Think about the land you live on. The dirt beneath your house has been there for thousands of years. The hills that surround your neighborhood haven’t moved since God put them there at creation.
We protect and defend our property, don’t we? It’s a big deal. We post signs to warn trespassers. We build fences. We install security systems.
After all, the land is ours. (For now.)
But if we think about it, someone else lived here before us. And after we leave this life, another titleholder will own, work, and defend the land we owned for a few years. (In my case, the next owner will have a forest of great trees we planted from saplings. You’re welcome.)
The discovery of ancient boundary stones at Tel Gezer in Israel remind us of more than biblical property lines.
They prompt us to observe essential boundaries in our spiritual lives.
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Sometimes a decision looks so good it can’t be bad. Or what we stand to gain overshadows any thought of what we might lose. But at the southern end of Israel sits a seaport with an ancient example that applies to your choices this afternoon.
The biblical city of Ezion-geber, near modern Eilat, served as Israel’s occasional port on the Red Sea. On one occasion, the gulf offered a tremendous opportunity for a lucrative shipping industry for King Jehoshaphat.
As with Jehoshaphat, Eilat parallels many opportunities you have today when your ship has come in:
- The financial deal promises a sure return on your investment.
- The kind, attentive gentleman asks for your hand in marriage.
- The promotion comes with the salary you’ve waited for a long time.
- The new church you’re attending is just around the block.
But in making these decisions, have you forgotten to ask the most important question?
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After my grandfather died years ago, I planted an oak tree in his memory in our front yard. The skinny stem stood only 6 feet tall (like Granddad did). I planted it on a windy day.
(By Almonroth. Own work. CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
A few hours later, my neighbor hollered: “Hey, Wayne, your tree was really leaning over in the wind!” I grabbed the trunk and slightly bent the tree over. The whole base moved, because it had no root system yet. So I staked it down.
Two years later when I bent the tree, the base didn’t move. But you know what? The tree looked the same. No visible change. Its goal for its first two years was its roots, not its limbs and leaves.
That little sprig offers a contrast (and a lesson) to you and me.
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For years I have enjoyed using the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands for personal study, as well as for most photos of Bible lands on my blog. Only recently have I seen a collection that takes the magnificent photos from this collection to the next level.
The same producers have just released the Photo Companion to the Bible, with the Gospels as their first collection. After looking through it at key places in the gospels where I had questions about a location, I found those questions answered, explained, and illustrated in such detail!
Just watch the video above to see what I mean.
The Photo Companion to the Bible provides digital photographs through PowerPoint presentations (I view them in Keynote) that illustrate the Gospels verse by verse. In fact, every chapter is illustrated with between 40–230 photographs.
Here are a few of the features:
- Completely a digital download for instant access (with option to get the DVD too)
- New aerial photographs of Galilee and Jerusalem
- Detailed markings of routes that Jesus traveled
- Annotations explaining image selection and background
- Free lifetime updates
- Generous copyright permissions
- Satisfaction guaranteed
As a Bible teacher, this collection has instantly become an indispensable resource to me. I wouldn’t consider teaching the Gospels without first referring to this collection.
I’m impressed, to say the least, so much so that I urge you get this resource. With the money-back guarantee, you take no risk.
(By the way, I wasn’t asked to write a review, nor do I make anything off your purchase. I simply believe in this product enough to recommend it to you.)
The low introductory price lasts only through tomorrow (August 21). So take advantage of the offer.
The first steps we take in a decision often make sense. But the connection between those steps and their final outcome often seems unrelated. Walking the path of wisdom has a domino effect far greater than we can imagine.
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
For us, a disciplined intake of Scripture certainly promises wisdom. But wisdom offers a course of action, not just a course of instruction.
The book of Proverbs reveals the outcome of the pathways we are walking. And it tells us how to stay on the path of wisdom.
Here’s how.
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Sometimes despair can wash over us like a wall of water. One moment we’re dry—the next, we’re dripping with discouragement. I’m talking about an overwhelming sense that it will never get any better.
“What if,” to quote Jack Nicholson, “this is as good as it gets?” I don’t know about you, but despair can be one of my greatest struggles. In those moments, I travel in my mind back to Banias.
The psalmist used the waterfalls at Banias in northern Israel to express a similar question and emotion. But he also had a solution of hope we need to turn toward when we feel overwhelmed by despair.
In fact, Jesus gave us that ultimate hope in the exact same region.
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Where God places us is no accident. Throughout biblical history, the land of Israel sat in an amazingly strategic position as the only intercontinental land bridge between the superpowers of the ancient world.
The most important international highway of the Fertile Crescent ran the length of the land of Israel.
Some call this international highway the Via Maris, or the “Way of the Sea.” Any nation coming to or from Egypt, or traveling from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Aqaba, had to go through Israel. For many years, Israel remained the crossroads for international imperialism, war, and trade.
It’s hard to believe at first, but this highway offers a practical principle for our daily lives.
It’s all about influence.
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Have you ever ridden a horse that wanted to run for the barn? You have to keep constant tension on the reins, and never for one moment relax your grip. Actually, you’re riding that horse right now.
(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)
I remember once as a boy riding a horse on my grandfather’s farm. The horse figured out he could go to the barn whether I wanted him to or not. So, off he (not we) started running! After about 60-seconds of a full-on run, the saddle loosened and I fell off sideways— spinning and flipping in prairie dust and brambles.
My only consolation was the hope that the saddled chaffed the horse as he wore it upside down.
For some real horses, you have to keep them from even seeing the barn. If you neglect to control your mount, and that animal begins to trot barn-ward, you will find yourself riding an animal out of control. There’s no stopping it.
I can’t think of a better illustration for the struggle in your spiritual life.
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