Day 02 - Desert: Makhtesh Ramon, Masada, Dead Sea

Our second day in Israel has been just as good as the first. We started the morning bright and early with a massive buffet style breakfast, loose leaf tea, and an eagerness to see what the day held for us. As we loaded up in our nicely air-conditioned charter bus, many of us were thinking about what we could see in a place that seemed so desolate. The night before we drove into a land of rocks and cliffs and cracks with barely a tree in sight. It seemed as if it was a miracle that there was even a hotel for us to stay in. As we drove away from our hotel  it wasn’t but five minutes before our bus pulled off on the side of the road and all 55 of us were filling out into the rocky desert. The sight was shocking, miles and miles of mountains, with a path leading down into the valley right before us. We learned that this place is called Makhtesh or the Wilderness of Zin. We were in the wilderness. The place where all 2 million Israelites wandered for 40 years. The place where God taught his people to Shema, to hear and obey, the place where the Lord showed his power and his glory. We hiked through this place for almost four hours, getting just a glimpse of what it would be like to wander all those years ago. We continued our day hiking up the snake trail at Masada and ending it with a float in the Dead Sea and a few minutes in the sauna before dinner.

The wilderness- this was the majority of our day and wildly impactful. Up until this point I have imagined the wilderness in the Bible as either very sandy or filled with trees. What I saw today was not like either of those. It was made of only rocks, big and small, no vegetation, no water. I kept thinking to myself there was no way that anyone could stay here let alone 2 million people. I think that’s the point. Often in the Scriptures when the wilderness is described, it is called by the Hebrew word "midbar", which is the most habitable form of the wilderness and where most of the shepherds can be found. However, this is not an accurate description of the condition of the wilderness that the Israelites wandered in. Why would the person who wrote Exodus describe the land as habitable when it was far from it? It was habitable because the people were being led by their own Shepherd. As this was being described immediately my mind jumped to Psalm 23 where David describes the green pastures, still waters, and paths of righteousness. As you look out over the expanse of the land none of these things could be found. But as one begins to follow the Shepherd, what initially looks like a desert wasteland begins to look like lush provision. This provision was offered to the people over and over again by a faithful Shepherd who desired to bring his people to himself. This is but one of the many lessons that changed my perspective today. As we enter into day three, I ask for prayers that our eyes would be opened to the wonderful works of the law and our hearts would be quick to rest in the provisions that the Lord has so graciously provided for us.