Lessons from Israel: Beth Shemesh

Beth Shemesh is an Israelite town about 15 miles west of Jerusalem.  We visited here on our first full day in Israel. I have to admit that prior to this trip I thought of Israel much like Tolkien’s middle earth: a magical, otherworldly place where unlikely things happened.  A place very different from our own. As we stood looking across a valley, our guide casually said, “See that mountainside across the valley? That’s where Samson lived.” He went on to mention that this valley was the one Samson lit on fire using an interesting combination of foxes and torches.

The mighty acts of God are not confined to a specific geography. In the Bible, God did powerful things in a land of rocks and dirt and trees and hills and valleys. He did his mighty acts among people - ordinary people who witnessed God doing extraordinary things. Beth Shemesh taught me that I can expect God to move in powerful ways in West Michigan among ordinary people like us. God’s power may be revealed in different ways and through different resources. But it is the same God and the same power. Keep your eyes peeled!