Thank God the last of the living hostages have been reunited with their families! It’s right to celebrate and rejoice. At the same time, our people are dealing with ongoing grief and difficult questions that we can’t simply sweep under the rug.

A year ago, during a Jews for Jesus event in New York City, an Israeli told me, “I don’t see how people can believe in God after October 7.” I replied that I felt exactly the same way 30 years ago when I was serving with the Israeli military. Two of my close friends were killed—one was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Hamas. It was the darkest point of my life. And yet God reached through that darkness to give me hope that no one could ever take away.

Prayer Opens Us to Hope

I struggled to see how a good, all-powerful God could be at work in a world filled with hatred and war. After I was discharged, I fled to the US. I told myself that I was done with Israel, and I was done with being Jewish. If I heard people speaking Hebrew, I walked in the other direction.

I directed my pain, anger, and questions to God.

Eventually, I directed my pain, anger, and questions to God. It wasn’t the most polite prayer, but God answered it —through the kindness of believers I met and through the message of the New Testament, which I was finally willing to read. So here I am today, hoping in Jesus and offering that hope to others who are struggling with that same darkness and despair.

Attack on Hope

It’s been two years since Hamas invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 240 men, women, and children. It’s no coincidence that they chose to do this during Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. God commanded our people to celebrate this weeklong holiday with great joy (Leviticus 23:40; Deuteronomy 16:15). We were to remember and rejoice over God’s presence and provision during our wilderness wanderings. God wanted us to remember our past to help us hope in him for our future.

Hamas seized the opportunity to interrupt celebrations and inflict maximum pain and fear. It was an attack on the very hope of God’s promise to be with us. And if that weren’t enough, amid the horrors of the ongoing war, levels of antisemitism rose to shocking heights around the world. Many of our people are questioning God – and what it means to be Jewish–much the same way I did.

God’s Love Rekindles Hope

But in the midst of darkness and doubt, I am seeing more Jewish people searching for hope than I have seen in my entire lifetime. During the first three months of the war, we received more than 600 requests for free Hebrew New Testaments—nearly twice as many as usual. The requests continue coming in from a wide range of Israelis, including Rinat.

Rinat is one of many Israelis who has been moved by the continuous outpouring of love and support from Christians since October 7. In fact, she was so moved that she began to question her assumptions about Jesus. Rinat was excited when our missionary Liz called to follow up on her request for the New Testament. “Maybe Yeshua [Jesus] is the Messiah,” Rinat said, “and we just didn’t recognize him.”

God’s Word Provides Hope

So here we are, two years out from the October 7 attacks, as another Sukkot has just passed.  This same feast that was horrifically interrupted two years ago became the occasion for rejoicing over God’s provision and providence. The final day of the holiday saw the last 20 living hostages reunited with their families. I wish I could say that this looks like the end to war for Israel, but for the moment I think we are all grateful and relieved to have this breather. And while it’s hard to know what tomorrow may bring, one thing I know for certain:

God has promised that a day of peace for Israel and all nations will come.

Every Sukkot we read from Zechariah 14, which prophesies a battle with many nations attacking Jerusalem. In Jewish thought, Jerusalem refers not only to a geographic location but also to the Jewish people as a whole. The battle Zechariah predicts will inflict unprecedented fear and hopelessness—but then God will intervene. In the darkest moment of Israel’s history, “the Lord will go out and fight” (Zechariah 14:3). God’s victory will bring about restoration and, finally, lasting peace in the Middle East. And all the nations that once attacked Jerusalem will return to worship the Lord during Sukkot (Zechariah 14:16).

God promises that he is not done with our people nor with any of his creation.

I do not know how God will bring all this to pass. But I do know that God promises that he is not done with our people nor with any of his creation. At this moment in history, it would be easy for our joy to be short-lived and for us to become hostages to fear of what will happen next. But God can free our hearts to hope in the future he’s promised. And with that hope comes a joy that no one can take away.