As the long name of today's field study implies, we visited plenty of locations today. Destinations included the Valley of Elah (where David and Goliath squared off -- Picture #1), Tel Azeka, Bet-Guvren with it's amphitheater (think "Gladiator" -- Picture #2...Tony the Gladiator), Mareshah (with it's columbarium, olive press and tombs -- can anyone tell me what a coumbarium is without looking it up on google? Let me know if you need me to post a picture for a hint), Lachish, Ashkelon (with a dip in the Mediterranean Sea -- Picture #3), a drive past Nahal Zin (the "Grand Canyon" of the Negev) and ending up in Makhtesh Ramon (on the very edge of a canyon 24 miles long, 3 miles wide with a cliff that drops 1500 feet -- Picture #4) where we will spend the night in the local Youth Hostel.
The variety of this land that we saw just in this one day is stunning. I was told that Israel is comparable in size to the state of New Jersey -- it isn't very big. Yet, the diversity of this country is astounding. We moved from the hard limestone rock of the mountains that Jerusalem is built upon down to the much more fertile ground in the valleys of the shephelah (the approaches to the valleys and ridges that can bring you up to the mountain cities) over to the coastal plains where crops grow well and the Mediterranean Sea provides both a cool breeze and a place to swim then south-east to the Negev where the land is parched and the wind howls. Just a short distance east to west or north to south can make a huge difference.
This travel through the various regions today helped me understand more and more some of the decisions and actions in the Bible. The land shapes the story so much. After baking in Jerusalem for over a week, spending time in Ashkelon right on the Mediterranean Sea was a very welcome relief. Why anyone would choose to live up on the hot mountain ridges instead of the fertile and refreshing coastal plains where life would be so much easier was always a bit of a mystery to me. But it makes sense when we see that the main and really only good way to travel between the power of Egypt to the south and Assyria and Babylon to the North was right along this coastal highway. These super powers would regularly make their way through this coastal region in need of food, men and women for their soldiers -- and they didn't ask politely, they just took what they wanted. I can understand why the clan of Dan left behind the coastal land that had been granted them and went up to the mountains instead. A more difficult life is worth it if it means my vicious neighbors to the north and south won't steal my food and destroy my family.
I was also struck at how life really wasn't easy in any of these places. Dr. Paul Wright mentioned last night that God designed this land as a test of faith. I'm beginning to understand a bit of what that means. Whether is it is the land that is often difficult to manage or the temperatures that are so hot in the summer or the rainfall that is absent 4-5 months or the difficulty of traveling from one place to another or the reality of neighboring cities/countries who are always a threat to steal your crops, destroy your city and kill your family...nothing was easy. We enjoyed a refreshing hour swimming in the sea. That is a luxury that most people throughout the history of this land probably didn't get to enjoy. Living here would have been a true test of faith.
And it still is today. The coastal city of Ashkelon was for us an escape for a few moments from the harshness of the land and the pace of the class. But, that was also the place where we had to get our lesson on what to do should the alarm go off alerting us to a shell being lobbed in from neighboring Gaza Strip to the south. It was just a reminder, along with the prison for Palestinians which we drove by, that this still isn't an easy land. It is a test of faith for those who live here in so many ways.
It makes me appreciate my American and West Michigan home so much. Instead of being a land designed to test my faith, it is a land that offers me so much blessing. The peace and freedoms I have known all of my life are astounding. And it is such a rich land that even I can grow a garden! But I wonder how my faith would be different if the circumstances of life around me were a constant test of faith? How would my relationship with God be different if I depended on him for my food because I wasn't sure the land was going to grow enough food for my family this year? How would my relationship with God be different if I wasn't sure that I had enough water in my cistern to last me until the next rainfall 3 months out? How would my relationship with God be different if I had to trust him to protect me from my neighbors who at any moment could siege my city or lob a shell in hopes of my destruction?
