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First, I want to give this verse a little context: Isaiah was a prophet during the time of Judah, when the Jews were exiled from Babylon and forced to wander the desert. Times were tough and you can imagine what wandering in the desert and being exiled from your home would do to your morale. Your spirit might be broken and you might cling to items in the past or hope for a better future.In the verse preceding this, the followers are asked to forget the past and consider the new; to remain hopeful for the future, and to behold God’s new thing. God has a message to share with the Jews in the desert, and this hopeful verse is used to encourage and motivate them to not give up and to be ready to move out of the wilderness and away from the past. "A way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." Although it may have appeared that they were aimlessly wandering, God had a plan. He had been leading them all along. The time had finally come for Him to enact the next step, the new thing.This verse has encouraged me in times of darkness, when I felt that I could not find the reasons for why God had done something or the right steps to take in order to motivate myself. My best friend died when I was young, of a dreadful illness, and it was so hard to comfort him and to be comforted at that time. I felt that nothing made any sense, and his death hardened my heart and dashed my hopes. This was my own fault: God had a plan. He led me from the wilderness. He did do something new with something that seemed so wrong to me at the time. I look back and feel regret not for losing my dear friend, but instead for my own behavior and doubts.Are you going through a difficult time? Does it feel like you are wandering aimlessly in the desert without a guide? Behold! God is with you and always has been. Prepare yourself for a new thing. What is the new thing that you hope for? Keep it in mind, meditate with it in your heart, and trust in God during your journey. Even in the worst of times, like during my friend’s passing, I should have been rejoicing: rejoicing that I ever met my friend at all, rejoicing about our relationship, rejoicing that God has a plan.I pray that the meditations of my heart and the messages from my soul are acceptable in your sight, O Lord. My strength and my redeemer. Amen.