Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
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Jun 9, 2019 10:00:00 PM
Nothing can stop God from fulfilling His promises to those who believe in Him. In the mean time, it takes great vision to see something where there is nothing. Israel’s Negev provides a great example.
(Photo: Sculpture garden at Sde Boker, by שי קסל CC-BY-2.5, via Wikimedia Commons)
Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, saw the vast expanse of Israel’s Negev as something that offered great potential. In 1953, he settled in the kibbutz Sde Boker, urging Israelis to help him tame the Negev into a new society for Israel.
To many, the idea seemed no more than a pipe dream. As a result, the plea fell on deaf ears, for the arid region receives barely eight inches of rain per year.
In the Negev, life has one uncompromising requirement: water. Through this simple need in the same land, God taught His people a life-giving lesson.
We can drink from it as well.
In the book of Genesis, when the Philistines spitefully filled in Isaac’s wells with dirt, he dug more wells.
Isaac sowed in the Negev and reaped a hundredfold during the same year. The text reveals how he could do it: “The LORD blessed him” (Gen. 26:12). Nothing could stop God from fulfilling His promises to Abraham and his descendants—not a desolate land or even contentious neighbors.
Drink deeply from that truth.
(Photo: Ben Gurion tomb near Sde Boker. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Today, the small home at Sde Boker where Ben-Gurion lived in the Negev houses a museum memorializing his dream. And water piped south from Galilee has helped bring his dream to life.
When I visited Ben Gurion’s modest home in the Negev, I noticed in his vast library a surprising volume: Things to Come, by J. Dwight Pentecost—a hardback that explains the Bible’s fulfillment of Israel’s hope through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Even the birth of the state of Israel in 1948 affirms God’s faithfulness to continue with a people who will receive the land promised to Abraham.
Isaac’s words almost sound prophetic: “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land” (Genesis 26:22).
Here’s a prayer of application:
Lord, I’ve lost count of the wells that the Philistines have filled in my life. It seems every bit of progress I enjoy finds the enemy in opposition. But Your care for Isaac in the barren Negev and Your sustaining the Jews throughout the ages reveal that You are a God who keeps His word. No argument or opposition I experience today can outstay Your blessing. A thousand lost wells only serve to glorify You more when You fulfill Your promises to me against impossible odds.
Tell me what you think: What hope do you cling to when your wells get full of dirt? To leave a comment, just click here.
This post is adapted from Wayne’s book, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible.
• These 90 devotional readings, each based on a specific place in the lands of the Bible, will help you apply the truths of God’s Word to your daily journey of faith.
• You’ll enjoy pertinent Scripture, inspirational quotes, photographs, maps, and a daily prayer.
After going places with God, you’ll never be the same.
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