Isaiah 58:11

“The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land.

You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”

As I write this, we ride yet another wrinkle in the now 5 month long ordeal of selling/buying houses, having come to the thresh hold of moving in only to find the process halted. Once again we are challenged to believe that the Lord guides us always. Always. “For His glory and our good,” as my mother prayed yesterday.

“Satisfy your needs.” This phrase to me communicates more than a mere meeting of a need. Any food can fill our stomachs, and yet it is a special joy when a meal truly satisfies. A hunger deeper than a physical one is assuaged, as a lingering dinner with precious friends when the room teems with laughter and hearts warm with love. Yes, God is able to satisfy our needs like that. What a wonderful thought!

And that blessing is magnified to realize that such satisfaction comes in the midst of a “sun scorched land.” Here in Virginia we look out at fields that have been blazoned by the blinding sun for weeks now with very little rain. The ground indeed looks scorched, parched, much as my soul feels dry, cracked and tired. It seems difficult to imagine those fields transforming into lush green new growth. Yet the Lord promises to do just that.

“And strengthen your frame.” A frame is the basic skeleton of any structure, the backbone to which all ligaments and muscles attach to. Any building is only as strong as its frame; any physically body is only as strong as its backbone. Dear Jesus, yes, please strengthen my frame! Fortify my life with your Word, your power, your Spirit and your Truth.

“You will be like a well watered garden.” What does that look like? A garden that has been tended and cared for is green and fresh, sprouting new growth and constant flowers. As weeks go by it continues to bear fruit, rather than being choked out by weeds or scorched by the sun. If I am the garden, then God is the gardener…sending the rain of His Spirit to nurture and nourish my life so that I may become “a spring whose waters never fail.”

A natural spring is a delightful find, somewhat a surprise and a welcomed sight. The water is cold and pure, a source of constant refreshment and pleasure. And to know that the water will never fail is reassuring. You can count on it always and go to it again and again. If my life is to be that way, obviously I need a source that is faithful and unfailing. Sounds like Jesus, and it reminds me of His statement that He is the living water. Those who drink of Him will never thirst again.