| I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland … I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen. |
| —Isaiah 43:19-20 |
Have you ever struggled with a problem from which you seemingly had no way out? Has the “road” of this problem been dry and unyielding, going on much longer than you ever imagined it would? Do you feel that you have no strength for the fight, no tears left to shed, no prayers you haven’t spoken a thousand times? Then this devotional blog post is for you. Please let me illustrate my point with three examples:
First example: I remember one school year during which I was assigned to teach in a school with poor discipline and I was assigned an age group to which I had trouble relating. It was a very bad “fit” for me, but I was plugging a hole in the schedule and the administration had shuffled teachers around, so that I had space in my week for the classes at this school.
I remember how poorly the students treated me, even though I did my very best and spent hours and hours looking for materials I thought they would enjoy. Nevertheless, nothing worked. It was a very long, emotionally draining school year.
Yet, amidst all the pain and lack of success with those music classes, at the same time, I had a group of students in my chorus who sang beautifully. They joyfully worked hard on the pieces I gave them and earned us a standing ovation at our spring concert. This group was my “oasis in the desert” during that awful school year.
Second example: I know a woman who had been an influential leader in her church, but when a new pastor came to the church, she realized he was not going to use her gifts as she had so effectively used previously. She was heart sick that she was set aside, yet she felt committed to the church and its mission.
Not long after that new pastor came, she was led to a new para-church organization that needed her leadership skills. Also, she received an elevation at her secular job and was given new leadership opportunities there. Though she continued on at the church and was saddened by the direction things took there, God had given her other things that made her heart sing. This was her “oasis in the desert” in that difficult time.
Third example: A devoted Christian pastor that I know went through the devastating loss of his ministry and his reputation through no fault of his own. The situation nearly ruined him financially, as well. Yet, in those days, he spent a couple of days a week watching his new granddaughter, who sat beside him in the car—those were days before car seats!—and with her little feet sticking straight ahead off the seat, she happily jabbered and sang in his presence. This was his “oasis in the desert” during a very discouraging time in his life.
While God doesn’t always take away our distressing wilderness experiences as quickly as we would like, in the midst of such a “desert,” He can provide those times of refreshing that keep us going. When the people of Israel traveled the Sinai desert for 40 years, yearning for the rich foods they previously had available back in Egypt, and fighting off hunger and thirst, Scripture tells us in Psalm 78:19:
… they spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the desert?”
This passage of Scripture goes on to report in Psalm 78:23-27:
Yet he [God] gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. Men ate the bread of angels; … He rained meat down on them like dust, flying birds like sand on the seashore.
The unbelief of these Israelites greatly disappointed God because He expected His own people to know that He could indeed spread a table before them in the desert. And, in fact, that is exactly what God did for them. Likewise, God is able to feed us and to give us a cool refreshing drink in our distress. When we go through a long drought that we don’t understand, we should put our trust fully in God. He can, and He will, provide an “oasis in the desert” for us!
