I had a cousin visit from Texas some years ago. As with most who do not live near “Hollywood,” she had a fascination with the film industry. Universal Studios was new, still a novelty in Los Angeles at that time, so we went to see how television shows and movies are made. Summing up her experience she said, “I expected to see glitz and glamour, but all I saw was façades and dirt.”

Because of the Rigsbys’ influence, I have seen quite a few photos of Israel over the years. And, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” they say. But none of those pictures accurately portrayed what I perceived to be reality! Or maybe I selectively erased portions of the slides from my mental understanding.

What do I mean? Israel is just a bunch of rocks! One guide so aptly said, “God made the world 90% dirt and 10% rocks, but Israel He made 90% rocks and 10% dirt.” There are rocks everywhere. Rocks on the mountains, high. Rocks in the valleys, low. Rocks on the plains. Rocks in the seas. Big rocks, little rocks. Round rocks, square rocks. Plain rocks, colorful rocks. Field rocks, hewn rocks. Here a rock, there a rock, everywhere a rock, rock! So, what can you do with all those rocks?

You use them.

Rocks are stacked, etched, cut, colored, shaped, digged, flung, stored, milled, sold, crushed, mined, trucked, carved, arranged, and sometimes simply left alone.

Rocks are used for fences, walls, houses, roads, floors, mosaics, aqueducts, cisterns, castles, baths, tunnels, and milestones.

No wood for a house?
No problem, just carve it in the side of a rock! No water to your part of town? No problem, dig a tunnel in the rock wherever you want it to go!

No protection from an enemy?
No problem, build a wall to the sky, all the way around your land!

Need a defense arsenal, too?
No problem, throw, sling, or catapult a rock!

Have you rocks in your garden?
No problem, plow around them!

Are your vineyards overloaded and need uplifting?
No problem, move a rock!

Nothing to sit on?
No problem, shape a rock for a chair.

Need something to hold your animals’ fodder?
No problem, carve a trough!

Need a bed?
No problem, use a rock…and as your pillow, a rock!

Need a hot oven to cook?
No problem, heat a few rocks.

And, you can think of some fanciful way to display and charge people money to see all those rocks!

“We are going to spend the day at ‘Petra’ (which means rock), for only 20 Dinar ($30.00).

“Here is the rock Moses struck with his staff (with water still gushing).”

“Come see the rock where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac, at the ‘Dome of the Rock.’ That will be 30 Shekels (about $10.00).”

“This is Calvary, where Jesus was crucified, conveniently protected from the weather by a church building, encased in glass to prevent thievery.”

And, believe it or not, we slept at a hotel in Amman, Jordan where the beds as hard as rocks (thus the phrase, ‘bedrock,’ I suppose).

Not to be outdone, the Jerusalem City Council passed an ordinance that all buildings would have a rock facade! Really!

You’ve got to hand it to the Israelis and Jordanians for the creative use of their natural resources. Do you think God had something more in mind than economics when He created that land? Donna Rigsby often says, “God wastes nothing, He uses everything.” We have been learning that God desired to teach His people to trust Him. If Israel is the land prepared by God to teach His people faith, why did He fill it with rocks?

I couldn’t tell you why He filled it with rocks. But the Bible gives us an interesting insight about God that might be helpful to know Him.

Jacob compares God to a rock (Genesis 49:24). However, God doesn’t want us worshipping the rocks, but the One Who created them.

Joshua used rocks to set up a memorial (Joshua 4:1-ff.) so when the rocks are seen, they will remember God’s faithfulness to His people.

In the New Testament the metaphor is no longer God, but His people. Jesus told Peter, “on this rock, I will build my church.”

Peter understood what Jesus was saying because in his first letter, he speaks of “living stones,” which we are who put our faith in Him. It was Steve Bram, a missionary in Papua New Guinea who asked, “What about Himself is God etching in me, His living stone?” Some of the things that are carved into our lives we don’t like and certainly don’t want to remember, some we do.

I thought it ironic that Satan would tempt Jesus with rocks. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to be turned to bread.” And, if He had, without surrendering any of His Deity, today we would marvel about the bread that fills Israel instead of rocks, because Jesus is even the Bread of Life.

