Not what God had planned

How often have you heard a story or read a book and then the movie comes out and blows your mental picture to pieces. That’s what two sites did for me today. While at Tel Azeka Matt read the story of David and Goliath and let’s face it we have heard the story hundreds of times and there have been some bad on screen versions but to actually see the physical location geologically unchanged to this day will forever change my visualization of the story. The distances the elevation of both armies, the distance to Bethlehem, the riverbed where David picked out his 5 round stones, the width of the valley between them when David and Goliath finally did battle after all the big talk. I will hear a message on this again and it will take me back to that look out point overlooking the battlefield.

What’s your picture of the caves David hid in while avoiding the wrath of Saul? Now I realize my visualization was just childish really. These are more tunnels than caves, carved out of chalk they are just a maze of small person sixed rabbit holes and several of us, myself included could not bring myself to enter. There are larger chambers along the way but getting in and out is not for the claustrophobic. I somewhat regret not overcoming my fears but maybe next time. In reality David could have hidden out there and never been found but lucky for him, that was not what God had planned for his life. We entered this one cave at Addullam that was according to our guide one of a thousand or so, now that’s blowing away a visualization as you sit in Church some Sunday morning.

Written by Enda McKeon

And just like that, the Bible has come alive. Honestly, the welling up of emotions I’ve felt today is a bit out of control, but it’s near impossible not to get overwhelmed at the power and impact of seeing with one’s own eyes where these historic, world changing events took place.

We stood there on Tel Azekah, looking out over the exact location of the battle of David and Goliath. THE EXACT LOCATION. We relived the epic battle through Matt Bach’s inspiring story-telling, hearing the crush of the dirt, visualizing the size of the warriors, and seeing the hillsides where the Philistines and Israelites camped on opposite sides of the valley. If you listened hard enough, you could hear the victorious roar of the Israelites from Goliath’s defeat. I feel the weight in my backpack of a stone I picked from the same riverbed in which David selected his glorious stone those thousands of years ago.

We climbed on elbows and knees through the caves of Adullam, the caves in which David took refuge as he fled Saul’s pursuits. In the depths of these caves, in the darkness and the stillness, we listened to Matt’s voice as he read aloud Psalm 57 in the original Hebrew, where David sang praises to the heavens, using imagery of the skies he couldn’t even see.

We looked out over the hillside of Sampson’s life. We saw his story play out before our eyes, and the ways in which he compromised. We collected broken shards of pottery on the hillside of Bet Shemesh as reminders of this story and the defeat of compromise in our own lives.

It was experiences like these, one after the other, that marked our first full day in Israel.

Written by Ashley Serin