29th day of Lent- Isaiah 43:20b

"For I give water in the wilderness,
    rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people." Isaiah 43:20b

The context for the above verse is the period of the exile.  In approximately 587B.C., the Jews were defeated by the Babylonians, and a large number were taken into exile to Babylon.  The period of the exile lasted 70 years.  The Jews were allowed to return home after the Persians, under King Cyrus, defeated the Babylonians.  Isaiah speaks of their return using the imagery of water.  "For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people."  This is a reversal of the Exodus from the Egyptians, when God dried up, or parted, the Red Sea, so the Israelites could escape from slavery.  In returning from exile through the desert, God will water the earth.

As Stacy Martin suggests, and as we have read in other devotions this Lent, water is a precious gift we cannot do without.  Spiritually, in Baptism, "God claims us as God's own with water."  Both physically and spiritually, "the very foundation of our lives.... begins with water."  All the more reason to be careful stewards of our water resources and to work towards safe, clean, water for all God's children.  

The above photo is of a woman in Tanzania carrying water just drawn from a community well.