En Gedi Trip...

I know I probably will never face such distress like David did when he was fleeing from Saul. I am sure that my enemies will not camp around me. But in my minuscule trials I will find my rest in God.
Sometimes, while reading the Psalms, I can not envision what the circumstances are like. This past Saturday and Sunday I got the opportunity to see firsthand what conditions David was probably in. On Shabbat we all piled in the bus and headed for En Gedi, the spring of the wild goat. It is a city on the banks of the dead sea on the west side of the lake about halfway down. The terrain that surrounds this place is extreme. The dead sea sits about 1300 feet below sea level. And on the east side there is the trans Jordanian plateau that is over 2000 foot climb, and on the west of En Gedi there are jagged peaks and the Ascent of Ziz which leads to Techoa (Close to the Herodian) And we had the chance to hike a little bit of the ascent. The whole area is harsh terrain. With the smell of sulfur in the air and the blazing sun beating down on you like an angry parent, there is little which one can find relief in. Except, in the spring of the wild goat. In David's time, when he was fleeing in the wilderness, there were no camel packs, no ice makers, no refrigerators, no sunblock... he was the real mountain man! So much more would this spring be refreshing to his soul. And we can understand when he talks about as the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after You God. This has become more real to me, because after walking up the mountain I was longing for water, but no matter how thirsty I am, that is nothing compared to how I need to be longing after God.
When David says that God is his refuge, and that He gives him shade, he is really tapping into some serious analogies. Being in the place where David was writing these things was amazing because there is little shade in the land, except in the ravines. We hiked down one, and the temperature must have dropped by at least 10 degrees. It was so nice to have some shade from the sun.
God is good, and in his wisdom let David recognize these simple illustrations of the glory of God, in the midst of seemingly dire circumstances. And God is good to let me see the circumstances that David was in when he wrote them. Psalm 18,56,57,63.

In addition to the hike, we all got to swim in the Dead Sea! It was amazing! You really can not sink. I felt like I needed to be putting forth a lot more effort than I was to be able to float the way I was. After swimming, we made a fire on the beach, and Abner gave a devotional on David and the Psalms, and when he was the moon was rising up over the Trans Jordanian Plateau. I took some pictures that I'll post, but it doesn't look like the moon, it looks like a sunrise. But if you look closely you'll be able to see the stars in addition to the moon that looks like the sun.