds them that their security was never the walls around them.
God sustained Israel in the wilderness before they had permanent homes.
God filled Solomonâs magnificent Temple with His glory.
And God remained with the generation rebuilding after exile.
The surroundings changed.
HE DID NOT.
That exposes something in us.
We like visible confirmation.
Growth we can measure.
Provision we can count.
Progress we can recognize.
We like circumstances that seem to confirm what we believe God said.
And when today does not resemble yesterday, we can start wondering whether God is still in it.
But yesterday can become its own measuring stick.
Yesterday may truly have been God.
Yesterday may have carried His glory.
But that does not mean today must look like yesterday for God to still be present.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO MAKE A FORMER MOVE OF GOD THE MEASURE FOR EVERY MOVE THAT FOLLOWS.
Do not demand that the next chapter resemble the last one before you will call Him faithful.
And do not give something an ending while God is still revealing it.
Haggaiâs generation was staring at the middle.
God was speaking beyond it.
âThe glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the formerâŠâ
âAnd in this place I will give peace.â
âHaggai 2:9 NKJV
THEIR EYES COULD REPORT WHAT WAS THERE.
THEIR EYES COULD NOT TELL THEM EVERYTHING GOD WOULD DO WITH IT.
But Sukkot confronts us from another direction too.
Haggai confronts what they could SEE.
Hoshana Rabbah confronts what they already HAD.
This was harvest season.
Provision had been gathered.
Hands had been filled.
Yet the cry still rose:
HOSHA NA.
SAVE, PLEASE.
Why cry out to God when your hands are already full?
Because full hands do not make us self-sufficient.
Todayâs harvest cannot command tomorrowâs rain.
Yesterdayâs provision cannot become todayâs Source.
BLESSING CANNOT CARRY THE WEIGHT OF GOD.
Then during Sukkot Jesus stands and says:
âIf anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.â
âJohn 7:37 NKJV
What a statement during a feast celebrating harvest and provision.
YOU CAN HAVE SOMETHING IN YOUR HANDS AND STILL BE EMPTY AND THIRSTY.
You can have shelter and still need a Refuge.
You can have harvest and still need the Source.
You can have sacred structure and still need His Presence.
You can remember yesterdayâs glory and still need to recognize God today.
John tells us Jesus was speaking about the Spirit.
And now the pieces come together.
The sukkah exposes false security.
Hoshana Rabbah exposes self-sufficiency.
Haggai exposes comparison.
Jesus exposes the deeper thirst.
And every road leads beyond what God gives usâ
BACK TO GOD HIMSELF.
Not merely what He built.
Not merely what He supplied.
Not merely what He did before.
HIM.
That is what I do not want to miss as this week closes.
The sukkah will come down.
The harvest will eventually be consumed.
The season will change.
And what God is building may still look unfinished.
I want to remember that temporary things were never meant to carry the weight of proving God's faithfulness.
His Word remains.
His Spirit remains.
His Presence remains.
So before calling something less because it looks differentâŠ
Before calling something dead because it looks unfinishedâŠ
Before assuming God has left because the evidence changedâŠ
Remember what He said on 21 Tishrei:
âI AM WITH YOU.â
Maybe the most important thing we carry out of the sukkah is not certainty about what comes next.
Maybe it is confidence about WHO GOES WITH US.