Oct 07 – PATHS AND RIVERS!

“I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19).
Wilderness is a hot place devoid of water and shade. It is a hard path devoid of any greatness or blessing. That is why the path of wilderness shows what an experience of being let down by everyone, the sadness of solitude and the path of tears are.
One day, Hagar had to walk sorrowfully through the wilderness of Shur, unable to bear the torture extended by Sarah. But, God willed to meet her on the path of wilderness, console and comfort her. God did not abandon her though she was a woman under slavery. God blessed her and her descendants. The meeting of God brought her into great brightness, who had been thus far in total darkness. God is one who creates paths even in the wilderness.
Look at Moses! He had led a glorious life in the palace of Pharaoh. He had been imparted with military training and was an expert in skills like archery and fencing. But alas! The hand which were supposed to rule the country had to hold the rod for grazing the sheep. God willed to meet him when he came to Mount Horeb, grazing the sheep. Even in that wilderness, God created a path for him. God handed him the huge responsibility of guiding the children of God.
The Scripture says, “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye” (Deuteronomy 32:10). That God will turn your life of wilderness into a blessed spring.
Balaam saw the children of Israel guided through the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. He saw God dwelling among them. God had risen in the most holy place in the tabernacle. With great surprise, Balaam wondered, “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel” (Numbers 24:5).
Further, he prophesied that the dwellings of the children of Israel in the wilderness were “Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens by the riverside, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters” (Numbers 24:6).
Dear children of God, you may be in the wilderness. But even there, God will create paths and rivers for you.
To meditate: “The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1).