Isaiah chapter 43. That's in the Old Testament, kind of close to the middle of your Bible
probably. Isaiah 43 verses 19 and 20. We'll read the text and then we'll pray. We'll jump
in. Isaiah chapter 43 verse 19. Look, 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, rivers in the
desert. The animals of the field will honor me, jackals and ostriches, because I will
provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people.
Let's pray. Father God, we come to you today and I pray, dear Lord, that you would be with
us this morning. God, perhaps there are some that in some way can relate to these words
that we have just read. Dear Lord, there are seasons in our life where we are in a bit
of a desert, so to speak, dear Lord. There are times in our life where we feel that we
cannot go on, dear Lord, that we do not have the strength, that there is no hope, that
we are in a stranded land with no water, dear Lord, with no hope for survival, dear Lord.
Sometimes we feel that way in our lives. We feel that way spiritually, dear Lord. So God,
maybe there are some today who are in that desert place, or God, perhaps there will be
a time in the future. God, I pray that whether we are there today or will be in the future,
God, that we find strength from you, that we find strength from your word, dear Lord,
that we have the power to carry on, to know that you will not abandon us, dear Lord, that
you do not leave us. But dear Lord, even in the midst of our deserts, you provide rivers.
So I pray, God, that your Holy Spirit would speak to us today, that we would receive from
you what we need to hear from you, dear Lord. I pray that you would hide me behind the cross,
take away any pride or fear that I have this morning, that I would be able to preach and
teach your way in a word that brings glory to you. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen.
On September 24, 2010, there was a gentleman by the name of Ed Rosenthal who decided to
go for a hike. Now, you've probably never heard of Ed Rosenthal, and it is likely that
you will not remember his name much longer than a few days from now, if you remember
it then. But his story is good. I believe it's good in that it's a good connection
for us. It's a story that perhaps is good application for us that we can relate to in
some way. Ed Rosenthal had just closed a big business deal. He had just closed a big real
estate deal, and as a bit of a celebration, he decided to do something that he had done
in the past often. He traveled to Joshua Tree National Park in California, which is located
partly in the Mojave Desert region. Now, of course, the desert, it gets really hot in
the desert in the night and really, really, excuse me, really cold at night and really
hot during the day. It's a pretty rough terrain in this area of Joshua Tree National Park,
but nonetheless, it's a place that attracts many travelers, many hikers that come and
hike up to these different peaks for the views and just the beauty of the desert scenery.
As a celebration for the big business deal that he had just closed, he decided to go
for a hike at a place called Warren's Peak, a place that he had traveled to the top of
before. It was a short travel, only about three miles, only about an hour and a half
hike to the top of the peak. He intended to go up there and eat lunch, and then he was
going to come on his way back down, a short little trip. But this day was different than
the other days. He decided because it was a short trip, he wasn't going to take much
with him. Just whatever he was going to eat for lunch would be sufficient. He didn't take
any other supplies, only a small amount of water because after all, he was only going
to be gone for three hours or so. However, after he got to the top of the peak and began
to view and look around and see all the beauty of the surrounding area, he decided to come
back down. However, on his way back down, he took a wrong turn. Pretty quickly, he realized
that he was lost. He realized he wasn't sure where he should go. He would go back up to
the top of the peak and he would look around to try to see if he could figure out which
direction to go. But he couldn't really make heads or tails of where he was. He had gotten
turned around just that quickly, just taking that one wrong path had gotten him in a spot
where he wasn't sure which way he needed to go. So he looked down in the distance and
he saw a trail that was down there that he could barely see. So he decided that he would
do his best to pursue that trail. He went his way down the mountain and on occasion
he would get to spots where he would have to jump 10, 15 foot down the mountain to this
next spot knowing that he couldn't get back up where he just came from. So once he made
this decision, there's no going back. And he continued his way down the mountain and
down the mountain until he found that trail only to discover that it wasn't a trail at
all. What it was was a dried up creek bed. And then he realized he was in big trouble.
