The Desert Shall Blossom

The Story

The prophet Isaiah lived in a frightening time. Powerful empires were rising. Judah was small and weak. Isaiah had to deliver many hard messages about judgment.

But in the middle of those warnings, God gave him a picture of what was coming afterward. And it was beautiful.

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”

Isaiah saw dry, cracked ground covered in flowers. He saw water breaking out in the wilderness and streams in the desert. He saw burning sand turned into a pool.

Then he spoke to the people who were afraid. “Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not.” Your God is coming to save you.

And when He comes, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.”

Isaiah ended with a road through the desert, a highway where God’s rescued people would walk home, singing, “and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Reflection