Monday, March 26, 2007

Isaiah 43:16-21 (The Message)
16-21This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can't get up;
they're snuffed out like so many candles:
"Forget about what's happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?
There it is! I'm making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say 'Thank you!'
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.

Our God can do anything. According to Isaiah, a messenger of God’s word, God builds roads through the ocean and stills mighty armies. God can also do new things. Isaiah says God is going to do something new by making a road through the desert and bringing water. Wild animals will thank God for it, and God’s chosen people will drink it.

Sometimes when the Bible talks about deserts it is referring to the kind of deserts that are geographical features, the kind of places that do not get much rain. Other times when the Bible mentions deserts it is using the term as a metaphor. A desert might not be a geographical feature but rather a condition in which people live, a place where people live without God’s rain/reign.

The desert in this passage from Isaiah could be either kind, but we might suggest it refers to the kind of desert in which we live. This passage comes up a lot during Lent. It may be because we think of God sending Jesus to earth to live as “something brand-new”. Jesus, who is “the Way”, or as the Message translates, “the Road” is a “road through the desert”. Jesus brings “living water” to our spiritually dry conditions. When we drink from him, we will not thirst again and will be given real, eternal life.

Have you ever felt like you were living in a desert? When? What did you do?

When you are in a desert place, do you call out to God?

How has Jesus brought water to your spiritually dry condition?