Carol singing to the ancient well of a Byzantine church at Madaba Jordan.

Our first stop was Madaba en route to Mt Nebo. This is an ancient Moabite city mentioned in the Bible in Numbers 21:30 and Joshua 13:9. We discovered ancient Byzantine churches there from the 2nd century. In the archeological site they had several wells and we were struck with the fact that believers in Jesus once worshiped here. It was holy ground.

THE WELLS

I was also reminded of the biblical account when the Israelites wandered the desert and how many times they were in desperate need of water. As the tribes of Israel moved into the land of Moab, they needed water—again. But interestingly, this time, they did not react violently towards Moses or Aaron or with unbelief towards God. Apparently, they decided that returning to Egypt was not an option anymore.

From there they went to Be’er, the well the LORD told Moses about, “Gather the people so that I may give them water.”

Then Israel sang this song:

Spring up, well—sing to it!…(Numbers 21:16-18, HCSB)

Instead of grumbling and complaining about what they did not have, the Israelites chose to trust God – and their leaders. They chose to sing to their provision—in joy!—with the expectation of an answer to their need.

And God provided so miraculously—enough water to care for all the tribes of people, cattle, etc…in the middle of nowhere, from an unexpected source. That’s our God. His provision is always more than enough.

While visiting Jordan, our prayer declaration was to call forth this region back to its heritage in Jesus the Messiah. So I sang to all the ancient wells: “Spring up O well!! Refresh this land with Living Waters!”

Spring up O Well!

Sometimes you have to do an act in the physical to represent what God is doing in the Spirit.

Ron staring into the well

We can peer into the past and know that God is restoring His people back to their heritage, their inheritance — back to Himself. That is true with the church of the Middle East.

Ron and Carol peering into the deep well

Jesus, the Light of the world, is rekindling the fire of His passion and love to His Bride in the Middle East.

Alabaster windows of the ancient churches

The corridors of the archeological site at Madaba.

corridors of the church site

We are walking on ancient stones where once His people worshiped. If these stones could talk.

Walking the ancient paths of Madaba

Our prayer as we stood on this ancient site:

God, strengthen the church of Jordan with the passion of Your love, all for the glory of Jesus. Amen.