“Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace.” -Judges 6:22-24
The Lord is Peace.
Things took a turn for the worst after Joshua. He did his best to conquered the land but less than 300 years later, the wickedness of Israel had become so outrageous in the sight of the Lord, that the people were forced into hiding. They abandoned the commands of God and his promises, taking refuge in mountain clefts and caves. Whenever they planted a crop, it would be ruined by the people of the land. Their enemies killed every living thing, including their livestock. The people were so oppressed, they turned to back to the God they recklessly disregarded and finally cried out for relief.
In this particular instance, the Lord responds with a directive given to a mighty warrior named Gideon, who considered himself to be the weakest in his clan and least in his father’s house, telling him to go out and fight for his people! Following after the command of his God, Gideon arouses controversy among his clan by cutting down the idols the Israelites had adopted from the pagan culture of their land.
God leads him to enlist men to war for the promise they had been given. There is a taste of a give and take between God and Gideon that I absolutely love where Gideon pushes the limits by asking for a sign multiple times to prove that he was following the commands of God with wisdom. We know that God asks Gideon to majorly trust Him by cutting down their military defense from 22,000 fearful warriors to a valiant 300. Gideon asking them to drink water from this spring, choosing the men by how they choose to quenched their thirst.
God could have easily defeated the entire militia of their enemies with a simple snap of His fingers but I think God likes showing off, proving He’s the hero. He loves the glory that is given to Him when He moves miraculously, not because He’s some sadistic, manipulative God who loves for us to go through painful things. Rather, He created a world that requires us to take risks, full of faith, because He want to show us that He has what it takes, that He’s trustworthy, and is out for our good, even when we cast Him aside.
The Holy Spirit made it crystal clear that walking by faith, even when the odds look grim, is vital, because He will not let me down. He loves me too much to simply let me face the giants in my life on my own.
We hopped back on the bus and drove about 10 minutes to our next stop at Beit She’an, where King Saul and his sons were hung on display for all to see by the Philistines. Yes, you read that correctly.
In Roman times, this city became the leading city of the Decapolis, the 10 cities Rome considered as their eastern front of the Empire. According to our tour guide, he believes this city was the best preserved Roman ruins ever. The beautiful theater near the entrance was used by the rich, such as the Herodians, as a place to gorge on food. After they ate their fill, they would find a corner and puck it all up just so they could eat more while watching performances. It made me a little sick to the stomach to hear about such excessive waste. Put a whole new understanding to gluttony.
A majority of the pillars fallen along the streets of the town. We learned a catastrophic earthquake had wrecked much of the structures in the year 749. After a short hike up a hill overlooking the ruins, we get a breathtaking view. To the north of Beit She’an we get our first glimpse of the Golan, the luscious greener part of Israel, with Syria in the distance. I had felt apprehensive about visiting Golan Heights, because of how heated discussions tend be around this particular part of the Land, which I’ll talk more about later but I felt overwhelming joy seeing it from this distance. I teared up a bit seeing and feeling so close to my homeland. Somewhere I hadn’t seen in 13 years. Home.
We ended the day spending time in Magdala on the Sea of Galilee. We went to a small church right on the water, named Duc in Altum, or “Put out into the Deep.” Father Kelley, an Irish priest, spoke the Gospel unlike I had ever heard before! It was beautiful what tributes to the Bible every aspect of the building contained. Right outside was a synagogue from the time of Christ! Right beside it was a spot where fisherman would have stored fish for sale – ancient aquariums. It felt so out of this world being by the lake where so many of Jesus’ miracles took place and it left me with such anticipation for what was to comes next.
