I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert
Isaiah 43:19
When we’re in a wilderness or a dry and barren season, our natural tendency is to cry out to God and ask Him to change the landscape. We want our situation and circumstances to change and to be removed from a difficult or painful environment.
Yet more often than not, God doesn’t remove us from our environment, instead He makes a way for us through our difficult terrain. God makes a way where it appears there is no way. He opens up new ways and leads us through the wilderness and it’s here that we learn life lessons that can only be learned as we walk with God through difficult times.
We learn new ways of trusting Him, new ways of conquering our fears and in the quiet and loneliness of the wilderness experience we hear God’s voice more clearly.
David who spent many years in the wildernesssaid, “even if I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I will fear no evil, for your rod and your staff they comfort me.”
David knew that God would always make a new way for him in the wilderness and there he would know the comfort and peace of His presence.
Jesus said “I Am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus was declaring that He is the one who makes a way for us to know the truth, to find new life and come home to our Heavenly Father, when we were lost in the wilderness, not knowing which way to turn.
Let’s ask God to open up new ways for us this year through all of the twists and turns and ups and downs of life. As we follow Jesus, however difficult the terrain, may He lead us into new and significant ways of fulfilling His purpose and plan in our day and generation.