What is the meaning of “streams in the desert” in Isaiah 43:19?

Answer

Isaiah 43:19 mentions “streams in the desert” as part of a promise to God’s people: “Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert” (BSB). The imagery is also rendered as “rivers in the dry wasteland” (NLT) and “rivers in the desert” (NASB). In context, God promises that He would make Israel’s captors, Babylon, into captives «Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. », (Isaiah 43:14). The Lord, the “Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,” would deliver Israel from Babylon.

In Isaiah 43:16–17, God compares Israel’s deliverance from Babylon to their prior exodus from Egypt, when God had “made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters” (verse 16). The Lord promises that He will now do “a new thing” (verse 19):

“Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness

and streams in the desert. . . .

I provide water in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert,

to give drink to My chosen people” (verses 19–20, BSB).

The result is that “the people I formed for Myself will declare My praise” (verse 21, BSB).

Just as God had provided a way through the Red Sea during Israel’s exodus from Egypt «And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. », (Exodus 14:21), so would He provide “streams in the desert” for them on their return from exile in Babylon. The Lord would provide all they needed to leave Babylon.Babylon and reestablish their home in the Promised Land. Even when there seems to be no way, God makes a way for those who trust in Him. That way would be as miraculous as “streams in the desert.”

The image of streams in the desert is a familiar one in Scripture, as God encourages His people in times of need. In Isaiah 41, the Lord assures His people that, in their weakness, He will provide:

“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.
I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the dry ground into springs” (verses 17–18).

In Psalm 126:3, the faithful pray, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev.”

Jesus compared the gift of His Spirit to living water: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37-38). Jesus used a similar analogy when He spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

A timeless devotional book titled Streams in the Desert was published in 1925 by Mrs. Lettie Cowman, a pioneering missionary in Japan and China. She compiled her devotional during her husband’s terminal illness, and the result has brought solace to numerous readers who also encounter challenging times.