We’re in Danger in Israel (and You are Too)

 Categories : Listening to Each Other Listening to God

 

Our family arrived in Jerusalem a week ago, just as a new round of violence erupted. In the last week, we’ve had the privilege of experiencing some of the most important sites on the planet.  I’ve had the opportunity to see the faces of my children light up with recognition as they see with their own eyes and walk with their own feet in the footsteps of their heroes of faith.  And in a few cases, they’ve been able to stand where Yeshua himself stood.

This is very dangerous.

On the one hand, the more archeologists uncover, the more they confirm that the stories we read in the bible are more than fairy tales.  David, Solomon, Hezekiah (and even bad guys like Herod) are all real people who really lived.  The more we absorb the history of this place, the more we sense that God’s word is real and true.7leaft

But here’s the dangerous part:Rewind about 10 days. The sea of Galilee is lapping over my legs. My husband is gliding through the deeper water while I watch the kids skip rocks and find snails closer to shore.  It’s far from picturesque: there are noisy tour boats coming and going, and there’s garbage everywhere.  But that doesn’t stop me from thinking “Isn’t it amazing that he was really here?”

Whoa, did you catch that!?

I got seduced by the history of this place, and almost missed one of the most important truths of kingdom life: Where we are, God is.  Everywhere our family comes together to eat, pray, sing, or skip rocks in the name of our king, he is there.  Present tense.  It’s as real as the reality of his historical presence.

Here in Israel, it’s easy to lose sight of this truth.  But no matter where you are, you face the same danger in more subtle ways.  Whether it’s reverence for a church building, a ministry or a personality, or lack of reverence for God’s presence in fellow believers (especially the younger ones) we easily confuse the truth about God’s presence in our daily lives, in our very selves.

Yesterday, My family stood on the temple mount, as close as you can get to the original Holy of Holies.   It’s so tempting to get caught up in the idea of God’s presence there 2 thousand years ago, and miss the reality of it in the hearts of my husband and my children, let alone my own heart.

Where is God already present that you haven’t noticed until now?



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  • Heidi

    Wow, dear Hannah,
    That was exactly the sense of the words of the man, whom we met only some minutes last Wednesday in our hometown. This was a supernatural meeting, I know now.

    I had begged God for an answer wheather to go to Jerusalem in these violant days or not, and this man said (or words to that effect) : Well, go there, go! Why not? Why are you hesitating? God is with you, God is in you! He is your shelter, where else do we have protection?!
    And now you confirm this again!

    You hear from us! And if it’s God’s will, you will see us as well…;-)))

    Shalom, in the name of Jesus,
    Heidi

    • Hannah Kallio

      This year in Jerusalem!