Streams
in the Desert
By Charles E.Cowman
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6.
Hedged
in
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8.
The
Harp
10.
Refreshing
dew
11.
Quietness
13.
God’s
wind
14.
Sit
still
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(1) He Has Overcome the World
"None of these things move me" (Acts20:24).
We read in the book of Samuel that the moment
that David was crowned at
Philistines came up to seek David." And the
moment we get anything from the Lord worth
contending for, then the devil comes to seek us.
When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any
great work for God, let us accept it as "a token
of salvation," and claim double blessing,
victory, and power. Power is developed by
resistance. The cannon carries twice as far
because the exploding power has to find its way
through resistance. The way electricity is
produced in the powerhouse yonder is by the sharp
friction of the revolving wheels. And so we shall
find some day that even Satan has been one of
God's agencies of blessing. --Days of Heaven
upon Earth
A hero is not fed on sweets,
Daily his own heart he eats;
Chambers of the great are jails,
And head winds right for royal sails.
--Emerson
Tribulation is the way to triumph. The valley-way
opens into the highway. Tribulation's imprint is
on all great things. Crowns are cast in
crucibles. Chains of character that wind about
the feet of God are forged in earthly flames. No
man is greatest victor till he has trodden the
winepress of woe. With seams of anguish deep in
His brow, the "Man of Sorrows" said, "In
the
world ye shall have tribulation"--but after this
sob comes the psalm of promise, "Be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world." The footprints
are traceable everywhere. Bloodmarks stain the
steps that lead to thrones. Sears are the price
of scepters. Our crowns will be wrested from the
giants we conquer. Grief has always been the lot
of greatness. It is an open secret.
"The mark of rank in nature.
Is capacity for pain;
And the anguish of the singer
Makes the sweetest of the strain."
Tribulation has always marked the trail of the
true reformer. It is the story of Paul, Luther,
Savonarola, Knox, Wesley, and all the rest of the
mighty army. They came through great tribulation
to their place of power.
Every great book has been written with the
author's blood. "These are they that have come
out of great tribulation." Who was the peerless
poet of the Greeks? Homer. But that illustrious
singer was blind. Who wrote the fadeless dream of
"Pilgrim's Progress"? A prince in royal purple
upon a couch of ease? Nay! The trailing splendor
of that vision gilded the dingy walls of old
prisoner, a glorious genius, made a faithful
transcript of the scene.
Great is the facile conqueror;
Yet haply, he, who, wounded sore,
Breathless, all covered o'er with blood and
sweat,
Sinks fainting, but fighting evermore
Is greater yet.
--Selected
Music and the Rest
"Into a desert place apart" (Matt.
"There is no music in a rest, but there is the
making of music in it." In our whole life-melody
the music is broken off here and there by
"rests," and we foolishly think we have come to
the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced
leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated
efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral
hymn of our lives; and we lament that our voices
must be silent, and our part missing in the music
which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator. How
does the musician read the "rest"? See him beat
the time with unvarying count, and catch up the
next note true and steady, as if no breaking
place had come between.
Not without design does God write the music of
our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not
be dismayed at the "rests." They are not to be
slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy
the melody, not to change the keynote. If we look
up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With
the eye on Him, we shall strike the next note
full and clear. If we sadly say to ourselves,
"There is no music in a 'rest,'" let us not
forget "there is the making of music in it."
The
making of music is often a slow and painful
process in this life. How patiently God works to
teach us! How long He waits for us to learn the
lesson! --Ruskin
"Called aside--
From the glad working of thy busy life,
From the world's ceaseless stir of care and
strife,
Into the shade and stillness by thy Heavenly
Guide
For a brief space thou hast been called aside.
"Called aside--
Perhaps into a desert garden dim;
And yet not alone, when thou hast been with Him,
And heard His voice in sweetest accents say:
'Child, wilt thou not with Me this still hour
stay?'
"Called aside--
In hidden paths with Christ thy Lord to tread,
Deeper to drink at the sweet Fountainhead,
Closer in fellowship with Him to roam,
Nearer, perchance, to feel thy Heavenly Home.
