Blossoming Like A Rose

Adenium Obesum - The Desert Rose
Photo by Chee Seng Chin on Unsplash

Isaiah 35 1-2 (KJV) The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; . . .

I was listening to the Christian radio station on the way home and there were 2 people talking about this scripture.  One had just written a Bible Study and presumably this scripture was in it, and I liked her thoughts.

To her the desert is a hard place.  A place of trial where the only way to survive is to trust in God and rely on Him and His mercies.  She talked about it being a place that she wants to leave.  Perhaps we think that if we follow God to the best of our ability He will (or should) lead us out of the wilderness.  Instead, she said, the Lord helps that desert place blossom like a rose.  She guesses most people will spend 90 percent of their lives in the desert.  I wonder if using this analogy, our whole lives are a desert!

The question is, which desert will we be in?  Will we be in the desert that is hard and we can't see God in anything around us or in anything that is happening and so we give up reaching for Him and wander aimlessly while our body and soul whither?  Or will we reach for Him, follow Him, and patiently wait for Him and find that our desert has blossomed like a rose and no longer looks or feels like a desert even though we will still encounter thorns here and there.  

In this desert, even encountering thorns and pain will not turn us from God if we just remember how bleak the desert used to be, and how much it has grown up into something beautiful!  Truly, in that desert we will rejoice with joy and with singing!