Returning from a weekend trip just 2 ½ hours away from home, I surmised the lack of rain once again. So, the next morning I repeated a routine that has been in place most of the summer: pulling the water hose across the thirsty lawn to saturate the dying flowerbeds and the wilting flowers in their stone pots while also filling the waterless birdbath. Once back inside the blessing of air-conditioning, I gaze out my front window to watch the gathering of the birds taking their turn splashing about in the refreshing pool of water I had made for them. Even though the previous evening had been hopeful with darkened storm clouds rolling in and booming thunder producing flashes of lightning, it had been all for show. Once again, a false hope…the dazzle without the fulfillment…the tease and its gone! Most of the summer has been this way in our little town while others around are getting the actual rainfall.

As I contemplated what God would like me to glean from this irritating and wearisome time, I recalled a previous post Finding the Pearls. 😉

The passage from Isaiah 40 is packed with pearls that the world rarely uncovers!

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God (Isaiah 40:1, NLT).

So, where is the comfort to be found in a desert land? Well for starters, a great comfort comes in knowing all our sins have been pardoned (verse 2). More comfort is felt in God’s glory being revealed to every believer (verse 5). And the greatest comfort for a child of God is that our Sovereign Lord is coming (verse 10)! Pearls of great comfort!

Yet, here and now, testings of dry spells may threaten our comfort, and we begin to think God needs our advice –

“Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice? (verse 14)

“Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God—how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles…how can you say God ignores your rights? Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth…” (verses 21-28).

My husband and I didn’t get a big 45^th Wedding Anniversary celebration. We didn’t get a trip to a destination that would turn heads. We didn’t even get the water park that was on my list. And we literally have been months without rain that would saturate the ground even with all the prayers going up to heaven. At these times, it’s easy to miss the pearls. But God is always present; He sees and hears, and He gives grace for our pilgrimage from earth to heaven…

He also has given 45 years of marriage that has grown wisdom and knowledge and understanding: Sitting in Barnes & Noble, not reading a book, but sipping on a shared coffee watching and listening and reflecting…sitting in Concord Mills Mall, not shopping, but sharing a small bag of Auntie Anne’s Prezel bites while musing of the way of the world. Pearls abound!

We also enjoyed a beautiful brunch at Cracker Barrel thinking of the many we have tested throughout our 45 years together as well as a delicious seafood meal at Red Lobster reminiscing of our first one from our Kansas days, and finishing up the weekend in ministry to a local church in Charlotte that blessed our socks off (they provided two nights in a hotel and took us to Outback for Sunday’s lunch besides their kind gift of remuneration). This is gleaning from what was given and finding the pearls that expel the dry, barren places of our hearts!  

Are you sitting in a dry spell? in your yard, in your marriage, in your walk with the Lord, in your motivation, in your job/ministry, in life? Perspective changes everything. Splash around in Isaiah 40 like the birds in my birdbath and refresh yourself; let the Word of God saturate the dry places of your heart. Ask Him to help you dwell on the pearls and not what might be lacking. He is happy to do it!