He realized he was in trouble because what little food and water he had was gone. He
had no idea where he was. And so what started out as a three hour tour turned into a day's
long struggle. The next day he would get up and he would continue on his way until he
would see a couple of hikers in the distance. He could barely make them out but he could
see them in their yellow and red clothes and he proceeded to pursue them to try to get
help only to find that as he got closer, it was only a couple of cactuses with flowers
growing on them in the middle of the desert. Further and further away from where he started,
he began to get in bad shape so weak he could barely move in the middle of the desert. He
was burning up during the day and he was freezing at night and at one point found a shade tree
that was just big enough for him to sit beside. But as the sun moved and the shade moved,
he continued to try to stay in its shade and the sun would hit his legs and he was burnt
and he was miserable and there was nothing to eat and nothing to drink. He found a few
dates to eat but couldn't eat them. His mouth was so dry it was like peanut butter he said
trying to eat those dates. And days went by, two days, three days, four days until finally
he was almost too weak to keep moving. He's in the middle of the desert. The sun is beating
down on him when he sees a canyon. He was able to crawl into this canyon and able to
find a spot of safety and security there, a spot in the shade and his days were about
done. He could go no further. He lost the strength to walk by this point. He had been
in the desert for five days trying to do all he could to survive but no longer could he
move. Knowing that his life was soon to come to an end, he began to write on his hat messages
to his daughter and to his wife. He began to write out his will and he began to write
out the things that he wanted his family and his friends to know because he knew that this
would likely be the end of his life. And he laid there for five days and on the fifth
day of laying in the desert, of his mouth being parched, of his body being weak, of
him not having enough strength to move another inch, he decided there was one more thing
he would do and he prayed to God. He said, God, would you send, would you just send a
little rain, would you let it rain on me? And after he said that prayer, there in the
middle of the Mojave Desert, the rains began to fall. Two weeks even gathered the rain.
He said he simply opened his mouth and let nature feed him, let nature quench his thirst,
let nature try to take care of him in that moment to give him some relief. And he said
in that moment he knew for a fact that God was real. And the next day, he heard the sound
of helicopters flying overhead and Ed Rosenthal was rescued to tell us his story. Now I thought
about that story, I thought about this passage. There are so many times in our life that spiritually
speaking we find ourselves in kind of the same situation. There are days in our life
that we are on the peak. There are days in our life that we can see all the beauty around
us and things are as good as they can be. We just closed the big business deal. Our
life is good, our life is great. And just as quickly as we are on the peak, sometimes
it's only a few days later that we find ourselves in the valley, in the canyon. So many times
in our life we make a wrong turn. So many times in our life we make a wrong choice.
And we choose to sin and very quickly, it happens so quickly, we don't, we don't even
think about it. But sin happens so quickly and bad choices happen so quickly and we think,
oh I'm going to be okay, I know where I am, I've been here before, I'm going to be okay.
But so quickly our life, when we take the wrong path, can get us to a place that we
find ourselves lost and hopeless. And every time we continue to make those bad decisions
and continue to sin, we jump down to that next level and we lose sight of the peak,
we lose sight of the good times until eventually we're doing all we can to survive. We see
this story often in the Old Testament with God's people. So many times God is good with
them and they're having a mountain top experience where God has delivered them and God has provided
for them and all is well for God's people. Only for all of a sudden they're enemies to
move in. Only for all of a sudden they're sinned to take hold of them. The story of
God's people in the Old Testament is not so different from our stories today. There are
times in our life that we are good, that we're on the peaks, that we're on the mountaintops.
But then life happens. Sometimes it's our sin, sometimes it's just life circumstances,
but very quickly we find ourselves in a deep dark place. In the context of this passage,
God's people found their self in a deep dark place. They had sinned against God. God's
people we see in the Old Testament were going into captivity. For 70 years they were going
to go into Babylonian captivity, but God was going to restore them. For those who would
call out to him, for those who were faithful to him, God was going to restore his people.
And we see this promise here in Isaiah chapter 43 in these verses we read. He says, look,
I'm about to do something new. Even now it is coming. Do you see it? Indeed, I will make
a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. When we get to a place in our life where life
has just gotten heavy for us, where our sin is just burdening us down, there are times
in our life that we just feel like we are in a desert. There are times in our life where
we feel like we cannot go on anymore. I suspect many of God's people felt this way during
their time of captivity, but God was faithful to them and God said, look, I'm going to provide
a way. In the midst of this desert season of your life, he says, I'm going to bring
rivers in the wilderness. I'm going to provide for you. I'm going to take care of you. And
that's what we see at the end of verse 20. He said, I will provide water in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people. There is nothing in this
world that is better than when we are hot and when we are parched and to drink water.
There is nothing that will quench our thirst in that way. And when we talk about our spiritualized,
when we talk about our walk with God, when we talk about our sin, when we talk about
our struggles, the only water that can quench our thirst is that living water that comes
from Jesus Christ. And the story of Mr. Ed Rosenthal, God was right there whenever he
called out. God was right there and he heard his call and he provided water to him to quench
his thirst. So for us today, God will provide for us if we will call out to him. Perhaps
there are some of us today that have found ourselves in that desert place. Perhaps today
you feel that you were in the bottom of the canyon. Perhaps today you feel that you are
too weak to go on. Perhaps today you say, my life has fallen apart. I've made too many
bad choices. I'm so far away from the peak of the mountain. I can't even see good times.
