They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.
Isaiah 49:10
The Lord is our Shepherd. We shall not want. He leads us beside quiet waters.
(Psalm 23) I love to go the mountains and sit beside a mountain stream. The quiet ripple of the water is soothing, and the beauty of the water fills my soul.
God has promised us that He will provide a spring of water to those in the desert.
We all have “desert times” – times where our lives seem dry, flat, and without purpose. During those times, the Lord seeks to send our roots down deep in Him as we search for His spring within us. Jesus told the woman at the well that He was the spring of Living Water – that the water He offered would cause her to never thirst again. (John 4) The times when we are spiritually thirsty and dry are the times when the Lord has us search for Him; these are the times when our spiritually dry land searches for the streams of His Presence.
The Israelites were the chosen people of God, yet they were a fickle people. They would turn from God, and then they would find themselves in the desert wondering why God had abandoned them. How like the Israelites we are! We suddenly find ourselves away from the mountain streams, away from the place of life in Christ, and we end up in the desert. When Israel was in exile God spoke to them: The poor and needy search for water; but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into springs. (Isaiah 41:17-18) God saw their thirst and parched souls in the desert of exile, and He promised them streams in the desert.
God, through His Son Jesus Christ, has provided Living Water to our thirsty souls. When it seems as though the wellspring of life has gone dry, He leads us besides the still waters and refreshes us; He may not lead us out of the desert, but He will surely provide water in the desert.
Are you thirsty and dry? Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…
(Isaiah 55:1)
Heavenly Father,
As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. (Psalm 42:1) Fill me today with Your Living Presence.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
