“The desert and the parched land will be glad. The wilderness will rejoice and blossom.”  Isaiah 35:1

This prophecy is for people such as we are, a bit dry, perhaps, and without a clear testimony of hope in God. I love this passage in Isaiah.

Isaiah, as he always does, points us to the future with sure and heart-felt hope.  He does not just tantalize us with an ethereal dream that will never become reality. The Word of God is trustworthy.  For the people who trust in God transformation is happening and will continue to happen forever.

It is miraculous, unexpected and beyond explanation. The desert, the parched land, the wilderness will rejoice because it is touched with the divine hand and so will rejoice and blossom.  From dryness to fruitfulness.

Mankind cannot make this happen, especially when we realize that it is mankind itself that is dry and parched.  What can we do?  Nothing, really. A wilderness cannot transform itself into a verdant field of ripening grain. It takes God to do that.

I stand amazed as I recall my many visits to believers all over the world.  The thing that marked all of them was this unconquerable hope that gave joy and promise, now!  As I reflect on this, the situations that looked the direst to me proved to produce hope in God. I think of China, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, South Africa and so forth. I heard more expressions of hope in times of hopelessness there than I have heard when things were going well.  This hope is a beautiful and vital gift of God.  The driest places will produce fruit.  From unexpected people come testimonies of faith that God will transform us as we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit.

I recall the words of another Prophet of God, Zachariah who counselled Israel, “Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope.”  Zach 9:12 That about says it!  We who love the Lord are indeed prisoners of hope.  And it is right to be so.  So let us run to our stronghold, our loving God and Savior Jesus Christ.