Day 22 of 30

Rivers in the Desert

From the Peace in Chaos devotional series

"Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert."

— Isaiah 43:19

Reflection

God asks the question Himself: "shall ye not know it?" In other words — when I do the new thing, will you even notice? Most desert seasons end not with a thunderclap but with a small green shoot that the person walking through them is too tired to look down and see. The verse implies the river is already there — already springing forth — while the eyes of the one waiting are still scanning the horizon for the rescue helicopter. Today is an exercise in lowering your gaze.

Prayer

No words. Look at three things in your immediate environment that you have not really looked at this week. Just see them. That is the prayer.

Peace Challenge

Take a fifteen-minute walk today — outside, ideally — with one rule: you may only notice things smaller than your hand. A leaf. A crack in the sidewalk. A single ant. A weed pushing through concrete. Do not photograph them. Do not narrate them. Just notice. The verse calls God's new work "springing forth" — that language is botanical, small-scale, easy to miss. Practice the muscle of seeing it.