I am feeling rather 'dry' right now

If you have ever felt like your life is 'dry ground', you are not alone. There are seasons we all go through that feel a little 'dryer' than we'd like. It seems as though there is nothing getting through to God and he is not getting through to us. Dryness could have a few causes, but in general it is just part of life. Yes, compromise and sin can create a dryness, but if you think of the variation in the seasons of nature, you observe there are times when it is just going to be 'dry' - a season where growth appears to be stunted and a little less likely to occur. If we are truthful in our observations of these dry seasons in our lives, we'd likely admit there is much happening just beneath the surface, getting us ready for the next 'growth spurt' we are likely to experience.

The Lord is making roads through the sea. He is making a path for his people, even through rough waters. The Lord says, So don’t remember what happened in earlier times. Don’t think about what happened a long time ago, because I am doing something new! Now you will grow like a new plant. Surely you know this is true. I will even make a road in the desert, and rivers will flow through that dry land. (Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 ERV)

One of the typical things we humans do is 'recount memories'. We have a way of trapping inside our minds what we observed, thought, felt, and experienced in some way, don't we? We form 'memory slots' for these things, much like on a hard drive in the computer we use daily. These 'memory slots' can be useful to protect us from things that can harm us - such as when we touch something hot and then determine never to do that again. They can also be kind of limiting if we trust them more than we trust God when he asks us to move beyond whatever 'memory' we have allowed to hold us tightly in place for a while.

As we see from our passage today, God is in the business of making paths for his people - even through the rough places we don't want to travel through. The way through the rough places isn't to curl up in a ball and hope they pass soon. The 'way through' is to let go of what 'happened in earlier times'. In other words, let go of the memories we have stored away in those 'memory slots' that just hold us back - making us feel all dried up and ineffective in this life. Don't remember what happened in earlier times - it isn't a warning or a suggestion - it is a commandment to trust there is something new coming forth in you!

God is doing something new - maybe building upon what we have formed as memories of past times, but not necessarily. Desert places don't have to be dry places - they can be places of purging. As winds blow across the desert, picking up bits and pieces of discarded leaves, exposing seeds hidden just beneath the surface of the dry earth, opening up the desert floor to new growth, so God's Spirit sweeps across our lives in these dry times. Seasons of dryness are not seasons of dead-ness. They are seasons of promised new growth. Never let go of this promise and be cognizant of God's movement in your life. He isn't going to leave you there forever - there are new rivers about to burst forth. Just sayin!