Israel

Ben and I are attending a 3-evening lecture series this week at church on the history, geography, and people of Israel.
When we saw the opportunity in the news bulletin last week, I thought it was a lecture being offered on one of 3 nights. Definitely doable. When I found out it was instead a three-night commitment in one week, I was a little (read:lot) more apprehensive about going. Yes, one of my downfalls is shying away from time commitments.
But Ben was super excited about it, signed us up, and 5 minutes into the first lecture, I knew this was going to expand may way of thinking in more ways than one. The hour and a half that I thought was going to be ho-hum flew by so fast, I just wanted the guy to keep on talking.
I am going to go ahead and say the sheer amount of information that has been poured into my brain the last two evenings is overwhelming. I sit there trying to soak it all in, knowing there is no way I will be able to retain every detail, even though I want to.

Ronny Simon is the gentleman giving the lectures, and if you ever have a chance to go hear him speak, please do... I don't know how to explain to you how much more insight and visual clarity this has offered me when I read some of the Scripture now. I am so far from understanding so much, but I feel so blessed to be given just a little bit of a better glimpse. I can picture what the land looks like, what groups of people were or were not getting along with who, why Herod being king was such a big deal in the religious aspect...

Ronny, who FYI is a Lt. Col. with the Israel Defense Force, a published author, and history tour guide of Israel for more than 20 years, opened his lectures by saying we will never be able to grasp the deeper meaning of many of the events in the Bible without knowing about the culture or history of the people at that time. Makes sense, but I have never grabbed another book of reference or anything to help me out when I am reading about Aaron or Moses.
And while the Bible is focused on telling one story, we need references and scholars and historians for another. And what a coincidence that I started reading the Bible in chronological order this year, right?
I feel like I'm babbling a little, but I have a point, I promise.

Through this series, it has just been really apparent to me that while I can lay down at night and pray for things that are in my immediate range, like my child, my health, my husband, my family, and how to better be a servant of others, I have not prayed for a land that desperately needs it. A land that has been a religious battleground for longer than I am able to grasp. And a land that my Jesus walked on, a place that the people were called His people.

I am not going to delve into the politics of it all, one because that is tomorrow night's lecture and I don't know it yet , and two because it is way over my head, but for the sheer fact that I cannot imagine living in their world, with the war, with the 6 year drought, with the daily struggles, and because it is something I can do, I will pray.
I wish I were as eloquent and knowledgable as Ronny to explain how much they need our prayer. How much we miss my watching the news but not knowing the history. But all I can say is that if you get the opportunity to learn more about the land that is written about in God's word, don't be a skeptic like me and hesitate to commit ... it will be worth it, and your spiritual life will benefit in more ways than I can describe.

xoox
dae