A Way Through the Desert
In this passage, God also promises a way through the deserts. Look at verses 19 and 20, God says: I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Now the King James Version doesn't say wasteland, it says desert. God promises streams in the deserts to give drink to us when we're dying of thirst.
Finding Hope in Deserts
It's not just obstacles and enemies that ensize that get in our way in life. For many of us deserts are far more pressing reality. We go through life feeling empty, depressed, dejected, thirsty, unsatisfied, lonely, uncared. Life seems like an open land with no shade and no water, as if we're just trudging along step by step.
Somebody once said that in the dark night of the soul, it's always three o'clock in the morning. Have you been there? In a dark place, deserted, despairing? I want to tell you, God will make a way through the desert for you.
One of the ways in which Jesus described himself was as the living water. And there's something very profound about that. You see, water is essential to our survival. We can go without food much longer than we can go without water. When you're walking through the desert, you can find food. But man, you need water. I want us to remember today that when we're in a desert, when we're lost and lonely, depressed and empty, God provides water to get us through. Water in the wilderness, he himself is the living water that helps us.
Quenching Spiritual Thirst
Do you need to start taking great big gulps of living water today? I mean, isn't that what church and daily devotions and worship music and times of prayer are all about? They're about taking great big gulps of living water so we can get through our deserts.
God will make a way through the desert, friends, because with him in our lives, we will never die of thirst. No matter how dry the land around us seems.
Drink of him today, friends, and he will quench your thirst.
