When the Desert Blooms

“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.”

Dry land is always sad. It holds promise, it has elements, it has most of what is needed to sustain life… except water. It seems to be missing that one thing that transforms it from wasted and empty, to useful and thriving.

In Africa the Christians talk about dry land and dry seasons. They pray for the dry season to be over, not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense. They desire for dry people to be filled with Living Water and become spiritually alive as the Holy Spirit does a revival across their land. They even have bumper stickers that say, “My dry season is over.”

But converting desert into land that produces agricultural harvests isn’t as easy as just applying water. The soil has been so depleted that often water will not remain near the surface area where plants grow. The porous soil can not hold it.

To make this land useful requires some preparation, some amendments. The addition of some clay to make it less porous. Some decomposed or composted fibrous plants add a moisture absorbing layer. And finally, it’s ready.

So it is with people. When believing friends talk to non-believers they begin to have affect or influence on the non-believers’ thinking and their lives lay down a layer of credibility to the cause of Christ. The evidence forms layers that hold the soil together and make an absorbing layer for the Living Water. When the amendments have been completed in the heart of the believer, and this is the Holy Spirit’s doing, the non-believer is ready. So, now when the Living Water touches them they have been transformed – from wasted and empty to useful and thriving. Their desert will be glad and their wilderness will rejoice and blossom. They will burst into bloom and rejoice greatly and shout for joy. They will see the glory of the Lord and the splendor of our God.