Open up your Bible to the maps. Follow the Jordan River up from the Dead Sea to the smaller Sea of Galilee. If you’ve never been to the Sea of Galilee, you owe it to yourself to visit the place some time. Jesus could not have chosen a much more beautiful place to spend the bulk of his ministry than these shores and the surrounding hills.
The hills seem to positively leap up out of the lake’s basin. On the eastern edge, the Golan Heights loom ominously above the water. On the west side, the hills are a bit nearer. Today, I’d like to direct our attention to the northwest part of the lake. Have you opened up your Bible? Have you found the maps? Probably those maps include one that shows where the various tribes of Israel took their part of the Promised Land. Benjamin and Judah take up large swaths of land around Jerusalem and to the south. Manasseh spans land on both sides of the Jordan River. But it’s up around that northwest part of the Galilee that you’ll find the relatively small, relatively obscure territory given over to Zebulon and Naphtali.
These two territories meet in a valley running between two towering hills. Probably a creek, a feeder of the sea, runs through this valley. Why do I mention that boundary? As it was explained to me, that valley, that opening in the hills, represents an oft-traveled route from the highlands of the Galilee region to the sea and the road heading off to Damascus. So? When Jesus, the thirty-year-old would-be preacher of Nazareth, came down to the Sea of Galilee, he quite likely passed right through that valley. The lands of Zebulon and Naphtali had previously been humbled, but now . . .
Look at the area where Zebulon and Naphtali touch the sea. Where is Capernaum? Where was the Sermon on the Mount given? These places had once been humbled, but now they’re exalted, a destination for pilgrims.
When God came to earth, he did not start his work in Jerusalem, Rome, or Alexandria. He started instead in such obscure places as Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Cana. What does all of this mean for us? While it might be historically interesting to study these matters, the true significance for us lies, I think, in this as a metaphor. When God chose to work in me, he didn’t start in the place of my greatness and my triumph. He started in my weakness and my need. He took the part of me that had been humbled and filled it with hope. Perhaps you could share the same sort of testimony. The King has come to the Galilee hills and they’ll never be the same.
Tune My Heart is primarily an aid to the devotional life of its author, Mark Browning, who holds the copyright for this material. It is provided online in hopes that some will find it edifying. All contents, unless otherwise noted, may be redistributed freely provided that you give credit for its origin and do not charge anything.