Good Morning to day 2 of our trek through Israel!
Lord, do a work in my heart as I remember where I have been with You! Teach me, I am listening.
First stop--Beth Shemesh (means House of Sun)
A little background about this place:
Beth Shemesh is on the via maris, the trade route and crossroads of all commerce
It was a Danite Territory
A Levitical town
Samson was here
Israelites did not drive out the Canaanites here as the Lord had commanded
The Israelites didn't want the ark of the covenant, the very thing that represented the glory of God! We could see with our very own eyes the road the never before yoked cows had walked on by themselves to Beth Shemesh with the ark and offerings from the Philistines. Obviously the LORD had directed every single step of these oxen! It brought life to the pages of Scripture. The Israelites looked in the ark, knowing they were not to do this and God struck dead 70 men. They passed the ark off to Kiriath Jearim. (1 Samuel 6:1-21) A question that was asked to us: What does the Lord give me that I don't want because it might be inconvenient? (We could stay on this topic for awhile, but want to continue on for today. If you ever want to chat about this, I would love to!)
The Lord has had me meditating and processing Living Water and Cisterns at Beth Shemesh because we got to go in a cistern while we are at this location! A real one! What on earth is a cistern? I had always pictured it being a pit, like a well in the ground, deep with walls of dirt. This particular one (many are like this in Israel) could hold 54,000 gallons of water and we walked down under the ground to get to it. This was hewn out of stone. Fascinating, a father and son found this cistern in 1997, which is rather recent considering it has been there for thousands of years.
"My people have committed two sins; They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." Jeremiah 2:13
(Take some time to read the verse again and again, don't just skim through it, let the Word wash over you, then check out the pictures of the actual cistern and mayim chayim-living water.)
We are carefully hiking down into the cistern. It held all 60+ of us with ease. That is huge, bigger than our pool, just to give some perspective.
Just for a moment we have jumped to another location, only so we can contrast mayim chayim and cisterns. We didn't go to this site until later in our trip. Can you see the difference? I want to go jump in this right now! This water bursting forth is smack dab in the middle of the desert!
(Blue is an appropriate color when talking about water, so hence the blue font. :) Originally I went with orange font but that got changed fast when I put 2 and 2 together!)
The Lord uses comparisons to help me see how desperately I need Him and not my manmade second rate ways to "collect water", feel free to add to my list:
Cistern
Manmade
Dries up
Stagnant & Bitter (sat for months)
Dark & Covered
Breaks
Doesn't make you feel fresh
Meets a need to live
Used for evil
Place for prisoners
Living Water (mayim chayim)
Made by the Creator
Endless supply
Fresh
Constant flow bursting forth
Powerful
Draws people
Beautiful to the eye
Always provides
Cleanses the body
Satisfies thirst
Out in the open
After contemplating a bit more on the drastic difference between the two, what is it that I gravitate to?
They both supply water, but which is lasting and satisfying?
Am I content drinking rainwater that has been sitting for months in a manmade pit, stagnant with no movement or am I willing to walk through the desert to find the boundless supply of fresh, powerful, satisfying, cleansing water?
Let's revisit Jeremiah 2:13: "My people have committed two sins (evil); They have forsaken (abandoned) Me, the spring of Living Water, and have dug (to cut a rock, hewn) their own cisterns (wells), broken (burst) cisterns that cannot hold water."
The Lord=Spring of Living Water
Cisterns=manmade things we create to satisfy our desires, that never measure up to the real deal
Why would I want anything less than Jesus, the Giver of Living Water, the Only one who can satisfy, refresh, and quench?
How have I turned my back on Jesus Christ and created temporal things that substitute what is true satisfaction, like the Israelites did?
I didn't grasp how powerful Living Water is until I saw it with my own eyes as it pounded on the heads of those who stood under it. The Spirit, who lives in us is Living Water, He is all powerful and as we believe Him, the same power that raised Christ from the dead is ours to use for His glory. Do I live daily, moment by moment in His power? O, I want to! He is everything to me. O how I need Him to grace me with faith to believe that He will give me everything I need for every second of the day!
The thing I catch myself trying to have satisfy me other than Christ is Brian. Years ago I memorized Ps. 90:14 because I would look to Brian for approval and affirmation and encouragement and...so the Lord began to teach me and say to my heart, "Yvonne, I am the Only One who can satisfy completely, that's how I designed it. Look to me." I didn't stop there, I looked up Scripture, studied it, meditated on it, and hid it in my heart because I had a feeling I would have to recall truth to mind more than once or twice.
Satisfy us in the morning
with Your unfailing love
that we may sing for joy
and be glad all our days.
Psalm 90:14
Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters...
Why spend money on what is not bread
and your labor on what does not satisfy.
Listen, listen to Me
and your soul will delight in the
richest of fare.
Isaiah 55:1-3
What a joy to journey together with Christ, the Giver of Living Water!
Some of you have said the comment section hasn't been allowing you to post, I think that is fixed now if you desire. I love to read where the Lord has you as you walk with Him and how He is encouraging your heart through the Word and challenging you as well.
I love you deeply.
1 comment:
I am loving all the pictures and retracing your steps with you.
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