It’s dry. 

Our local newspaper said today that we’re experiencing our driest season in 80 years.  It’s been a long time since we had a good, soaking rain.  And while brown grass and low water levels in the lakes and canals haven’t exactly turned tropical South Florida into a desert, it’s still pretty dry.

Imagine if we had personal headlines that announced our dry spells.  “Sharon Experiencing Driest Season in 10 years”.  We get pretty good at hiding our deserts, those times when we feel like we’re in a barren, unproductive, forsaken wasteland.  Nothing happening.  No relief in sight.  Wandering from sand dune to sand dune in search of something refreshing and new on the horizon.

Sometimes, we just need a good soaking.

There are a whole lot of stories in the Bible about God’s people and deserts.  And I don’t believe it’s a coincidence.  He allowed them – and us – to wander into those dry seasons for a reason.  He wants to show us how much we need what only He can provide.  Showers of blessing don’t seem like that big of a deal when you aren’t desperate for them.   A glass of water isn’t treasured when you’ve had your fill already. 

God delights in turning deserts into gardens, and dry land into rivers and streams and fountains.  And He knows that I won’t appreciate the complete joy of splashing around barefoot in the puddles of a delightful, unexpected rainfall if I don’t experience the dry times first.

I’m going to be thankful for the desert.  I know the rain is coming.

O GOD, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.  Psalm 63:1

Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:19

For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.  Isaiah 51:3

I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.       Ezekiel 34:26