Magi's Journal--entry 7

We have lost track of days. Many of my journal entries, awkwardly scratched upon the scrolls, read, “Today is the same as yesterday.” There seemed to be nothing else to write.

We slowly moved into rocky terrain marked only by occasional shrubbery. Craggy hills dotted the flat ground to the horizon.

Then the sky seemed changed. Very thick, dark clouds hid the stars. Only the great, traveling star shone through the darkness.

Daylight was dreary and the sun could not show through the angry clouds. Absent from the air was the usual hot sting.

“I think we will have a good sleep today,” I mentioned to a guide, longing for a cool restful sleep.

“Sleep,” he spat back at me. “Are you mad?”

I did not understand. The guides had the look of wild terror in their eyes, as they demanded that the caravan move faster and faster--toward higher ground.

I knew we could not pitch tents along the steep sides of the hill so why were we working so hard to get there? The animals were exhausted and we could barely stay awake. Still the guards drove us on. In an amazing amount of time we crossed the flat, rocky terrain and clamored to the safety of the higher hills. What was the danger from which we fled?

Then the storm hit--with raging fury. The winds pounded us--rendering our shelters useless. The rain fell in thick sheets, making it impossible to see across the encampment. What startled us most, however, was the strange sound that, at first, we could not define. This roaring noise was more fearful than the howling wind or exploding thunder.

“Zachariah, its flood water,” Zedekiah read my thoughts. “It would have surely drowned us all.”

Day and night the rain fell. Though drenched, we managed to nap out of complete exhaustion. Then, as fast as the storm began, it receded. The thunder grew fainter and rain became sprinkles.

In time we ventured out of our makeshift shelters and saw for ourselves why our guides had driven us to seek higher grounds. The valley below was no longer desert, but a river. My heart pounded as I watched the powerful waters below. God had delivered us. Our guides had read the signs in the air and pushed us on to safety.

We were forced to rest and wait for the water to run its course. Soon enough, the water would recede.

The transformation of the landscape was almost immediate. In a matter of days we watched the desert change. Grasses became more numerous and seeds that had lain dormant in the sand now were showing life. Bright flowers dotted the landscape.

The wildflowers would not have been notable anywhere else. But their brief life in this wilderness made them all the more beautiful. Like the stars in the heavens, the desert seemed to proclaim God’s glory.

It seems impossible to survive here, but God makes it so. It seems that a place this hostile could not be beautiful, but God creates beauty wherever he chooses. God, in his mighty wisdom and power, brought us through the storm to see the glory of the next day.

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Scripture Meditation
Psalms 30:5b