It is a profound statement that “through the waters,” the very place where we might have expected nothing but trembling, terror, anguish, and dismay, the children of Israel stopped to “rejoice in him”!

How many of us can relate to this experience? Who of us, right in the midst of our time of distress and sadness, have been able to triumph and rejoice, as the Israelites did?

How close God is to us through His promises, and how brightly those promises shine! Yet during times of prosperity, we lose sight of their brilliance. In the way the sun at noon hides the stars from sight, His promises become indiscernible. But when night falls—the deep, dark night of sorrow—a host of stars begins to shine, bringing forth God’s blessed constellations of hope, and promises of comfort from His Word.

Just as Jacob experienced at Jabbok, it is only once the sun sets that the Angel of the Lord comes, wrestles with us, and we can overcome. It was at night, “at twilight” (Exodus 30:8), that Aaron lit the sanctuary lamps. And it is often during nights of trouble that the brightest lamps of believers are set ablaze.

It was during a dark time of loneliness and exile that John had the glorious vision of his Redeemer. Many of us today have our “Isle of Patmos,” which produces the brightest memories of God’s enduring presence, uplifting grace, and love in spite of solitude and sadness.

How many travelers today, still passing through their Red Seas and Jordan Rivers of earthly affliction, will be able to look back from eternity, filled with memories of God’s great goodness, and say, “We ‘passed through the waters on foot.’ And yet, even in these dark experiences, with waves surging all around, we stopped and said, ‘Let us rejoice in him’!” J. R. MACDUFF

“There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will [sing]” (Hosea 2:15).

The wilderness is certainly a strange place to find vineyards! Can it be true that the riches of life that we need can be found in the wilderness—a place that symbolizes loneliness, and through which we can seldom find our way?

Not only is this true but verse 15 goes on to say, “I . . . will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth.” “Achor” means “troubled,” yet the Valley of Achor is called “a door of hope.”

Yes, God knows our need for a wilderness experience. He knows exactly where and how to produce enduring qualities in us. The person who has been idolatrous, has been rebellious, has forgotten God, and has said with total self-will, “I will go after my lovers” (Hosea 2:5), will find her path blocked by God. “She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them” (Hosea 2:7). And once she feels totally hopeless and abandoned, God will say, “I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.”

What a loving God we have!

We never know where God has hidden His streams. We see a large stone and have no idea that it covers the source of a spring. We see a rocky area and never imagine that it is hiding a fountain. God leads me into hard and difficult places, and it is there I realize I am where eternal streams abide.