He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into water springs. There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place. (Psalm 107:35-36)

As addressed in the previous devotion, God is able to transform the natural landscape in accordance with His will. If people are rebellious, He can turn a lush and fertile plain into a desert. On the other hand, if He so wills it, He can provide water in the midst of the desert and cause a spring to issue from flinty rock. As it is written, “He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers” (Psalm 78:15-16). In fact, in the place where it is believed that Israel camped, there is evidence that a river once flowed which would have provided ample water for the millions that were gathered there.

Of course, His provision doesn’t have to be on so grand a scale; a lone shepherd boy named David guided his father’s flock through the barren, Judean wilderness but still managed to find sufficient resources for the animals under his care. Actually, He acknowledged that it was the Good Shepherd who, even in the wilderness, “makes me to lie down in green pastures and leads me beside the still waters … and prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23:2, 5). In other words, regardless of our surroundings and the seeming lack of resources, God makes a way when there seems to be no way.

Most of us will never face the challenges and hazards of traversing a vast wilderness and the complications that go along with that. Yet all of us will encounter times of lack, times of testing and seasons when there seems to be no way. In those seasons, let us remember that the Creator of the Universe can speak to the barren desert and it will become a garden. That is the promise that we have, as His people; there is nothing impossible with our God. And so, as it is written: “I am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior…. and, behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise” (Isaiah 43:11, 19-21).

Blessings and Shalom,  

Bill