Started in a garden

Day 1 in Israel started in a garden, where we learned of the promises of God in Deuteronomy 8:6-8 describing the promised land. A land flowing with milk and honey, but the milk came from goats and sheep and the honey coming from the sweetness of the dates. There we also learned about the traditions of Israel in death and burial, then there was a ceremonial washing that must be completed to purify oneself from the uncleanness death, this involved washing oneself in clean water that was flowing and could not be stagnant.

Right before lunch we climbed to the top of Azekah and looked over the valley of Elah where David fought Goliath and we heard a message reflecting on how God had been preparing David in obscurity to defend his name and his glory on the battlefield.

We finished our day Lackish after working our way through seeing some of the locations of the fortified cities that were set to protect Jerusalem. We saw the ruins of a city that fell to the Assyria Empire, but yet God in his sovereign glory spared Jerusalem. We reflected that living in Lackish meant that they lived to protect Jerusalem and the capital and we as followers of Christ live for our Savior, Galations 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and and gave Himself up for me.

As we close the day we want to remember that we came not worship a place or relic, but to fix our devotion on the God who is our Lord and savior.