Streams in the Desert
August 4, 2023 — Laura House
When Nathan was fifteen, our family took a trip west through the desert of Arizona. Have you ever been to a desert? It’s very different from the lush, fertile fields of Indiana, where the rain falls regularly and crops, flowers, and weeds grow without even trying.
I remember that trip well. It included the Grand Canyon, a place Nathan visited again after college when he was taking a coast to coast journey. But one of the things I remember most about our family trip was how intrigued we all were with the terrain as we traveled west. If you live in the United States, then you know how diverse the scenery is as you move from state to state.
While driving through the desert, we stopped for a break at a rest stop. As we piled out of the car, we immediately saw something unusual that wouldn’t be encountered back at home — a prominent sign warning visitors to stay on the pavement or risk a deadly meeting with a scorpion or rattlesnake! Even the sidewalk didn’t feel safe to me after reading that.
If you live near the desert, then perhaps you feel that it gets a bad rap, and that’s likely true. There is great beauty in the towering, flowering cacti with amazing ability to withstand heat and drought, and the intricate patterns of the sand after a windy day. Remarkably, the desert is full of courageous, resilient creatures that not only survive, but thrive there. But we must all admit that the desert isn’t a place to hang out without bringing along plenty of provisions and gear — especially at night.
This morning as I was reading Isaiah 43, one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament, I was reminded again of how the grief journey can feel like trudging through the desert without a water bottle. Grief, especially when it's new, can seem like a lonely desert, a wasteland of pain, with danger lurking all around — fear, doubt, regret, insecurity, anger, confusion. Sound familiar? Or perhaps you aren’t grieving the loss of a loved one today, but a current life circumstance has landed you in the arid desert and you are searching for the way out.
When I consider the words of the Lord written to the people of Israel through the prophet Isaiah, I find comfort and hope to navigate the desert I am walking through today.
Isaiah 43: 18-19 says, “Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old. Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”
That’s an incredible picture of what God wants to do for each of us!
“I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”
There is the comfort. There is the promise. There is THE reason that we can walk the road of grief or suffering, because HE is working; HE is making a way.
“Do you not see it?”
My prayer for all of us today is that we will SEE and we will trust.
