Why God Leads Us Into the Wilderness | Lessons From the Feast of Tabernacles

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: This is so critically important. It touches me so much because I'm so dependent on God. And it's not a virtue that I have; it's something that God made me because He brought me into the wilderness. There's a Hebrew word called dveikut, and it means clinging. We cling to God.
Dustin Roberts: Sometimes God allows us to enter the wilderness so that we can discover what we're really depending on. Welcome to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. I'm Dustin Roberts, and today Rabbi and I are going to sit down together outdoors under a sukkah, and we're going to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. We're going to talk about why God uses difficult seasons to humble us, test us, and ultimately draw us closer to Him. I love this season, and I love learning about the holy days. It's really changed my faith. And now without further ado, join Rabbi and myself under the sukkah.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Dustin, so good to be sitting under the sukkah with you again. I love it. I love this time of year. I love the fall. I love what the sukkah represents.
Dustin Roberts: It's just such a special time of year. It's a time to connect with God, to tabernacle with Him in a special way.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It's such a joyous time of the year. I mean, it really is a time of great happiness. We're going to get into that as we talk, but it's the way that Christians think about Christmas. For Jews, this is the happy time of year.
Dustin Roberts: Now for people who may not know, Rabbi, what is a sukkah and what's needed to have one? Does it have to look like this? Ours is decorated and looks nice, but sometimes they're just very simple boxes.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: This is really typical. Most sukkahs will be decorated with natural types of foliage, like you see on our roof, and different agricultural fruits and so on. But they're temporary shelters, and they remind us of how the children of Israel, for 40 years when they were in the wilderness, when they came out of Egypt and were journeying towards the Promised Land—it took them 40 years from the time they left Egypt to the time they entered the Promised Land. All those 40 years, Dustin, they were in the wilderness and they were living in these temporary shelters. We build these to remind ourselves of how we lived in temporary shelters for 40 years in the wilderness wanderings.
Dustin Roberts: And this isn't just something Jewish people made up; this is actually something God commanded in the Torah, celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, to make a sukkah and to dwell in it for seven days during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yes, very much so. And so when you think about that, you ask yourself, "Why would the Lord want the children of Israel to every year stop their everyday schedule to build these outdoor structures?" There's a number of principles and concepts that we think about when we each year go and dwell in the sukkah.
Dustin Roberts: What is the first concept that comes to mind that we should be thinking about at this time of year, or in our walk with God?
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The first thing for me—and I actually have a real personal experience with this in my own life—is I think about the fact that when the children of Israel were in the wilderness those 40 years, they had nothing but God. Can you imagine every day waking up and you didn't know where the meal was going to come from? You didn't know where the water was going to come from. You had no protection. They were absolutely 100 percent dependent on God. To me, every year it's a time to go back and revisit that and to consider the fact that at the end of the day, we might tend to lean on things in the world, but at the end of the day, we have nothing but God. It's going to be most evident when we lay down and take our last breath before leaving this planet. What will we have but God for the hope into the next world?
Dustin Roberts: When you think about being in the wilderness, that's exactly what you're saying. They complained about the water—"Moses, where's the water coming from?"—and then they're like, "Where is the food coming from?" God rains down manna. Why do you think God brought Israel through a wilderness season in the first place?
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The Scriptures are really specific. In fact, one of my favorite portions of Scripture in regards to these lessons that we learn from celebrating Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, every year and spending time inside a sukkah like we're doing today, is Deuteronomy. In Hebrew, Deuteronomy is called Devarim. Chapter eight gives us so much information about the principles that we can derive from Sukkot. All these holy days that the Lord gave us—whether it's Passover, whether it's Sukkot, whether it's Pentecost—all these holy days in the Torah have application for Christians today. We need to dig deep and study them because Jesus said salvation's from the Jews. Jesus never anticipated that Christians would think, "Oh, we're done with the Old Testament because we have Jesus now." Jesus was saying, "What are you talking about? I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it." And he said everyone that teaches the principles from the law and the prophets in Matthew chapter five will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. These are really important truths that oftentimes Christians don't have an opportunity to hear because many pastors weren't blessed to have the education about the Jewish roots of their faith.
