Do you ever feel like you are in a desert, dear pilgrim? I don't know too many people who, if given the choice of where to spend a few days away, would choose to be plopped down in the midst of an unirrigated, undeveloped desert. The desert is dry, the sun is blistering hot during the day, and the absence of the sun brings extreme temperatures of cold at night. My soul, I must admit, often feels like a desert place when I am in the midst of suffering. The intense heat of the pain makes me feel parched, dry, weak, and at times, when circumstances are particularly dark, I can be cold toward the Lord and His goodness.
If you find yourself in that place, I want to share something I recently learned about streams in the desert. I'm not speaking of the book by that name, though I know many have received comfort from the pages of that particular devotional. I'm talking about actual streams that run through actual deserts. There are some regions of the earth where streams run continuously through a desert area and these streams never run dry. The Nile, the Colorado, and the Yellow Rivers are all examples of this phenomenon, but the interesting thing about these streams is they exist because of what is called "exotic" water sources. That's a fancy way of saying the water must come from a source outside of the desert itself. (For example, the Nile comes from the mountains of Central Africa.) Whenever you find a stream that runs continuously through a desert region, it is the result of an exotic water source.
Well, that set me to pondering and then the comfort came. I realized that when I find myself in the desert place, I too must look to a source outside of my circumstances and outside of myself to strengthen, to enliven, to refresh. What is your "exotic" water source when you are in the desert? Scripture paints a contrasting picture for us. "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).
Are you trying to drink from broken cisterns that cannot hold water? You see the broken cisterns are the ones we hew for ourselves; the attempts we make on our own to deal with our pain apart from the living water of Christ and His Word or even perhaps because we are angry at the One who has the power to change our circumstances, but rather than bringing us out of the desert is inviting us to draw deeply from the river of His grace and mercy in our circumstances, in the wilderness.
Let these words soak into your dry parched soul, dear believer.
"Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise" (Isaiah 43:19-21).
Do you see the source of the exotic water? God says, "I will do something new... I will make rivers in the desert... I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." I promise you, that water source will never run dry. All we have to do is stop hewing out broken cisterns that can hold no water and come, come to the living waters. If the beasts glorify God for this gift, how much more should we, those He has chosen for Himself, declare His praise?
Come, dear suffering Christian, draw deeply, and let your heart overflow with thankfulness, even in the midst of the desert.
If you find yourself in that place, I want to share something I recently learned about streams in the desert. I'm not speaking of the book by that name, though I know many have received comfort from the pages of that particular devotional. I'm talking about actual streams that run through actual deserts. There are some regions of the earth where streams run continuously through a desert area and these streams never run dry. The Nile, the Colorado, and the Yellow Rivers are all examples of this phenomenon, but the interesting thing about these streams is they exist because of what is called "exotic" water sources. That's a fancy way of saying the water must come from a source outside of the desert itself. (For example, the Nile comes from the mountains of Central Africa.) Whenever you find a stream that runs continuously through a desert region, it is the result of an exotic water source.
Well, that set me to pondering and then the comfort came. I realized that when I find myself in the desert place, I too must look to a source outside of my circumstances and outside of myself to strengthen, to enliven, to refresh. What is your "exotic" water source when you are in the desert? Scripture paints a contrasting picture for us. "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).
Are you trying to drink from broken cisterns that cannot hold water? You see the broken cisterns are the ones we hew for ourselves; the attempts we make on our own to deal with our pain apart from the living water of Christ and His Word or even perhaps because we are angry at the One who has the power to change our circumstances, but rather than bringing us out of the desert is inviting us to draw deeply from the river of His grace and mercy in our circumstances, in the wilderness.
Let these words soak into your dry parched soul, dear believer.
"Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise" (Isaiah 43:19-21).
Do you see the source of the exotic water? God says, "I will do something new... I will make rivers in the desert... I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." I promise you, that water source will never run dry. All we have to do is stop hewing out broken cisterns that can hold no water and come, come to the living waters. If the beasts glorify God for this gift, how much more should we, those He has chosen for Himself, declare His praise?
Come, dear suffering Christian, draw deeply, and let your heart overflow with thankfulness, even in the midst of the desert.
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