Streams

“Forget the former things;
Do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not
perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland”
Is. 43:18-19

Two years ago the Lord gave me this verse. Recently, God has given me some pictures in my mind, in answer, to my prayers. He has also reminded me of some visions that he gave me while I was overseas.
Oswald Chambers says “we can not attain to a vision; we must live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself! Waiting for the vision that tarries is the test of our loyalty to God.”
The waiting is hard. I don’t always feel faithful to the vision. I get discouraged and doubt leaks into my brain. Why do I doubt the ONLY ONE who CAN make a way in the desert? Sure, I occasionally feel like someone has kicked sand in my face and we are far from any OASIS! But a promise from God, a word from the Lord is a WORD from the LORD! The verse above promises “streams in the wasteland!” Not a stagnant pond, not a lake or the Dead Sea…but streams.
Active, moving, flowing and refreshing.
I could use a stream.....................even a babbling brook.

What if you are standing in the wasteland and God ask… “Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
What should we do on days when we don’t see it? When the wasteland, the desert seems vast and overwhelming?
I believe Lord, Help my unbelief!
I don’t want to miss it! I look and I recognize possibilities of refreshment. But maybe my idea, of the complete fulfillment, of my vision is not what God intended. Maybe I have imagined what I want it to be.
God doesn’t promise to remove the desert- He promises to make a way IN the desert. God doesn’t promise to remove the wastelands but he does promise there will be streams IN the wasteland.

I have been confronted with hard places recently. Water goes over or around hard places and over time, moving and active water can change the roughness of a hard place…..make it smooth.
God reminded me in prayer that He is the God who formed the Grand Canyon. He can change the face of the land, He can remove hard places.
He reminded me that The Grand Canyon was carved by HIM.
He who carved the Grand Canyon can move the hard places. Nothing is to difficult for HIM.
A river runs through the Grand Canyon. A river that is strong, active, still moving and still changing. From the top of the Grand Canyon it is hardly seen. It is hard to tell, it is there, or to believe it carved its way through the land to such a depth.
Give us a depth Lord, give us streams in the desert, and give us eyes to perceive and a faith to believe.