I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. Isaiah 41:18
After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans worked to slowly rebuild. One of the most hard-hit areas was the Lower Ninth Ward, where for years after Katrina, residents lacked access to basic resources. Burnell Cotlon worked to change that. In November 2014, he opened the first grocery store in the Lower Ninth Ward after Katrina. “When I bought the building, everybody thought that I was crazy,” Cotlon recalled. But “the very first customer cried cuz she . . . never thought the [neighborhood] was coming back.” His mother said her son “saw something I didn’t see. I’m glad [he] . . . took that chance.”
God enabled the prophet Isaiah to see an unexpected future of hope in the face of devastation. Seeing “the poor and needy search for water, but there is none” (Isaiah 41:17), God promised to “turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs” (v. 18). When instead of hunger and thirst, His people experienced flourishing once more, they would know “the hand of the Lord has done this” (v. 20).
He’s still the author of restoration, at work bringing about a future when “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage” (Romans 8:21). As we trust in His goodness, He helps us see a future where hope is possible.
When have you witnessed renewal after devastation? How can you be a part of God’s restoring work?
Restoring God, please help my life be a witness to the hope I’ve found in You and the future You’re bringing.
INSIGHT
After prophesying that God would use the Assyrians and Babylonians to judge an unrepentant Judah (Isaiah 1-39), the prophet comforts God’s people with the hope of future deliverance and restoration (chs. 40-66). Isaiah begins with affirming God’s sovereignty and majesty—He has the power and will certainly save and restore them (ch. 40). The prophet also assures the Israelites of His loving, providential care for them (ch. 41). They have a very special relationship with Him—they were sovereignly chosen to be His servant. His covenant with them is still in force (vv. 8-10). God assures them that He’ll bountifully provide for them, turning the desert into a land of flowing water, abundant and productive, so that the world would “see this miracle [and] understand . . . that it is the Lord who has done this, the Holy One of Israel who created it” (v. 20 nlt).