I can't even think about good times. But I want to tell you today that if you would call
out to the Lord today, that even though your heart may be in a desert place, that God wants
to quench your thirst. That God wants to provide rivers in your wasteland. He wants to provide
rivers in the desert for his people, for those who would call out to him. Perhaps today,
officially speaking, you feel like Ed Rosenthal. You feel like you cannot go any further. But
perhaps today is the day that you need to call out to the Lord. You just need to say,
God, I cannot do it anymore. God, I need you to quench my thirst. I need you to provide
for me. I need you to strengthen me. I need you to comfort me. I need you to forgive me.
I need you to help me, God, because I cannot move another muscle. And you may be surprised
to find that when you call out to the Lord, that he hears your prayer. Perhaps Ed Rosenthal
was pretty surprised to find that God heard his prayer that day, but yet his thirst was
quenched in the middle of the desert. And so it is for us today that Jesus Christ is
living water and that through Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. Through Jesus Christ,
we can find hope in the deepest, darkest places in our life. Through Jesus Christ, we can
find deliverance. Through Jesus Christ, we can be rescued from our sin. We can be given
eternal life, but we must call out to him. We must put our faith in him. We must say,
God, I cannot go any further. It's a shame that so many times it takes us getting into
the worst of the worst places that we could possibly be to call out to God, almost as
if God is a last resort. And maybe today, for some of you, God is your last resort.
And maybe today that's why God has brought you here. Perhaps today you are in that desert
place. And if you've never called out to God before, I hope that today that you would call
out to God for your hope, for your deliverance, for your provision, for your salvation, because
there is hope in none other but Jesus Christ. God can make a way for us even in the deepest,
darkest deserts. Even when we cannot go on any further, Jesus has paid it all to give
us the strength and the comfort and the deliverance to make it through our deserts in life. If
you've not put your faith in Jesus Christ today, I pray that you would. If Jesus Christ
hasn't quenched your thirst and quenched your soul today, I pray that he would. If you're
in a desert place today, perhaps today is the day that you simply need to call out to
God and allow him to bring restoration to your soul. Let's pray. Father God, we come
to you, we thank you for these words, dear Lord. We thank you for this simple promise
that you gave to your people way back in the book of Isaiah. A promise, dear Lord, that
even in the midst of the worst places and the deserts, dear Lord, that you are going
to deliver them, that you are going to provide for them. Dear Lord, I pray that we would
find hope and that we would find strength in that same promise today because your words
are just as true for us, dear Lord, that in the midst of our lives, in the midst of our
sins and our struggles, in the midst of just life circumstances, dear Lord, to know that
you provide for us, that you give us waters in the desert, dear Lord. Dear Lord, maybe
there are some today that are just struggling. They're just in a desert place, dear Lord.
And I pray that you'd meet them where they are. I pray that they would seek you today,
dear Lord. If there's somebody in that shape today, I pray that they'd call out to you
because God, there is no other source of water other than through Jesus Christ and God, he
is the source of living water. And so, dear Lord, I pray that today that we would drink
from the well, that we would drink from the well that never runs dry in Jesus Christ,
dear Lord. Maybe there are some here today and they're already yours, but God, maybe
through some of their choices and just through things that come up in life, they've just
kind of taken the wrong path, dear Lord, and they thought they knew where they were going,
but dear Lord, they've ended up in a place that is not where they want to be. God, I
pray that today that they would just come to the place of water in Jesus Christ. Dear
Lord, maybe there are some today that do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Maybe their whole life is a barren desert and they've never seen any hope in the distance,
but maybe today, dear Lord, through the promise of your words, through the glory that is Jesus
Christ. God, I pray today that they would see that there is hope in the midst of the
wilderness, in the midst of the desert, dear Lord. I pray that if there are some that have
not put their faith in Jesus Christ today, that today, God, they would call out to you.
That they would seek to serve you and to follow you and to come to Jesus Christ, to live for
Him, dear Lord, the one who has died for them. Dear Lord, I pray that you'd be with us today.
I pray that you'd restore us, dear Lord. You're the only one that can take a desert and make
it flourish, dear Lord. You're the only one that can take a place that's so barren and
so dry and turn it into something beautiful, and you do that through Jesus Christ. So dear
Lord, I pray today that we would call out to you, that we would seek you, that even
if we can't move another muscle on our own, dear Lord, that we would just call out to
you, dear Lord, that you would rain down on our hearts this morning, and that we would
experience you and that we would trust you. And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.