Day 0: Israel Roads: A Journey in the Land

You’ve traveled a long way to be here today. Here you stand in the Land, ready to travel the road of a lifetime.

No matter how long your journey has been, you’re about to discover a road even longer. In the next ten days, you’ll not only visit fabulous sites, but you’ll travel ancient roads with eternal significance grounded in each path. On these actual roads we’ll travel, God has done incredible work in the lives of His people. He broadened Peter’s view of evangelism on the road we take tomorrow. Paul did a u-turn on the road to Damascus. Abraham, David, and Joshua walked wilderness roads that tested faith and tried God’s faithfulness. And on the road into Jerusalem, Jesus Himself saw the cross before Him. Just imagine the work God will do in your heart along these same roads . . .

The Bible repeatedly describes a person’s character by the road he chooses. To be called a “Follower of the Way” (Acts 9:2) is to link names with the first Christians two thousand years ago and even more important, to travel in the Savior’s steps.

But the road goes back even further.

Back when the children of Israel wandered the Negev (directly south of here), God used a fire at night and a cloud by day “to show the way (or the same root word for the road) you should go” (Deut 1:33). The familiar passage in Proverbs 3:6 promises that “In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your road straight.” The prophet Isaiah pleaded with the people to “Clear the road for the Lord in the wilderness,” like an entourage preparing for a king’s caravan. He, and later John the Baptist, pleaded for believers to live faithfully before God, to walk the “highway of holiness” a road reserved for the repentant and redeemed (Isaiah 35:8). And of course, ultimately “the road” was fulfilled when Jesus declared Himself to be “The Road. . . the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6) and asked us to follow Him.

Perhaps you’ve come to this land with the same desire Moses had. He asked God, “let me know Your ways, that I may know You . . .” (Exodus 33:13). Moses knew that if he learned God’s ways, He would begin to know God’s character and all that He embraced.

Each day, you will receive notes like this one explaining another road or way God has prepared before you. May this trip continue your journey on the “highway of holiness,” following in His steps till it leads you home with Him. The route will be marked by crossroads and milestones, spiritual valleys, and hilltops but we’re certain that what you learn along these roads, will only equip you better for the journey.

Shalom—Peace, peace!