Renewal in the wilderness

We have spent the last two days in a wilderness like no wilderness I had ever imagined.  Stark stone hills are pock marked with caves and covered with huge boulders that look ready to topple at any moment. The hills overlook a enticing yet lifeless sea that has left a beach of rounded globules of hardened salt as it has receded over time.  Jesus was drawn here to fast and to pray ... and to be tempted after his baptism.  Others before and after have fled here to escape enemies and simply to escape life. Some, like the Jews at Masada died horrible deaths here. But others found new life in the caves, the monasteries built into the hills, and kibbutzim like the one where we are staying. There is fresh water in this wilderness, hidden in the hills.  It gushes forth from the dry rocks in unexpected places and pools deep below in aquifers waiting to be tapped.  I didn't expect the wilderness to be such a place of renewal.
Anne