GALILEE OR DEAD SEA
Today’s Reading: Psalms 81-83
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
The Dead Sea, also called the Salt Sea, borders Jordan to the east and Israel and Palestine to the west. Its surface and shores are 423 metres (1,388 ft) below sea level…Earth’s lowest elevation on land. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world’s first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics. As the Jordan River flows south, it picks up salts and other chemicals which eventually kill all life by the time the waters reach the Dead Sea. There is no escape from the Sea except by evaporation, which concentrates the deadly chemicals even more. Likewise, throughout the years in the flow of Israel’s history, the people absorbed the sins of the surrounding nations and death spiritually was the result (Psalm 83).
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Psalm 81:13
Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
Psalm 82:5b tells us, “All the foundations of the earth are unstable.” The Bible is not a textbook on natural science, but when a statement is made on the subject, it is correct. The people could not have known about the great tectonic plates that move continents, causing earthquakes and opening up huge chasms such as the Jordan Valley. Geologists have calculated the increase of the salt in the Dead Sea, and a formula has been developed. If the formula is reversed to figure out the decrease of salt, it is possible to guess at the time when no waters flowed down to the lowest place on earth, and no salt was washed into that sea, which has no outward flow. This was not millions of years ago, but in the time from the flood of Noah to the fire and brimstone of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 7:11-24 & Genesis 19:24-29).
Our key verse tells us that God longs for His people to return to Him. If they had maintained their relationship with God consistently, they would have enjoyed the river of constant blessings instead of curses, defeat and death over and over again.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I pray for consistency every day to draw from Your river of life as Your presence and purpose flows through time. Please grant me sufficient grace that I may not pick up the corrosive death-producing culture of this world. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I love the description of the “pure river of water of life,” which the Apostle John shared with us from his vision of the “Throne of God (Revelation 22:1-2). That river flows through Jesus Himself (John 4:7-14) and also John 7:37-39, where I’ve just read that Jesus cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” There are several places in the Hebrew Scriptures to which Jesus referred. I’ve just looked up one of those and read Isaiah 43:19-21.
The upper Jordan flows from the pure sources at the base of Mount Herman in the north down to the fresh, life-filled Sea of Galilee. Then the water proceeds to descend down through that deep scar in the earth’s surface, known as the Rift Valley, into a place where no life can exist. I’ve tried to swim in the Dead Sea. It was very awkward, given the water’s unusual buoyancy (10 times more salty than the ocean). When I tried to swim, the tendency was for my head to sink under the surface and my feet to rise as I floated. At another time, after a long horseback ride along the upper Jordan, with my muscles aching and sore, my sons, who assist me in this blog, and I plunged into the waters for the most refreshing swim of our lives. The difference between the pure waters flowing from the mountains toward the Sea of Galilee and the eventual destiny of those waters (the Dead Sea) was enormous! Life and death is in those waters. I must stay constantly in the Living Waters, not picking up the death-producing contamination of this world as I travel through it.
Yours for choosing LIFE!!!
David
The shorelines of the Dead Sea are covered in some areas by massive salt deposits, as seen in this photo.
Thank you Father God for this day. Happy Thanksgiving to all today.
Having dinner with family this afternoon.
Enjoyed today’s readings. God is good.
May God bless you all greatly today.
Trusting that Ger is feeling much better today. Have a Wonderful day. I plan to be with my friends @ the nursing home where my sister has been living for over 8 years. We have many friends there. We are blessed.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!
Spending time with my family today keep us in prayers.
God Bless Everyone!!!
I just listened to Family life Today on the radio. Wonderful message. It was about what kind of Christian are you. Are you a cultural Christian. Many call themselves a Christian but they have not given their life to Christ. Making them a cultural Christian. They think they are going to heaven, but this is where Jesus says, I never knew you. Well worth looking up this teaching.
I was one of those walking in darkness.Happy Thanksgiving.
So glad you aren’t anymore.
I pray for healing and thanksgiving for this blog family and especially the Mainse family;for happiness and healing to show God’s love throughout the year.In the holy name of Jesus,Amen
We Knew Him
The secret place is where I meet with You,
Where all the fears I ever knew,
And all my doubts,You saw me through,
So only praise is Your just due.
All my secret sins are before You,
Yet You withhold Your wrath from me
And in You I try to be true,
But,alas,through my flesh I see.
Sheltered in the shadow of your wings,
No harm can come to me in sleep,
And as You do Your holy things,
I know that I am Yours to keep.
Your forgiveness is like a fountain
And that Fountain has walked with us,
Then ascended from Your mountain
And we know Him as Lord Jesus.
G.W(Bill)Marshall /18 Oct, 2017
Amen and a wonderful thanksgiving to all bloggers. We all must be thankful for all our surroundings, etc.
A Blessed Thanksgiving to all with family and friends. Yes I am feeling better today Doreen and thank you for your concern. However I enjoyed being with my baby sister and family last week in our province’s capital area. God’s blessings on all.
A special Thanksgiving blessed to Norma Jean, Ron and Ann and all the Mainse family. Remembering distinctly being at the Dead Sea with the Mainse family but didn’t swim there because of the salt.
I was blessed yesterday with my family, as we celebrated having brunch together.
Have a blessed day as you celebrate this Thanksgiving, remembering God’s goodness! and love!!!
Dear Lord God, thank You for all your goodness and your blessings. Life is precious, and it is a gift from You. Please protect and strengthen all your people. Thank You for your Word; your guidance, wisdom, counsel, promise, and faith-builder.
What we read is not just theory, but reality, forever settled in heaven. Asaph wrote of the peoples gathered together in rebellion against God. We see this today also in the secular and anti-Christian forces gathering in opposition to Biblical morality.
Lord, we lift up our countries to You. We ask that You send out more workers to share your gospel freely and in the power of your Spirit. Help all your children to use the gifts You have given them.
We also ask that You be exalted in Canada. Please bring many to You, and raise up godly leaders throughout this country, and throughout this world. In Jesus’s most-high name, amen
Amen
Amen
TY Lord for this day; bless our families; grant healing to all who are ill; Lord You know the whole situation in our country with the people, their priorities;the young people, their needs; the seniors, their concerns; bless them all Lord; let them all know that You are Lord of Lord; and King of Kings; that You are our Saviour for ever and ever amen
Amen sah…praying along with you!
Amen Sah