Isaiah 35 day 1
A voice said: "Isaiah 35 - read it, it's for you..."
Well, I was hardly awake, eyes all blurry from sleep, but I made myself turn to it and read it .. hardly absorbing what it said.
It's a well known chapter - books have been written and songs have been sung using its contents.
But the next few days, I'm going to look at each verse in detail, because the Holy Spirit said: "It's for you"!
Isaiah 35:1 AMPC
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose and the autumn crocus.
The wilderness and dry land in Israel - places like the Dead Sea, the road from Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon and on down to Eilat - have a peculiar kind of solitary beauty.
There's not much human habitation to distract, it's quiet, undisturbed and barren.
At night the stars shine brighter because there's not much artificial light to detract from them.
Even a tiny acacia tree can grab my photographic attention, which, in a forest, would pass me by.
Is that what happens when God puts me in a barren place spiritually?
Little scraps of God's Word mean so much more - a verse pops into my mind - and it grabs my attention, like that acacia tree in the desert.
My weary soul gets thirsty, just like the Psalmist says:
Psalm 63:1 AMPC
O God, You are my God, earnestly will I seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land where no water is.
God's promise for the physical desert is that it will be glad, rejoice and blossom, like a rose or autumn crocus.
Israel's wilderness certainly has come to life. There are vineyards and farms scattered across the land.
Sde Boker and Ein Avdat are places of education, agricultural development and nature parks - God's prophetic word in tangible form.
So God's promise to me, in my desert times... don't try and force the flowers of joy and gladness. As in a garden, it takes time for plants to blossom ...
Desert times are times to be cherished... time to dig deeper into the Lord.
Spend time with Jesus, face those fears, losses, failures, sorrows and regrets together with Him.
Let the Holy Spirit lead me to the Cross... the precious "acacia tree" in my desert...
Joys flow from that precious place.
There's nothing that God cannot make blossom.
I can share the deep grief of losing my mum with someone who has lost theirs too and share the load.
That's how deserts blossom...
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