I'm not asking God to make my life more difficult, but it seems like my faith would, out of necessity, be so much deeper if it was. Perhaps I can learn that lesson without having to face the daily test of faith of survival. My lesson today is to learn to thank God for his daily provision and to take nothing for granted or trust in my own ability, but to trust him completely for every blessing that comes my way. If I can't learn to live that way in the good times, then I can assume that God, in his tough love, will design life to test my faith. Either way, I will trust in him.
(By the way...I would love to put the captions under each picture as some of you requested but I can't figure out how. If any of you have worked with blogger and can let me know how, that would be great.)
The variety of this land that we saw just in this one day is stunning. I was told that Israel is comparable in size to the state of New Jersey -- it isn't very big. Yet, the diversity of this country is astounding. We moved from the hard limestone rock of the mountains that Jerusalem is built upon down to the much more fertile ground in the valleys of the shephelah (the approaches to the valleys and ridges that can bring you up to the mountain cities) over to the coastal plains where crops grow well and the Mediterranean Sea provides both a cool breeze and a place to swim then south-east to the Negev where the land is parched and the wind howls. Just a short distance east to west or north to south can make a huge difference.
This travel through the various regions today helped me understand more and more some of the decisions and actions in the Bible. The land shapes the story so much. After baking in Jerusalem for over a week, spending time in Ashkelon right on the Mediterranean Sea was a very welcome relief. Why anyone would choose to live up on the hot mountain ridges instead of the fertile and refreshing coastal plains where life would be so much easier was always a bit of a mystery to me. But it makes sense when we see that the main and really only good way to travel between the power of Egypt to the south and Assyria and Babylon to the North was right along this coastal highway. These super powers would regularly make their way through this coastal region in need of food, men and women for their soldiers -- and they didn't ask politely, they just took what they wanted. I can understand why the clan of Dan left behind the coastal land that had been granted them and went up to the mountains instead. A more difficult life is worth it if it means my vicious neighbors to the north and south won't steal my food and destroy my family.
I was also struck at how life really wasn't easy in any of these places. Dr. Paul Wright mentioned last night that God designed this land as a test of faith. I'm beginning to understand a bit of what that means. Whether is it is the land that is often difficult to manage or the temperatures that are so hot in the summer or the rainfall that is absent 4-5 months or the difficulty of traveling from one place to another or the reality of neighboring cities/countries who are always a threat to steal your crops, destroy your city and kill your family...nothing was easy. We enjoyed a refreshing hour swimming in the sea. That is a luxury that most people throughout the history of this land probably didn't get to enjoy. Living here would have been a true test of faith.
And it still is today. The coastal city of Ashkelon was for us an escape for a few moments from the harshness of the land and the pace of the class. But, that was also the place where we had to get our lesson on what to do should the alarm go off alerting us to a shell being lobbed in from neighboring Gaza Strip to the south. It was just a reminder, along with the prison for Palestinians which we drove by, that this still isn't an easy land. It is a test of faith for those who live here in so many ways.
It makes me appreciate my American and West Michigan home so much. Instead of being a land designed to test my faith, it is a land that offers me so much blessing. The peace and freedoms I have known all of my life are astounding. And it is such a rich land that even I can grow a garden! But I wonder how my faith would be different if the circumstances of life around me were a constant test of faith? How would my relationship with God be different if I depended on him for my food because I wasn't sure the land was going to grow enough food for my family this year? How would my relationship with God be different if I wasn't sure that I had enough water in my cistern to last me until the next rainfall 3 months out? How would my relationship with God be different if I had to trust him to protect me from my neighbors who at any moment could siege my city or lob a shell in hopes of my destruction?
I'm not asking God to make my life more difficult, but it seems like my faith would, out of necessity, be so much deeper if it was. Perhaps I can learn that lesson without having to face the daily test of faith of survival. My lesson today is to learn to thank God for his daily provision and to take nothing for granted or trust in my own ability, but to trust him completely for every blessing that comes my way. If I can't learn to live that way in the good times, then I can assume that God, in his tough love, will design life to test my faith. Either way, I will trust in him.
(By the way...I would love to put the captions under each picture as some of you requested but I can't figure out how. If any of you have worked with blogger and can let me know how, that would be great.)
No comments:
Post a Comment