As the Mountains Surround Jerusalem...

...so the Lord surrounds His people. I'll confess, I have never been a person who loves poetry, but more and more I see how the Psalms give us a beautiful impression of God, through others that came before us. We see how these people had joy, peace, love, and awe for the Lord in the midst of great prosperity and blessing, but also during the trials and tribulations that life gives us. Psalm 125, from which the above quote comes, is an amazing declaration of the love and power God has for His people. As we stood today right outside the walls of the Old City, in the City of David (which is the place where Jerusalem was located in the time that David reigned and many years after), we looked around at all the hills surrounding the place where the city would have been when this Psalm was written. The hills are literally a huge natural barrier of protection around Jerusalem, the city God's people. The people of Jerusalem would be able to see anyone coming towards the city as they entered the valleys at the bottom, giving them an enormous upper hand of defense. God's power comes to life when you see these mountains. According to this Psalmist, the Lord surrounds His people like these hills, with power, might, and majesty. How can we ever be fearful or insecure when we hear this!? The first line of the Psalm reads, "those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever". I'm living on Mount Zion and I promise, it definitely doesn't move. Mountains cannot be moved, as God cannot be moved, and He is surrounding His people.

We also got to walk through Hezekiah's Tunnel. This tunnel was built by King Hezekiah during his reign which began around 715 BC. The tunnel was built so that in the occurrence of an attack on Jerusalem, the city would still have a source of water to sustain it's people. Hezekiah did an impressive job of keeping this water a secret by builging a wall arounf the spring itself, then digging a long tunnel to route the water into the city. It took about 30 minutes or so to walk this dark tunnel that was about 2 feet wide and ranged from just about 5 feet to areas where the top was way above us. There was water up to about mid-calf the whole time, and at one point it came all the way up to our hips, which I must say we appreciated because the water was cold and we were so hot. It's amazing to think that the people of Jerusalem chisled this tunnel by hand and it took over 10 years to complete. All to help provide for the people of Jerusalem.

At the end of the tunnel, we came to the place where the water used to form a pool called the Pool of Siloam. This is the same pool where Jesus sent the blind man to wash, after he had put mud on his eyes to restore his sight. It was amazing to think that roughly 2000 years ago Jesus was in this very place, where we were sitting, performing an amazing miracle. God had changed the life of one of His children forever, in this exact spot, through Jesus. Is that not incredible!? To be in a place where something like that happened is incredible, it's like you know that person even though they tread those paths over 2000 years ago. It doesn't feel so ancient or foreign when you are actually there.

Needless to say, today was pretty amazing. Then it was topped off with a great dinner, great conversation, and a walk into the upscale mall area right near the college. All in all, this trip is amazing, in so many ways.

Also, I figured out how to upload photos and video to the blog! So here is the video I took at the look out point above Hezekiah's Tunnel of the hills surrounding Jerusalem! This is where there are ruins that are believed to be part of David's palace, so this is what he would have seen from his windows (which is where he would have seen Bathsheba). It starts at the wall of the Old City and moves around past the Mount of Olives (with the Kidron Valley in between), then past the Hinnom Valley and back around to the wall of the Old City.