Water in the Wasteland

Renewal in a Dry Place!

Terry R. Baughman
“Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland. The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived” (Isaiah 35:6-7 NLT).

Barrenness is associated with the desert terrain. There are few signs of life and little to sustain an existence in the wilderness. Vegetation is limited to cacti, wispy trees, and scrub brush, clinging to survival with every drop of water they can retain. 

The vast deserts may be identified as a wasteland, lacking value when it comes to productivity or fruitfulness. However, when springs break through the parched ground and flow into dry places the wasteland bursts forth with life. Streams flow down toward the valleys and pool in lower places, feeding the germination of seeds that were once thought dead, dry, and done. One never knows the potential of growth in what appears to be a wasteland. 

Isaiah saw a future transformation. He prophesied and described how the desert bloomed and the barren wasteland became filled with reeds and rushes, the vegetation of a well-watered place. The desert was no longer barren and fruitfulness returned to the vacant landscape. What was once appeared to be sand dunes and worthless dirt became an oasis, a place of refreshing and rest. 

Water is essential to life. It has the power to bring resurrection to a dry seed, and the ability to produce life in a new believer. The universal availability of water provides a promise that all may find a stream for refreshing. No doubt, that is why Jesus used water as the substance and symbol of the washing away of our sins. 

One night, Jesus met with Nicodemus and responded to his questions, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5 NIV). Our faith and spiritual experience is demonstrated in the water! 

Much like the river in a desert brings resurrection of life to the dry places, water baptism signifies new life in every believer. By faith in the name of Jesus, and through His blood that was shed for our sins, baptism provides a cleansing, a refreshing, and the promise that we may rise to walk in a new life! (See Acts 2:38.) Regardless of our past mistakes, how far we have traveled from His presence, or how barren and hopeless our surroundings appear, we can be assured there is new life coming where the water flows. 

On the final day of the feast in Jerusalem, Jesus called to all who were thirsty, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37-38 NIV).  The gift of the Spirit will produce life in every believer. The dead comes back to life, and resurrection power is working in our veins. The water of the Spirit will bring life to the wasteland of unfulfilled promises. We can live again! 

    
Theme passage:
“… Gushing water will spring up in the wilderness and streams will flow through the desert. The burning sand will become a refreshing oasis, the parched ground bubbling springs …” (Isaiah 35:6-7 TPT).