God doesn’t waste anything. He is working to develop faith in me or faith for the sake of others. And, whether it be rocks or bread makes no difference to Him.

Maybe I’ve got some rocks in my head, but it is hard not to fall in love with the rocks in Israel. And, the Rock of Israel, too!

One evening in Israel, being sick and under medicinal influence, I had a dream. Not a nightmare (nightmares come from eating a falafel, but that is another story). Of course, it was a Biblical dream about Abraham—and God. I can’t describe God because I don’t remember seeing Him. Come to think of it, I don’t recall what Abraham looked like, either. But it was them. I don’t know how I know—it was a dream. God was talking and Abraham was supposed to be listening, but he kept interrupting God with questions.

I remember this story. It is in Genesis 12 (why do I feel like Henry and Homer are about to pull my leg—again?). God told Abraham to leave his country and go to a “land I will show you.” And that’s just it. In the Bible, Abraham went and did as he was told. But, not in this dream. Abraham didn’t make excuses like Moses did in the Bible; no, he asked God questions.

“Abraham!”

“Yup!?! (for that is the manner in which he spoke in those days). Who is it?”

“Abraham, I want you to go to a land that I will show you!”

“O.K., but what is this land like?

“Abraham, this land where I am sending you is filled with rocks.”

“Uh (in his best Hebrew accent)—and I can make a living from rocks!?!”

“Trust Me. Thousands of years from now tourists will pay My people big money to see—no, venerate, the most important rocks.”

“Really!?! How will I know when I have arrived?”

“Abraham, this land where I am sending you is at the crossroads of three major continents. There you will influence the entire world as they pass through.”

“By throwing the rocks?”

“No, now trust Me. Because of My choosing (and your ‘mistake,’ as you call it), you will be revered as the father of three of the world’s great religions that will profoundly affect generation after generation.”

“Well, as long as I have a good delta, I can grow anything!”

“Uh, Abraham, there is no major source of water for growing crops in this land.”

“What? I suppose You are going to make water come out of those rocks!?”

“Abraham, you’re getting ahead of My story. I tell you what, I will make it rain in this land. But, I will condition the rain on your obedience, and that of your descendants. Trust Me?”

“But, how and what will we eat?”

“Abraham, this land where I am sending you will be wonderfully diverse: mountains and valleys, plains and swamps, coast lands and desert—rich for growing even seven varieties. There will be lots of mountains and valleys.”

“Seven? (hmmm!) It sounds like every step I take will either be up or down!”

“Abraham, (under His breath, ‘you got that right’) do you trust Me?”

“O.K., but we are going to need livestock. I envision sheep, You know, like Wyoming (hey, it’s a dream!). What do You think?”

“Abraham, I envision more sheep than the stars of the sky. No, wait, I better save that one to tell you about your progeny. Abraham, I envision sheep and cattle of the field, birds of the sky, fish, and the creepy crawly things. In fact, all of My creation will be centered in this land. Trust Me?”

“Hey, wait a minute. What if I am ambushed? What if I am beaten, stripped, and left for dead? What guarantee do I have for peace in this land?

“Abraham…there you go again…getting ahead of My story. This land where I am sending you will know little peace. In fact, I will surround this land with seven enemies who will taunt you, threaten you, and t…(come on now, if I thought of one more word that started with “t,” you would think this was a sermon being preached by Pastor Rigsby instead of a dream). They will feign peace to your face, then stab you in the back. But, I tell you what I’m going to do. Those who bless you, I will bless. And, those who curse you, I will curse.”

“How long will this go on?”

“Abraham, until the world knows that peace won’t come until it knows the Prince of Peace. Trust Me?”

“What is all this going to cost me? A few of those rocks, maybe?”

“Abraham, it might cost you your yet unborn son. Oops! But I will provide. Do you trust Me?”

“Lord, I will trust You. Who is this, really?”

“So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him…” (Genesis 12:4, how that got in a dream, I don’t know).

And, then, I woke up!

It is no surprise to you that God didn’t really have this conversation with Abraham. But, in calling Abraham, God expressed His desire to bring all men to faith.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe (trust, have faith) that He is (exists, is One), and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Apparently this dream had an Epilogue.

“Abraham here. I am wondering why you are so quick to question, instead of believing God? Is faith so difficult that you need to doubt God?”

