The Dead Sea And You
One of the highlights for everyone who has travelled to Israel with us is swimming in the Dead Sea.
I love to swim and had heard others talk about the Dead Sea. I've wanted to swim in it since I was a boy when I first heard a teacher explaining what it was like. It’s beyond description.
The Dead Sea has ten times the concentration of salt as the ocean. That concentration of salt makes it very buoyant. You cannot sink in the Dead Sea. Floating on it is almost like laying on top of the water. You have to experience it yourself.
Because of that concentration of salt and other minerals, nothing, absolutely nothing is able to live in it. The salt and concentration of other minerals kills all bacteria and any other life that may find its way into the water. There are no fish, sea mammals, amphibians, or microbes. It is completely sterile.
Why? Because The Dead Sea has an inlet but no outlet. Salt and minerals are deposited, and as the water is evaporated in the hot desert sun, the salt and minerals are left behind. So the sea is dead.
It is so unlike nearby beautiful Ein Gedi, where the water flows fresh and alive. It is water that brings and supports life in the middle of the desert. The Dead Sea takes it all in but gives nothing out.
Everyone falls into one of those categories. You are either receiving and giving; alive, fresh and breathing life into others. Or you are taking and holding, stagnant and sterile; death to self and dead to others.
Which are you? Do you have an inlet and outlet? If you have no inlet, you will dry out. If you have not outlet, no means to give and serve, you stagnate, or become so concentrated with what you’ve been given that you support no one else, and die from the inside out.
Every civilization in history has been built around water. Where there is no water, there are no people, no ruins from people of the past, and no plans for people to live in the future. But just having water is not enough. The water must be fresh, flowing, life-giving water (even underground water must be that way).
That was the point God was making in Isaiah 58. He spoke through the prophet and condemned their selfishness, yet promised them that when they come back to Him and walk with Him, they will become…“like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring” (Isaiah 58:11). With not only their thirst being satisfied, but blessing all those around them.
Are you taking it all in? Are you giving it all out?