Dustin Roberts: And it's not just hearing it, but when you start to incorporate it, it becomes bigger. When you start to celebrate these holidays and things like being under a sukkah, you can't be in this atmosphere and not change what you're thinking about. When you incorporate these things—the principles of these holidays and the principles of the Old Testament today—it elevates your relationship with Christ to a whole other level.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It totally does. You were saying, "Why would the Lord have had them in a situation where they were dependent on nothing but Him?" The Lord actually led them in the wilderness. Before I answer from the Torah, I just want to wet our appetite. Think about Jesus, Yeshua. As soon as He was baptized at the Jordan River and the Lord spoke and said, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased"—which it's interesting, Dustin, because the people around heard, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased," but the Scripture also says that Jesus heard the Father speak and Jesus heard the Father say, "You are my beloved son, and in you I'm well pleased." As soon as that happened, the Spirit of the living God led Yeshua into the wilderness for a time of 40 days and 40 nights, picking up from Israel that was in the wilderness for 40 years. So there's a tie-in there. Let's look at Deuteronomy eight. There's so much information here. Dustin, do you want to read that first?
Dustin Roberts: Yes, chapter eight, verse number two. "You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years, just like you said, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: This is so critically important. It touches me so much because I'm so dependent on God. And it's not a virtue that I have; it's something that God made me because He brought me into the wilderness. There's a Hebrew word called dveikut, and it means clinging. We cling to God. Israel had to cling to God. That's what the Lord was saying. He was humbling you that you would learn to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Where else could they go?
Dustin Roberts: They didn't have another option. They were in the wilderness. They couldn't pick berries off of a vine or fruit from a tree. There was no land to cultivate. They didn't have any other option but to rely on God for survival.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: That could be a lesson for some of you right now, beloved ones. You might be going through a really difficult time right now, and it's really hard. But consider this: it may be the Lord Himself that's in this difficult time with you. Maybe He even led you into this difficult time to break you of all self-reliance so that you would learn to trust in Him alone.
Dustin Roberts: You're listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider, and he'll be right back. But first, did you know that this program is available in Hebrew, Russian, and Spanish? If you know somebody who speaks one of these languages, now's your chance to share the blessing. To access the language version that's right for them, just go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com and click the watch/listen tab, and choose an available alternate language channel right there. "Go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation." We take that command very seriously. Through our online media platforms, TV, radio, and overseas festivals, we're sharing the truth of the gospel with people of all different nations, tribes, and tongues. And if the Lord has put a burden on your heart to support us, would you please give financially today at discoveringthejewishjesus.com? And now back to the second half of today's lesson.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It's important when we go into the wilderness in our life, when we go into these wilderness experiences, it's important to thank God in the midst of those experiences, recognizing that we need a bigger mindset. We can't just judge what we're going through because of the temporary thing that we're experiencing. There's a bigger picture that's going on. God might be doing something that's extremely valuable in your life and in eternity that is being birthed in you and through you by bringing you through this difficult experience.
