The Desert and Kadesh Barnea

We began our day after an overnight stay at Beersheba (the southernmost city of Israel). We traveled south to the border of Egypt where we were able to view and walk in the desert where the children of Israel spent forty years wandering.

It was here at Kadesh Barnea that the twelve spies originally entered the land of Canaan and saw that it was indeed a good land, flowing with milk and honey. As you remember, only Joshua and Caleb sought to go up. The remaining ten spies discouraged the people. The punishment for their unbelief and disobedience was forty years in the desert (one year for each day in which they spied out the land.)

This desert region is so dry and dusty and hot. It is so much different than the lush and green land of Galilee and the fruitful fields off the Mediterranean Sea coast that stretch toward Jerusalem. God had indeed promised a good land to the people. Yet in their unbelief they failed to enter His rest.

The Lord has promised good to us as well. When we trust Him and obey Him, we will be blessed. As we walked through this dry area to a desert oasis, we were reminded of how the Lord even gave them drink in the desert from the rock. The Lord satisfies our every need - and even when we have erred, He will answer us and help us when we call to Him.

We ended our day early after a lunch of authentic Jerusalem cuisine - and headed to our hotel on the Dead Sea. We had a chance to float in the salt water - you just lay on your back on top of the water – impossible to sink!

Tomorrow, we will head back to Jerusalem for our last day here. We will visit Golgotha and the Garden tomb then head to the airport for 40 hours of travel, until we arrive home Friday night.

Pray for us – we can’t wait to see you all.