God sends Rivers...

...in the desert !

Who has never, at some point in his life, gone through what we call “a desert,” or experienced the silences of God?

I believe every Christian has known moments of solitude in relation to God, or has felt abandoned and alone.

It was as if heaven had suddenly closed over you, and the doors of blessing were shut.

Depending on the situation, deserts may be more or less vast, and sometimes long to cross… everything becomes difficult: praying, rejoicing, reading the Word, meeting with others.

The desert is a quiet place, where God sets us apart from our usual surroundings in order to awaken our listening ear. And it is there that He desires to speak to your heart.

If God sometimes allows this, it is often to show you that what you think is a desert is in reality a blessing from Him, meant to teach you to live with little and to seek His presence. He is always there, but you do not know how to recognize Him!

And this is where God’s promise becomes so encouraging:

“I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:19

This is extraordinary! It means that God can intervene in the very heart of what seems barren. He does not always wait until everything is easy before revealing His goodness. He can give water precisely where water is lacking.

• The desert reveals our thirst; it shows us where we truly are.

The desert strips us bare. It removes our securities, our illusions, our human supports. It forces us to recognize that we cannot live only by our own strength, our habits, our wisdom, or our reasoning.

In the desert, we sometimes discover a simple but profound truth: we need God more than we thought…

And that is a wonderful discovery; it is even a grace. For as long as everything is going well, we may believe we can stand on our own. But when the ground becomes dry and barren, when the road becomes long, when answers are delayed, then our heart learns to say: “Lord, I thirst for You.”

• And Jesus answers that thirst:

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”
John 7:37

What is striking in Isaiah 43 is that God speaks of rivers, of abundant streams. He does not promise only a small, passing consolation, just enough to hold on for a while… He speaks of a life that flows, of grace that is renewed, of a presence that deeply refreshes.

And often, these rivers do not come in the way we had imagined.

Perhaps we were expecting a great visible deliverance, but God begins by giving us inner peace; He begins by changing the way we look at the situation.

We were expecting a spectacular answer, but God gives us a quiet strength to keep going.

Sometimes we think: “If God were really with me, I would not be in this desert, or in this mess!”

But the Bible often shows us something different: God accompanies His people in the desert and in their troubles, and there He reveals Himself in a particular way.

Let us remember that Moses, David, Elijah, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul all received their calling in the desert or were tested there! It is a fitting place to hear the voice of God.

And sometimes, that is the greatest miracle: to keep loving God, to keep hoping, to keep believing, even when everything within us feels like a desert.

So we do not need to worry if we are going through a “dry” season. Let us remember that God is in control, if we have entrusted our lives to Him.

Franz