Streams in the desert – Part 1

The Bible states that God has provided us all things that pertain to life and godliness, which include provision for times of famine and hunger (1Peter 1:3). When there is famine in the land, God creates streams in the desert for our nourishment. Streams or oases are just metaphors for God’s supply and nourishment for us.

Many of us are in the desert place of life plagued by different needs, hunger, poverty and lack of support and care. But God has made provision for our sustenance. May God open our eyes to see the provision he has for us.

An oasis is a fertile spot in a desert where water is found. Recently, CNN, during a weather report confirming changes in global weather patterns, showed a picture of severe rain flooding South East Morocco, which is a desert. Due to climate change, some desert land is now being flooded with rain, something that is unheard of.

A classic devotional book, Streams in the Desert was published in 1925 by Mrs. Lettie Cowman, a pioneer missionary in Japan and China. She compiled her devotional during her husband’s terminal illness, and the result comforted countless readers who also faced difficult times.

It is important to stress that God promises us streams in the desert and not an oasis. A stream flows, while an oasis is stagnant. The water that nourishes an oasis is from underneath the earth, while God is the source of the stream that nourishes us. The river of life flows from him to those thirsty (Revelation 22:1-2; Psalm 46:4-5).

An oasis exists to nourish travellers or dwellers who live in the desert. God creates an oasis to sustain us when we are weary, famished and thirsty. The purpose of an oasis in a desert or streams in the desert may seem to be for our physical refreshment. That is true, but it is also for our spiritual revitalisation. When Elijah was exhausted, he was physically and spiritually dehydrated, he was revitalised. An angel fed him and spoke the words of strength to him.

In Isaiah 43:19, the Bible describes streams in the desert” this way, “behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”

Isaiah 35:6, also paints the same picture: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”

Jesus likened the gift of His Spirit to living water: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them,” (John 7:37–38). Jesus used a similar metaphor when He spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life,” (John 4:14).

As we said, be it an oasis or a stream, they are metaphors for God’s provision of abundance. Psalm 23 is one example of how God sustains us in the desert place or in times of famine. We have a Shepherd who cares for us in times of adversity!
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