His Word is Life

I can hardly believe that I am currently writing this from Israel. What an incredible blessing it is to be in this place and to be studying God’s word with people so near to my heart! When asked what I was most excited for on this trip, I responded with what the Lord had put on my heart as a prayer for our time here. This year, our class’ purpose statement is “to expose our true identity through community under the Word.” My prayer for our time here is that our hearts would be one as we sat under teaching of God’s Word, and that it would take root in our lives in such a way that submission to the very Words of God would mark the rest of our lives. The theme for our trip is an opportunity for faith, and today we spent a lot of time talking about the place of God’s Word in our lives.

We started the day in En Gedi hearing about David flight from Saul to the strongholds there. We read 1 Samuel 24 and learned about how even though Saul pursued David, trying to take his life even though David was technically the anointed king of Israel, David did not treat Saul as his sins deserved. David recognized his own sin, and when he had the opportunity to take Saul’s life and end the chase, he would not lift a hand against the anointed one of God. This was a huge picture of the Gospel for us because God does not treat us as our sins deserve either. Scripture tells us in 1 Peter 2:23-24 that when Jesus was reviled, “he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued to entrust himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” God’s kindness towards us is meant to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). What is our response to adverse circumstances? Do we trust the God of our Salvation above our own understanding of our circumstances? David, called a man after God’s heart, gives us a great example of a man who values the Words of God in his life.

We continued from there to a spring in En Gedi, and got to spend time talking about Jesus as Living Water. Fresh water in the desert is a scarcity, and having this spring in contrast to the Salt Sea yesterday provided an awesome picture for us of how Jesus is the one who brings us Life in this wilderness. John 7:38 tells us that if we come to him and drink, that not only will we have life, but also out of our hearts “will flow rivers of living water.” From where do you draw your livelihood? What gracious and precious gift, and what an awesome calling!

We spent the second half of the day at Qumran, which is the place that they found the Dead Sea scrolls- scripts of the Hebrew Bible dating back to 200 BC. As if that wasn’t cool enough, we got to go on a pretty intense hike to the top of a nearby mountain and talk about Jesus’ temptation in the Judean wilderness. The challenge for us at this place was to ask ourselves about the place of the Words of God in our lives. It was cool to see the theme continue as we read David’s first Psalm: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” What place does the word of God have in your life? It was a convicting challenge and a gracious reminder. Again, David says it best: “This is my comfort in my affliction, that your Word has revived me.” (Ps. 119:15).

Simply put: God is answering my prayer both in my own heart and the hearts of the others on the trip. I wish I had more time and more space to convey to you all that we experienced today. I feel a little bit like John, because I suspect that all that God has done in our lives could fill more than all the blogs in the whole world (John 21:25). Praise God for His faithfulness to us!

By Jessie White

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