Israel Day 1

               This land seems insignificant and treacherous. Deadly and unforgiving. The desert in the southern area surrounds everything. The population seem to be in poverty with trash strewn about. Metal housing resides on the outskirts of the cities and in the baking sun of the midday, they residents must seek reprieve. The rocks fall away under foot as you move, and one can see the gullies and areas where water must flow during the raining season. It seems so lethal and yet it is here that God brought Abraham. God did not bring him to a place flowing with abundant life. God did not take him to a place flowing with water, giving him a life of ease. He had him go to a place where water had to be dug, pulled from the earth and life had to be fought for. God’s life is not easy. Following him is not a yellow brick road leading to this path of success. Abraham was promised to be a father of all nations and yet everyday life seemed to bring the possibility of death and the breaking of God’s promise and yet Abraham continued to follow. It wasn’t soon. It wasn’t quick. There had to have been times as Abraham was traversing that he had to have wondered what he was doing and why he was following this God that was making life more difficult than it need be. And yet he carried on.

               The site of Arad seemed to rise out of the earth as a reminder of days far gone. The fortified towers stood still tall, challenging those who come upon it to imagine what the fortress may have looked like during their time. Inside the fortress resided the makeshift temple. The sinful place that was built in good faith and for good reason. The motivation was not to sin or to be sinful. It was to erect a place to worship their God and yet, despite the motivation, their worship was still sinful. Walking into the Holy of Holies one finds the place where two stones once stood, one long ago removed. These stones stood as reminders and as images for two gods that were to be worshiped. Yahweh the Lord and the wife that they perceived that He must have. The larger stone was the one directed to the Lord and yet the smaller stone was still worshiped. It may not have been before the Lord or greater than the Lord, but it was still a thing of worship. How often do I find myself doing this? I may place God and Christ in their place as #1 but I still erect the smaller statue to myself. I worship the Lord but in the same place and in the same breath I worship myself. I have no other God before my God, but I still have another god. The god of self. Just like the Israelites of old, the Lord is telling me to be rid of my idols, even the lesser ones. The commandment has transitioned from “though shalt have no other gods before me” to “though shalt have no other gods other than me.”

               My life is in such a transition point. I can either chase my desires and goals, trying to honor God in them even, and yet still worship myself in the worship of Him.