Streams in the Desert - Nov 26

Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs. (Joshua 15: 18– 19)

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There are both “upper and lower springs” in life, and they are springs, not stagnant pools. They are the joys and blessings that flow from heaven above, through the hottest summer and through the most barren desert of sorrow and trials. The land belonging to Acsah was in the Negev under the scorching sun and was often parched from the burning heat. But from the hills came the inexhaustible springs that cooled, refreshed, and fertilized all the land.

These springs flow through the low places, the difficult places, the desert places, the lonely places, and even the ordinary places of life. And no matter what our situation may be, these springs can always be found. Abraham found them amid the hills of Canaan. Moses found them among the rocks of Midian. David found them among the ashes of Ziklag, when his property was gone and his family had been taken captive. And although his “men were talking of stoning him . . . David found strength in the Lord his God” (1 Sam. 30: 6).

Isaiah found them in the terrible days when King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah, when the mountains themselves seemed to be thrown into the midst of the sea. Yet his faith could still sing: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall” (Ps. 46: 4– 5).

The Christian martyrs found them amid the flames, the church reformers amid their enemies and struggles, and we can find them each day of the year if we have the Comforter in our hearts and have learned to say with David, “All my springs of joy are in you” (Ps. 87: 7 NASB).

How plentiful and how precious these springs are, and how much more there is to be possessed of God’s own fullness!
~A. B. Simpson

I said, “The desert is so wide!”
I said, “The desert is so bare!
What springs to quench my thirst are there?
Where will I from the tempest hide?”
I said, “The desert is so lone!
No gentle voice, nor loving face
To brighten any smallest space.”
I paused before my cry was done!
I heard the flow of hidden springs;
Before me palms rose green and fair;
The birds were singing; all the air
Was filled and stirred with angels’ wings!
And One asked softly, “Why, indeed,
Take overanxious thought for what
Tomorrow brings you? See you not
The Father knows just what you need?”
~selected

Reference

Cowman, L. B. E.; Reimann, Jim (2008-09-09). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (pp. 441-442). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

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