Behold: The PromiseSample

Mirages Exposed

Isaiah 35:7a NIV

The burning sand will become a pool,

the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

I remember travelling by car for hours through dry, outback desert regions of Queensland, Australia. Being the middle of summer, the sun was burning down onto the straight asphalt highway, but an unusual thing often occurred: what looked like a pool of water a few hundred metres ahead on the road would appear, but then every time we reached that place, it disappeared. This mirage-like phenomena did crazy things to my head as I watched from the passenger seat!

The Hebrew word for ”burning sand” is sharab which literally means ‘mirage.' A mirage appears like water, but never proves real. It looks promising from a distance, but then disappoints up close. What a true reality of so many things in life today. We often pursue things that look so promising, promoted by many as what will fulfil our life, only to be disappointed or find that the satisfaction is short lived. 

The mirage is the perfect analogy of life on earth without Jesus at the centre. We can all blindly fall for the “mirage thinking” of the world. It could be beliefs like “whatever feels right to me is right;" “I’ll be accepted if I’m successful in life;" “there will be a person that meets all my needs” or “when I just get that, I’ll be happy." As nice as these all these thoughts can seem, up close they are mirages that just don’t deliver. There’s no water that satisfies.

The promise from God is that the mirage will become a pool of water! This is a declaration of the salvation through Jesus Christ. There is a pool that really exists and really satisfies! The thirsts of our soul are fully met when we find relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Jesus stood and spoke these powerful words at a feast: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink." (John 7:37)

The invitation has been made to every one of us to come, drink, and be satisfied. We no longer need to be disappointed by the mirages of the world, but instead, can find all we need in Him. Behold - real love, real forgiveness, real grace, real power, real freedom is found in Christ! 

Behold - Truth!

Where have you been living by ‘mirage’ thinking in your life? Allow God to show you His living water that truly satisfies.