Day 01 - Shephelah: Yad Hashmonah, Beth Shemesh, Azekah, Caves of Adullam, Beersheba

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” -2 Corinthians 5:7 (ESV)

What a journey it has been for us to make it to Israel. After months of learning and
training and waiting for this day to come, we are finally here and are happy after a full day of
sitting in the text in its own setting. Our theme for today was sight. We sought to answer the
questions of how our faith relates to our sight and which of those two things brings us to putting
our hope in the Lord.

We began our day by going to Kiriath Jearim, where the ark stayed for twenty years before being brought to Jerusalem by King David (1 Sam. 4:1-7:2). We then went to Beth Shemesh overlooking the Sorek Valley as we studied the story of Samson (Judg. 13:1-16:30). At Tel Azekah we saw where God used the small and humble David to defeat the Philistine Goliath (1 Sam. 17), at the Adullam we saw where David sought refuge in caves from King Saul as he longed for the true security found in the presence of God (Ps. 57; 142), and at Beersheba we saw where Abraham lived as he waited in faith for God to fulfill the promises He had made to him (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-6; 21:1-7; 22:19).

When it comes to the story of Samson, there is a running pattern of him seeing and
doing what seems right in his own eyes. He is consistently disobedient to the Lord by going after
pagan lifestyles and breaking the Nazarite vow he was sworn to from birth. What’s more is that
he does not recognize that his extraordinary strength comes from the Lord, not from his ability to
refrain from cutting his hair. When the Lord removes his strength from him, Samson is seized by
the Philistines, who take his eyes from him and humiliate him as their prisoner. It is not until his
final moments when Samson cries out to God from his helpless state, asking him to grant him
back his strength for one last chance to be avenged on his enemies for his two eyes. The Lord
gives him strength and the enemies of the people of God are destroyed in a matter of moments.
Samson lived most of his life by sight. It is not until he cannot see when his faith in the
one who gave him his strength begins to grow. He is included in Hebrews 11 as a man of great
faith. The first verse of that chapter tells us that faith is the conviction of things unseen.
Samson’s sight and his sinful heart distracted him from the source of his power. It caused him to
believe that the things of this world were more important and more worthy of pursuit than
obedience to the God of the universe. By faith Samson was able to realize that God is strong,
not himself. It is easy for us to rely on our sight and our own strength to go through life. Being in
Israel is an incredible gift as it allows us to see the things that we have known by faith for so
long. However, it is my prayer for our group here that we would understand that it is not our own
knowledge of God and his word that gives power, but it is God Himself who is the true
conqueror of fear and sin and death. Please join me in praying that God would open our eyes to
see Him in this way.