Is it truly barren?

 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! (Isaiah 40:3)

The wasteland must be cleared in order to make way for God's coming. What is a wasteland? It is an uncultivated and barren piece of land. It also could refer to a spiritually barren period in history. Anything that seems to lack positive qualities could actually be referred to as 'wasteland'.

Uncultivated land is usually barren in almost every way. There has been no development possible because it is filled with all manner of naturally growing barriers and/or deposited waste. Could it be a place of greater productivity? Absolutely, but all the barriers to growth would have to be removed first.

A spiritually barren period in history - there have been many. These exist as a nation, but also for individuals and families. Spiritual growth requires a continual focus on keeping the ground of one's spirit cultivated. Spiritual barrenness could be related to inattentiveness, but it could just be a lack of a purposeful commitment to ensure the ground of one's spirit remains tender and open to receive new seed.

As we have already said, anything that seems to lack positive qualities could be referred to as 'barren' or 'wasteland'. This pretty much sums up what we may see in ourselves and others at times. The lack of positive qualities may be because we are only looking at the outward appearance, though. The positive qualities may be hidden under a lot of less impressive ones, but they will only be found when we look for them.

That may mean we remove (or allow the removal of) the rubble that has been allowed to obscure those positive attributes that God wants to bring forth. God's plan was never to encourage barrenness. Even when he allowed a field to 'fallow', it was for an expressed timeframe with the purpose of renewing it through 'rest'. Some barren souls just need the rest in order to once again prosper in every way. Just sayin!