Rivers in the Desert

I also thought I'd share a bit about how God has encouraged me already regarding the Kenya trip, so you know how he's leading me and can pray along with us :)

One day I was praying about the Kenya trip, asking for encouragement about God's work there and our role in it, and thought of / heard the phrase "rivers in the desert." Then I saw a picture of water being poured into the middle of a wide land that was just dry dirt. It flowed out in three branches like rivers, one went to the west, one winding toward the southwest, and one flowing south. The streams then split into smaller, more diverse streams that covered even more of the land. As the water traveled, flowers popped up from this dry dirt and soon the land became a field of flowers. Then I was reminded of the line in the song "Joyful, Joyful" that says that "hearts unfold like flowers before thee."

This reminded me of God's provision for the Israelites wandering in the desert after the Exodus (though they didn't always get the water-out-of-rocks idea right). I also remembered that I had recently read something in Isaiah about water in the desert, so I decided to look that up.

Isaiah 41:17-20 (NIV) reads:
¹⁷ "The poor and needy search for water,
       but there is none;
       their tongues are parched with thirst.
       But I the LORD will answer them;
       I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
 ¹⁸ I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
       and springs within the valleys.
       I will turn the desert into pools of water,
       and the parched ground into springs.
 ¹⁹ I will put in the desert
       the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
       I will set pines in the wasteland,
       the fir and the cypress together,
 ²⁰ so that people may see and know,
       may consider and understand,
       that the hand of the LORD has done this,
       that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

It was neat to see how what we are doing and what the project is about so closely related to this. I think our trip is related to helping springs flow in their desert, water in dryness, refreshment, comfort, and life where it is lacking.

I found verse 20 to be especially helpful. It may seem like schools, wells, soccer balls, etc only provide in the material (as opposed to the spiritual). But, in addition to providing for the physical needs of people, which I believe is an important command from God we see in his word, the project also helps reveal who he is.

So, my prayer is the that the Maasai people would see and know, consider and understand that the hand of God has created this and done this for them and for us. We try to remember when we meet as a group to prepare that God is building this house. It is he who can make water flow out of the desert and satisfy us in a scorched land. The project and our part in it has great potential to reveal in very real and concrete ways the mercy, compassion, and love of God.