Dustin Roberts: I don't think any of us really enjoy testing periods. It's really nice to know that the next thing I'm going to eat, this is where it's coming from. But there is something about connecting with God on a deeper level when you literally only can rely on Him. These testing periods in our lives, they bring us through. James talks about refining us and bringing us through trials, completing a perfect work, making us really what we're supposed to be in the kingdom, and that we couldn't be without it. Preparing us for the kingdom to come.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I'm going to get back to the text in just a second, but I can't resist sharing what I've shared a few times before, but something that the Lord recently revealed to me. I used the term "vision of the night," but it was even more than that because it wasn't just something that I saw; it was something that I was in and experienced. It was a horrific night I was having. It was one of those nights where I was being aggressively attacked by the powers of darkness in my sleep. It was harassment of spirits, antagonistic spirits. I don't even remember specifically what the dreams were, but I knew that I was under demonic attack. So I was going through this night, it was one after another. I realized again I was under attack, but that same night, I also had an incredible heavenly experience. Isn't it interesting that the heavenly encounter came in the midst of all the attack that was going on? What happened that ties into this verse where the Lord led them in the wilderness to do something in them, to humble them that He could elevate them—what happened to me in this experience, this encounter, Dustin, was I found myself in this mountain of clouds. I could see it was a mountain from the outside, but I was inside the mountain. I was inside this mountain of clouds. I started off close to the bottom of the mountain, towards the base of the mountain, and the clouds were not like glory clouds. They were the clouds that you would experience on a dismal rainy day where there's no sun coming through. I'm in this mountain covered in clouds. I'm covered over with clouds, no light in there, no sun in there, just like a grayish, thick presence. And I'm sitting in this chair. Again I started at the base of the mountain, and I'm sitting in this chair in the mountain and the chair keeps going "eek, eek, eek." And every time it went this way, it also went up. "Eek, eek, eek." It was like hard metal, like being inside—
Dustin Roberts: Jerking you.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Jerking me, and it was a hard metal, hard movement. But every time it went "eek," it brought me up a notch. Finally, this is going on and I had no idea what was going on. I get about two-thirds the way up inside the mountain of clouds, and all of a sudden the clouds cleared above me. And I looked up and I could see up through the top of the mountain. And when I looked up, Dustin, it was beautiful blue.
Dustin Roberts: Kind of like there's light at the end of the tunnel.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yes, it was just beautiful blue. But then all of a sudden, the clouds came again. I'm covered with clouds, I'm still in the chair, the chair's going "eek." Next thing, I go from two-thirds up the mountain to 85 percent of the way up approximately inside the mountain towards the top, higher. Then the clouds cleared again. When the clouds cleared again this time, the blue was so full of pigment. It was so rich, it was so lovely, that I just wanted to be out the top of that mountain into the blue. But then the clouds came again. And I was in that chair just praying that the clouds would part again. I was focused towards out the mountain—"Lord, let me get through the top into the blue." But then the dream ended. And I woke up and I thought, "Wow, that was cool. I wish I would have gone up through the blue." I really started thinking about it. I am encouraged, I thought, that I went from the bottom of the mountain over the course of time to all the way up to about 85 percent to the top. Here's where I wanted to go with it and the reason I brought it up. Because when we look at this experience in the wilderness, Israel was in that wilderness for 40 years. That's a long time. But you know what? They were being changed in the wilderness. The Lord was bringing them through those testings, those trials, to elevate them so that they could be in a position to receive the Promised Land and be blessed. And so for me, as I think about that encounter in the night that I had, I feel like the Lord was saying to me, "I've brought you through so many hard times, but every time I've brought you through a testing, every time I've brought you through a trial, every time I've brought you through a difficult experience, it was hard just like that chair, but it elevated you up. And now you're 85 percent up the mountain and soon you're going to be released into my glory." That's why the Lord brought them through the wilderness.
Dustin Roberts: It's kind of like what you go through to get there. If you don't learn that lesson when you get there, you can't stay there. You have to really be able to walk in what God's tested you in when you're in the Promised Land, because if they didn't walk in it, Deuteronomy tells us they would lose it. So God was preparing them so they actually could walk in the promises that He had for them.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Kind of reminds me, Dustin, of people sometimes that win the lottery. They've never developed financial stability, or sometimes maybe there's not a character that gives them the ability to live stably. They get all that, but what happens? A lot of times it's gone. Let's take a look at the verses and take them apart a little bit. Why are we in the sukkah? Well, in Deuteronomy eight, we find out why the Lord had them in the wilderness for 40 years, why they were living in these temporary structures, why the Lord told Israel, "I want you to build the sukkah every year and go back and live in it and remember, and learn these lessons and keep growing." So it begins in verse number two. He says to Israel, "You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years." I think the first thing that comes to mind is a lot of people don't want to face reality about life. Life is about trials. Most people you ask them how they're doing, they don't tell you about their trials.
