Desert
Have you ever been really hot and thirsty? Then you will understand why the desert was such a vivid metaphor to the Israelites and appears so frequently in the Bible. The Holy Land, the location where most of the action in the Bible takes place, is surrounded by deserts. Moses fled into the desert after killing an Egyptian. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years after God led them out of Egypt. David stayed in the desert when he was hiding from King Saul. Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days.

The desert often symbolizes a place of solitude or hardship, either as testing for God's people or as punishment for those who have dishonored him. But the Bible also shows us that God can comfort and strengthen us when we are in a spiritual desert. The Bible often compares God's presence in difficult times to streams in the desert. Just as water sometimes lies undetected beneath the desert sand, we are not always aware of God's goodness working within us during hardship.

The Old Testament prophets sometimes referred to God's coming salvation in terms of water in the desert. To a people familiar with intense heat and drought, water in the desert was indeed a lifesaver.

God tests the Israelites in the desert and requires them to wander there for 40 years because they rebelled against him.
Numbers 11:1-14:45
Nehemiah 9:9-21
Psalm 78:13-53
Ezekiel 20:10-26
Acts 7:17-42
The desert sometimes represents God's punishment.
Numbers 32:13-15
Deuteronomy 8:2-5
Isaiah 64:8-10
Jeremiah 51:10-13
Zephaniah 2:13
God comforts and provides for his people in the desert.
Deuteronomy 8:15-16
Nehemiah 9:19-21
Isaiah 41:17-20
God's salvation is represented by water in the desert.
Isaiah 32:14-16; 35:5-7;43:18-21;44:1-5
God's power is demonstrated by his ability to provide water in the desert and to turn rivers and seas into wastelands.
Psalm 107:33-38
Nahum 1:3-4