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Can you tell me the names of the things I’m about to show you? Let’s give it a try. Call it out when you know.

(Powerpoints: Star Kist, Starburst, Starsky & Hutch, Starbucks, The Lone

Star State, Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargazer lily, Peter Quill a.k.a. ‘Starlord’)

And what is it they all have in common? STARS!

One of the requirements of an authentic sukkah, is that the top isn’t solid. Ideally, it’s just a frame with slats across it, in order to rest leafy branches on top. And the idea is, from within the sukkah, you are supposed to be able to see the night sky. As Rabbi Jerry told us, Sukkot is an experience for all the senses, and gazing up into the beautiful night sky should give us a sense of awe and wonder.

More than that, looking into the night sky tells us something about the One who created it all, and when we come to know who He is and what He is like, we are greatly comforted.

The world is in a huge mess. Nations are warring against nations. The capacity for human reasoning and logic is quickly vanishing, replaced by a toxic combination of anxiety, suspicion and hatred. Also disappearing before our eyes is people’s willingness to have polite and substantive dialogue. There seems to be a societal zero-tolerance policy of disagreement. If you hold another view, you are canceled from that person’s life. It is vicious, and it is heartbreaking.

God’s people have a choice about how we will respond. The temptation is to disengage entirely from society, and write it off. That would not only be a tactical mistake (after all, how can you share the Good News with unbelievers if you’re never in the company of unbelievers?), but it would be a sin. It would be a sin of hardening our hearts, and a sin of not seeking to win the lost.

Since responding in-kind with contempt isn’t an option, how do we cope with so much hatred and ridicule directed at us? There are many things Scripture tells us about enduring rejection with grace and poise and forgiveness. This morning, I’d like to focus on just one, and that is taking comfort in our Creator Himself. And Sukkot offers us a way of drawing close to Him and, in the process, becoming stronger in our faith, more patient in our demeanor, and more optimistic about the future. From that vantage point of strength, we can afford to give grace and offer the Good News.

Psalm 19, I think, is a good starting point.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world (Psalm 19:1-4).

The modern world affords us a standard of living unimagined in the ancient world. We have so many conveniences; there is so much that we take for granted, like hot baths in the comfort of our homes, microwave ovens, wall-mounted screens, wi-fi and all kinds of providers of entertainment.

You know what we don’t have (at least, not very many of us)… an unobstructed view of the night sky. Cities are plagued at night with ‘light pollution’. On a clear night you might see a handful of the larger stars like Vega, Sirius, Arcturus or Alpha Centauri, but that’s about it.

There are places you can go if you want to see the true night sky, such as a desert region where the skies are usually clear, and which are many miles from a city. During our Southwest road trip in May, we stayed at a tent site in Utah. It had been clear skies for days, and all that day… until about 6pm when the clouds rolled in and decided to remain all night. So much for that plan. Of course, you can always visit one of the International Dark Sky Parks. There’s one just outside of Mackinac City. We hope to include that next year when we go up north for our anniversary.

The night sky, silent and stunning in beauty, according to this Psalm, speaks loudly of the power, majesty and artistry of the Creator. There are things that have to be pointed out to us, and there are things that patently obvious. The heavens are one of those obvious things. The constellations in our own galaxy, all moving, not randomly, but according to mathematically precise physical laws that can be discerned and measured, help us understand the passage of time, and of seasons.

It cries out “This isn’t randomness! There is an all-powerful and wise Designer!”

Adonai spoke through the Prophet Isaiah, saying,

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in… “To whom then will you liken Me, that I would be his equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:21-22, 25-26)

There are approximately 200 billion trillion stars in the observed universe, give or take 2 or 3. And as we have just read in Isaiah 40, He calls each one by name. And while the vastness of the universe can make us feel small and insignificant, the fact is, the Creator of it all has regard for you.

King David marveled at that fact, and went on to express it so beautifully, writing in Psalm 8 (1, 3-5):

O Lord, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens!

But then went on to say,

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers – the moon and the stars You set in place – what are mere mortals that You should think about them, human beings that You should care for them? Yet You made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor!

What an amazing thing to realize: that the One who summoned the vast cosmos into existence, actually thinks about us, and cares for us. It is hard for our limited and sin-stained intellects even to comprehend an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-present, holy and infinite Being; much less to fathom how He could love us, as messed up as we are. But He does. And because His knowledge is infinite, it means He is fully aware of our circumstances, our needs, the obstacles we face, our hopes… even our thoughts!

Psalm 113, which we read earlier this morning, is another comforting reminder. Look again at verses 4-7.

The Lord is high above the nations, His glory is higher than the heavens. Who can be compared with the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high? He stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap…

What comfort we can take in that knowledge. Adonai isn’t just infinitely powerful and wise, but He is infinitely good, and kind and compassionate. He sees all the injustice, the wickedness, the deceitfulness and cruelty. And He has compassion for those who are the victims of that cruelty. There is coming very soon a Day of Reckoning, and all the evildoers will receive just and precise payback. But in the meantime, we still languish in a once beautiful and now broken world.

No one knows more intimately and experientially just how cruel the world can be than Messiah Yeshua – Jesus Himself. He grieved the lostness of mankind, and willingly lay down His life in order that our sins might be taken away, and we be cleansed, forgiven, and reconciled to the Lord God of Heaven. And we have been born again to this living hope. And we have a glorious eternity to look forward to, which makes the sojourning in the wilderness of this world much more bearable.

Messiah Yeshua, the One who existed in celestial glory before time even existed, and who came to earth on a rescue mission for our sake, and who rose from the dead and ascended back into His eternal glory, told us in no uncertain terms,

“Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So when the insanity of the world starts to get to you, dear friends, let me recommend that you do what we are doing during Sukkot. Look up. Take solace from the sky, knowing that it isn’t the result of randomness, but was created and set in motion by the same infinitely powerful, infinitely loving and compassionate God, who genuinely cares about you. And know that He has your well-being in mind, and is preparing you for the World-To-Come, where we who love Him and have embraced His Son, Yeshua, will dwell under His sukkah forever.

Brothers and sisters, you really are in good hands with Adonai.