A picture for us

 What a day. What a marvelously-convicting day full of God’s glory and overwhelming love for us! I have no idea how to compile it all into a brief blog post but, here is my attempt to give you just a glimpse into the picture of God’s living and breathing word that is continuing to be brought to life as we’ve traveled through Israel.

We were able to visit and soak in moments of the text at the places of Beth She’an, The Valley of Jezreel, the Spring of Harod, and Magdala (yes...where Mary Magdalene is from!!!).

The day started off with a shema to the Lord, lifting up our pinky’s to God as a symbol of faith and obedience and yearning to hear what He had for us, on this day, as we walked His Promised Land. Our wonderful, witty and joyful tour guide, Ronen, loaded the bus and we headed to a place we would soon find out was called Beth She’an; a Roman city that was built in the 1st Century and is still being excavated today. There are so many details about this place, and all of the day, that I would love to share in detail, but I’m not sure this post would ever end and my heart’s true desire is to share what I learned about our wonderful Creator! Oh my, the richness it is to walk through the text and see that Jesus created such a picture for us as he taught and walked out the Fathers will!!!!

As we walked up to what is now the ruins of a mighty gate guarding the Israeli city of Beth She’an, a city that embraced all of Rome’s culture in areas like their religion, commerce, entertainment, education/fitness, and sports (areas that, as we looked closely, we saw have greatly impacted our culture today) Jared brought our eyes to Matthew 7: 13-14 that says,

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

We got to see with our very own eyes the city that’s name means “House of Security” in hebrew, now in ruins from a massive earthquake in 749 BC that destroyed it in seven seconds. People were traveling from all over the world to enjoy the great experience that was this city. Scythopolis. It was a place to escape hard things and welcome the idea that having everything your heart desires is good and possible. The Romans wanted to spread their own good news of living to the fullest in this life.

As they embraced this idea more and more the gate of destruction got wider and wider that they were welcoming anyone and everyone into. It was heart wrenching to see and think about what this time must have looked like, but it was much more painful as the sobering acknowledgement set in that we not far from this at all. In fact, we are scarily closer to it than we realize. As Jared asked the questions, that I hope you will also ask yourself, of “if we are aware of the things we buy? Are we aware of our need to be entertained? Are we aware of the philosophy’s of the world we’ve been taught? How have you and the way you live been impacted by what was known as “the good life” in this culture?” The pangs of conviction set in.

How often I look for satisfaction and comfort in places I know this world will provide rather than running to my Savior and having faith that the only way to the true gospel, to truly being saved and brought back into relationship with God, is through Jesus and Jesus alone, blows my mind. Even as I have the blessing of walking with Christ-following, beautiful community my heart can turn one degree off and forget entirely what my purpose here is. WHO I am to imitate as Ephesians 5:1 says.

As the day carried on we learned more about Ahab and Jezebel in 1 King’s 21 at the Valley of Jezreel, and the story of Gideon at the Spring of Harod in Judges 6-7. All stories of people, people who knew God, but were tempted to do what was right in their own eyes rather than what God was calling them to.

Yet in the midst of rebellion we can absolutely rely on the character of our wonderful and mighty God! In these small stories that all point to the major story the Bible is pointing towards, God’s will prevails and it always results in His glory and our good!!

We are only half way through this trip and it has truly been amazing! I pray for myself, as well as anyone reading this, that you are seeking to hear what God is saying rather than trusting what man’s simple eye can see; to walk by faith, not by site!

I am so eager and excited to see what else the Lord has in store!
Love you all!

-Selina Apodaca