The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; barren lands will celebrate and blossom with flowers.
// Isaiah 35:1 //
There are seasons in life that feel like vast, empty horizons — places so dry and quiet that even hope seems to tread softly. We wander through them feeling parched, unsure of what lies ahead, longing for water that doesn’t seem to come. In moments like these, it’s easy to believe that wilderness is only where we get lost. But Isaiah invites us to see something altogether more beautiful: that wilderness itself is waiting to blossom.
Years ago, when I was speaking in Phoenix, Arizona I had the chance to spend some time at the beautiful Desert Botanical Garden. I spent a couple of hours wandering and marveling - specifically on the Wildflower Loop Trail. This time was particularly encouraging to me as I was walking through the vast desert of sickness.
This verse in different versions spoke deeply. The prophet doesn’t describe a little green sprig peeking timidly from the dust. Isaiah speaks of deserts and dry lands rejoicing, bursting into bloom, singing with color and life. He paints the picture not of mere survival, but of celebration — a rejoicing so vivid that even the earth itself seems to whisper “Alleluia” through petal and stem.
I returned back to this verse over the last few months through differing situations that have occurred behind the scenes. They have felt like barren lands in different ways. When we read that the barren land will be glad, we aren’t reading about geography alone — we’re reading our hearts. Those places in us that have known drought. The silent mornings when grief feels wider than the horizon. The long stretches of waiting, when things that occur bring answers that never come on schedule and the ground beneath us feels brittle. Even there, God’s promise is that resurrection-beauty is possible.
The wilderness blooms because the Creator who makes seeds rise in the absolute most impossible places and is the same God who tends the soul. What looks like lifeless dust today isn’t a dead end — it’s soil waiting for a word, a whisper, a gentle breath of life. In the soil of our solitude, God is sowing joy. In the far reaches of our emptiness, God is cultivating beauty. The places we once thought unreachable — dry, forlorn, forgotten — will be filled with colors we never saw coming.
And perhaps that is the deepest part of this promise: God does not just show up to fill the void — God transforms it. When God blooms the wilderness, the fragrance reaches deeper than the senses — it reaches the soul and says, “You are not barren. You are blossoming.”
Today, wherever your desert may be, let this be your invitation:
The wilderness will blossom.
The dry places will sing.
And joy will rise like flowers in unlikely places.
Want to see more of the beautiful Wildflower Loop Trail for a gentle visual reminder of this verse? Click HERE! Happy Sunday friends- I will see you tomorrow! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for past Sunday Scripture Posts? Click HERE!
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