Day 03 - Judean Wilderness: Ein Gedi, Qumran

We woke up this morning with the view of the sun rising over the mountains across the Dead Sea. As we just about got all the salt out of our hair from the float the night before, we had a huge buffet to fuel us for the day ahead. Before we headed out for the day I sat down to read my Psalm for the day, Psalm 63. “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirst for you; my flesh faints for you”. Little did I know that this Psalm would come back later today to make an appearance.

Our first destination was Ein Gedi. Think of an uphill hike through a very rocky and hilly place with a couple of random trees and reeds along the stream, and the Dead Sea still in view to your back. Along the hike we were taught about David from 1 Samuel 23 and 24. Little did we know we were hiking the very land in which David had fled from Saul. At the destination of our hike there was a waterfall and a pool of water where we gathered around for teaching from Jared. Needless to say our long and rocky hike was well worth it. There we saw a waterfall pouring into a pool of water that led to a stream, the stream that we had been hiking along the whole hike. This was living and moving water, unlike the Dead Sea. As Jared stood in the pool of water he reminded us that we have access to living water, yet we actively choose to go back and drink from water that leads us to death. Having the visible illustration of the Dead Sea behind us, a source of water that can literally kill you if you drink it and a pool of fresh water in the middle of a wilderness is a sight I hope to never forget. This pool is also where Psalm 63 made an appearance. If I have access to living water, then why do I constantly go back to water that will lead me to death? That was the theme of Ein Gedi for me. I see myself constantly going to dead water rather than going to the living water of God that gives me life. Why do you keep going back to water that is dead?

After this amazing hike we headed north along the Dead Sea to a location called Qumran. Qumran is the location of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of the most important historic discoveries in the history of Christianity. There we had another hike ahead of us, and this one was a tough one. Here we hiked up the side of the mountain to the top. The view from the top was amazing, you could see Jericho, the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, and the Judah Wilderness all at the same time. At the top, Dexter Carter taught about devotion and the preservation of the Word of God. We could see the spot in which Jesus was baptized and also the wilderness in which he was tempted. Sitting awestruck from seeing the physical mountains that Jesus was tempted, I began to feel convicted as to what I am devoted to. The scrolls that were found here were an example of extremely devoted men who gave their life for the Word of God and Jesus was devoted to God so much so that he gave up his life. How much time do I spend devoting my life to dead water? How do you devote your life to God? As these questions were spinning in my mind we were asked to leave a rock with writings of the things that we want to leave behind in order to devote our full life to God on the top of Qumran. As we leave behind those things and move north to the Sea of Galilee I ask for prayer for a heart, soul, and might that is devoted to God while we are on this trip. Pray for a heart that is present and open to what God has.