Isaiah 35:1-3 AMPC
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose and the autumn crocus. [2] It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellency of [Mount] Carmel and [the plain] of Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty and splendour and excellency of our God. [3] Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble and tottering knees.
Through numerous excursions in Israel, I've come to love the various desert landscapes.
Each New Year, we travelled to the tranquillity of the Negev, where even a single tree shows up starkly against barren rocks; an oasis is highlighted and draws attention like a magnet; the night sky plays a symphony with the stars.
When other distractions are stripped away, we see life more distinctly. We appreciate the things that really matter.
Everyone will go through barren times.
Life will become dull and uninteresting or perhaps stripped of physical abilities through illness or disease.
It's then that the majesty of the Lord lights up our "night sky".
We turn away from self reliance to lean on His Word and unchanging love.
He takes our desert times, as bleak as they seem, and leads us to bore down through the bedrock of trials to find wells of salvation.
Like the children of Israel had to rely on water from the rock and daily manna from Heaven, in our deserts, we too learn to draw our existence from Jesus and His Living Word on a daily basis.
Then we truly see our deserts blossoming as a rose.
Prayer
Father God help me, when I'm downhearted, to brace up and look up to You from where my help comes!
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