Dustin Roberts: No, they want to say what life is good. They want to go to their Facebook page. Blue skies, sandy beaches, great vacation.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It's a good reality check for us. Remember, life's not about vacations. God had His children in the wilderness for 40 years for a reason. So let's get real with each other. Then the Lord continues on, "that He might humble you." So what do you think about when you think about humbling?
Dustin Roberts: Well, that's what I think about when you're in the wilderness and I think about that you're there, it is humbling to know that you can't take care of yourself. It's almost childlike faith that has to exist. I have a son and he can hardly sit up on his own, and if I'm not there to watch him, if he falls down, he could get hurt. He's not like an adult, and we like to feel like we're in control in life. I think there's something about the wilderness and being humbled that lets us know we're really not in control.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Absolutely. Even with my wife, sometimes the times I feel most connected is when I'm going through a hard time because I so much just appreciate Cynthia during those times—her comforting spirit, her love, her nurture, who she is. And yet sometimes when things are going well or I'm busy or whatever, I crave, "I wish I was feeling more dependent on Cynthia because I love that feeling of connectedness." It's kind of like what the Lord said to Paul when Paul received a thorn in the flesh, some type of messenger of Satan in the book of Corinthians, and Paul prayed to the Lord, "Take it away," and God said, "No, my power will be perfected in your weakness." Amen. So then Paul would go on to say, "When I'm weak, His power is strong in me." Oh, I love it! "That He might humble you and testing you to know what was in your heart." Isn't that really what happens when we're in a test and we're in a hard situation? We find out really what's inside of us. But it's a conundrum because the Lord knows what's in our heart, but we don't know what's in our heart. A test reveals really it's kind of like proof. Here's the proof in the pudding. You really find out what's really going on when you're tested. A beautiful part about this, too, is that when we think of a test, a lot of times we think of, "Oh, did I pass or fail?" back at school. "There's a test coming up on Friday. Will I pass, will I fail, will I get an A, will I get a D, whatever?" I got a lot of Ds until I went to Bible school, then I started getting As.
Dustin Roberts: You were interested in the subject.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: But a test biblically is not just about passing or failing. A test brings us to the next level. A test is a difficult thing that the Lord brings us through in order to promote us. It's like you were quoting about James, the trials that God brings us through, the testings to refine our faith like gold. Amen. So, some people pray for tests. I'm not a fan of praying for tests. I'm not one that's like, "Lord, test me." But I like to pray, "Lord, take me to the next level in You." But tests feel kind of scary. I don't know that anyone likes to be humbled, but I guess it's really good when we can step back in moments like this in a sukkah and really realize whether we think we're in control or not, we're not. And we really do need to rely on God. Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles—it was also a harvest time, one of the greatest harvest times of the year. And it was called the Feast of Ingathering. Beloved, we are doing something so special with your help at Discovering the Jewish Jesus. It is absolutely mind-blowing. The Lord gave me in this ministry the domain name Jews.com. You can go check it out for yourself. We are reaching Israel and the world. God has given us a direct pipeline now to reach Jewish people with Jews.com, and we're spreading the message of Yeshua all over the earth. The Feast of Tabernacles is one of the three times of year that God called Israel to come to Jerusalem and present a special offering to Him. We read about it in Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 16. I want to ask you, in light of what we're doing, would you help us make a difference by sowing a special financial offering to the Lord during this time of year through Discovering the Jewish Jesus? Your support is going to go a long way for reaching souls.
Dustin Roberts: Amen. If you'd like to support the work that God is doing through Discovering the Jewish Jesus with a special holy days offering, you can give securely at discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. That's 800-777-7835. Your gift helps this ministry to bring the gospel to Jewish people in Israel and also share God's word with listeners all around the world. Speaking of God's word, we have something very important mentioned in Scripture happening right now. This week we're celebrating Sukkot. That's the Feast of Tabernacles. Sukkot began at sunset Friday, September 25th, and it continues through nightfall Friday, October 2nd. During this appointed time, we remember how God cared for Israel in the wilderness as His people lived in temporary shelters, just like we talked about in today's message.