In January 2020, my husband and I traveled with our church’s group to Israel. We were so excited to take this trip of a lifetime! What an emotional, fun, and enlightening ten days it was! Even today, we often discuss what we would do and see if we ever have a chance to go back to Israel. There just is not enough time to do it all in a mere ten days.
Every stop and site was my favorite for one reason or another; it is hard to say what was the top favorite! One of those was Ein Gedi. This is a desert oasis in the same bronzed valley where we spent a few hours at the Dead Sea. This was the part of Israel that I had imagined in my mind’s eye all of my life: brown, barren, dusty, and all things desert. Growing up in the Southern California desert, I immediately saw similarities of driving up Highway 395 through the High Desert toward Death Valley.
Ein Gedi was a beautiful surprise for us all. One of the ladies traveling in our group who was born and raised in Florida just keep expressing how the desert was so unexpectedly beautiful to her. The sun glinted off of the salty Dead Sea waters which were framed by the rolling, russet mountains of Jordan on the far shore. Ein Gedi was on the Israeli side of the Dead Sea, tucked into the folds of the sandy slopes of the mountain plateaus. The sides of the hills were dotted all over with small caves and clefts where we could see the native animals running in and out in their daily search for food.
We hiked up a long, sweeping path on a trail that eventually wound up through switchbacks to the top of the mountain. We reached the first stop in our hike where the trail made its first turn upward. There in that curve against the mountainside was a grassy oasis with a cool waterfall tumbling into a clear pool beneath it. It was shady, beautiful, relaxing, and unexpected there, surrounded by the harshness of the desert.
This was the same Ein Gedi where David ran to hide from Saul. It is no coincidence that this place, now part of a national park, was called David Fall. I pictured David afraid, dirty, and exhausted after his long flight across the burning, unforgiving desert. I envisioned his relief upon finding a place so beautiful and restful in the cleft between these two harsh mountainsides. I felt his relief as that crystal pool came into view, along with its sparkling waterfall. His writer’s heart must have been soothed in that special oasis to know that God had made him a resting place for repose and protection by Him.
Imagine David, running for his life, knowing God intended for him to be the king and wanting to have faith in His promises. However, he may have wondered if it were here in this desert where he would be murdered by an angry, jealous king. Talk about feelings of desolation, fear, and isolation! His hope must have been wavering in his exhaustion.
Let me ask, Friend. Like David, are you in your desert? Do you feel forsaken or even pursued by the enemy? Does your wilderness feel desolate and alone?
Stop! This is not the end, and hope is coming! Oh, make no mistake—the devil will lie to invade our thought lives with discouragement and to convince us that there are no more miracles. Oh, but how he forgets what our God can do! I know a Saviour Who can stoop down in the dust to make a little clay, and then with that humble clay, can make a blind man to see! (John 9)
Our great God can make a way in our wildernesses and a river through our lives’ deserts! Do not lose hope! God always has the perfect plan—just rest a bit, then wait and see!
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. – Isaiah 43:19
by Tracie S. Burns
This was much needed today! Thank you for sharing with us!