“At The Time It Happens, I Am There”

“Come near me and listen to this:

“From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.”

And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with his Spirit.

This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.

If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.

Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.”

Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.”

They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.

“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 48:16-22

In Scripture, God’s people were familiar with desert life. Much of the Middle East, including Israel, is desert. But there are lush exceptions like the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee. God chose to “raise His family” in a place where He could make His goodness known to His children as they trusted Him for protection and daily provision.

Today, most of us do not live in literal deserts, but we often go through desert-like places. Sometimes we go as an act of obedience. Other times we find ourselves there through no conscious action or choice. When someone abandons us, or disease invades our bodies, we end up in desert-like circumstances where resources are scare and life is hard to sustain.

The point of going through a desert, whether literally or figuratively, is to remind us that we are dependent on God to sustain us – a lesson we need to remember even when we’re living in a place of plenty.

In every desert, God has an oasis of grace.

Our Daily Bread – July 11, 2015