“I ask, ‘What are you believing?’ to remind you that I create and sustain faith for a lifetime, not you. That way, you are in no danger of losing your faith. I ask, ‘In Whom is your faith placed?’ to convince you that faith is only as good as the Object (the One) in which you trust, even if I were to send you to ‘a land that I will show you.’ Trusting Me is no dream.”

This is “falafel-ly” good! I really need to wake up!

I guess it is to be expected that the “wow” from Israel is slow in coming! There is this information overload that occurred almost every minute of the 21 day, 90+ site trip. Sifting, organizing, and filing the Scriptures, events and the pictures in my mind is taking a while. Each evening I was faced with a choice: Consume the evening hours preparing my fatigued body for the next day (sleep) or ponder deeply. I chose the former, “oh wretched man that I am.”

One recurring thought (whether awake or asleep) I encountered is how unlearned I am. No, I am not admitting an inability to learn (maybe some would disagree). I am admitting that I sure don’t know very much. Let me explain. Certain trees, shrubs and flowers were described and all I could think was “what do I know about horticulture?” At the Sea of Galilee we were shown ancient fishing methods. I don’t even know modern fishing methods. Almost daily I would see flocks of sheep and goats being led by pre-teen boys who would accurately throw a rock into a flock, striking just the one to move them all in the direction he desired. If that was my task, I am sure I would come home empty. What do I know about any animal husbandry? At times we received descriptions and examples of farming, whether orchard, vineyard, or crops. Finally, I knew something: the fence rows needed hoeing. That isn’t much! And I don’t even know why I knew that! We visited the Golan Heights, the area recovered by the Israelis during the 1967 Seven Day War. I know I was alive then, but no one told me that someday it would be history I should remember. And, what do I know about military tactics, anyway? We were experiencing wind and rain the day it snowed in Jerusalem. I had to admit that all I really knew about meteorology is what the clowns on TV tell me. One day we had the privilege of meeting the Advisor to the Mayor of Jerusalem. He was skilled, composed, and articulate. I wondered how much I knew about international law, politics and God’s Law. Everywhere we went the type of soil was described with an account of how that might affect discovering the accuracy of the past from archeology. Geology? Archaeology? I guess I missed those lessons, too.

While my knowledge may be woefully diminutive, being in Israel and Jordan led me to wonder about the greatness of God. Hear Dr. Peter Masters (pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England) describe the knowledge of our God:

“God’s knowledge is incomprehensible! God is knowledge and Truth. God’s knowledge is a never-learned knowledge. He has always known all things. God’s knowledge is all-seeing knowledge. His knowledge is perfect. There is nothing that He does not know. God has a knowledge of eternity. God knows not only the things which happen, but also the staggering number of alternative possibilities. God’s knowledge is self-knowing. Most of the time we cannot discern the deeper motives for the things we do. We cannot see most of our faults. We have no perception of our spiritual deadness. But God knows Himself perfectly. God’s knowledge is constant. He sees all things—past, present, and future—at the same time and all the time. He never forgets. God’s knowledge is impartial. He is not subject to any prejudice, and therefore judges all things perfectly. God’s knowledge is a concerned knowledge. He is not indifferent to what He knows, but is moved with compassion. God’s knowledge is to some extent a revealed knowledge. He has taken some of it—as much as we can grasp—and published it in His Word. God’s knowledge is a demonstrated knowledge. His knowledge has been wonderfully demonstrated to be reliable and true. Jesus Christ never fails. The knowledge of God is, to believers, a very surprising knowledge. He knows our every move, our every thought, our every sin. The knowledge of God is a magnificent and enjoyable knowledge. For God to share with mortals merely a fraction of what He knows and sees, lifts the soul higher than mortal knowledge could ever do.” (excerpts from “The Reflected Attributes of God,” Sword and Trowel, 1997, No. 4).

Israel and Jordan are great places to visit, created by an even greater all knowing God, designed to lead His creatures to believe that God is and that He is one LORD. Every step in the land was an adventure in a more complete knowledge of our Creator. God, in all His magnanimous knowledge, cares not so much what I know, but Who I know. And, “I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able, to keep that which I’ve committed, unto Him against that day.”