"Called aside--
Oh, knowledge deeper grows with Him alone;
In secret of His deeper love is shown,
And learnt in many an hour of dark distress
Some rare, sweet lesson of His tenderness.
"Called aside--
We thank thee for the stillness and the shade;
We thank Thee for the hidden paths Thy love hath
made,
And, so that we have wept and watched with Thee,
We thank Thee for our dark
"Called aside--
Oh, restful thought--He doeth all things well;
Oh, blessed sense, with Christ alone to dwell;
So in the shadow of Thy cross to hide,
We thank Thee, Lord, to have been called aside."
"Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?" (Psalm
10:1.)
God is "a very present help in trouble." But He
permits trouble to pursue us, as though He were
indifferent to its overwhelming pressure, that we
may be brought to the end of ourselves, and led
to discover the treasure of darkness, the
unmeasurable gains of tribulation. We may be sure
that He who permits the suffering is with us in
it. It may be that we shall see Him only when the
trial is passing; but we must dare to believe
that He never leaves the crucible. Our eyes are
holden; and we cannot behold Him whom our soul
loveth. It is dark--the bandages blind us so that
we cannot see the form of our High Priest; but He
is there, deeply touched. Let us not rely on
feeling, but on faith in His unswerving fidelity;
and though we see Him not, let us talk to Him.
Directly we begin to speak to Jesus, as being
literally present, though His presence is veiled,
there comes an answering voice which shows that
He is in the shadow, keeping watch upon His own.
Your Father is as near when you journey through
the dark tunnel as when under the open heaven!
--Daily Devotional Commentary
"What though the path be all unknown?
What though the way be drear?
Its shades I traverse not alone
When steps of Thine are near."
"But the dove found no rest for or the sole of
her foot, and she returned unto him...And the
dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in
her mouth was an olive leaf" (Gen. 8:9-11).
God knows just when to withhold from us any
visible sign of encouragement, and when to grant
us such a sign. How good it is that we may trust
Him anyway! When all visible evidences that He is
remembering us are withheld, that is best; He
wants us to realize that His Word, His promise of
remembrance, is more substantial and dependable
than any evidence of our senses. When He sends
the visible evidence, that is well also; we
appreciate it all the more after we have trusted
Him without it. Those who are readiest to trust
God without other evidence than His Word always
receive the greatest number of visible evidences
of His love. --C.
G. Trumbull
"Believing Him; if storm-clouds gather darkly
'round,
And even if the heaven seem brass, without a
sound?
He hears each prayer and even notes the sparrow's
fall.
"And praising Him; when sorrow, grief, and pain
are near,
And even when we lose the thing that seems most
dear?
Our loss is gain. Praise Him; in Him we have our
All.
"Our hand in His; e'en though the path seems long
and drear
We scarcely see a step ahead, and almost fear?
He guides aright. He has it thus to keep us near.
"And satisfied; when every path is blocked and
bare,
And worldly things are gone and dead which were
so fair?
Believe and rest and trust in Him, He comes to
stay."
Delays are not refusals; many a prayer is
registered, and underneath it the words: "My time
is not yet come." God has a set time as well as a
set purpose, and He who orders the bounds of our
habitation orders also the time of our
deliverance.
--Selected
"Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (Ps.
23:4).
At my father's house in the country there is a
little closet in the chimney corner where are
kept the canes and walking-sticks of several
generations of our family. In my visits to the
old house, when my father and I are going out for
a walk, we often go to the cane closet, and pick
out our sticks to suit the fancy of the occasion.
In this I have frequently been reminded that the,
Word of God is a staff.
During the war, when the season of discouragement
and impending danger was upon us, the verse, "He
shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is
fixed, trusting in the Lord," was a staff to walk
with many dark days.
When death took away our child and left us almost
heartbroken, I found another staff in the promise
that "weeping may endure for the night, but joy
cometh in the morning."
When in impaired health, I was exiled for a year,
not knowing whether I should be permitted to
return to my home and work again, I took with me
this staff which never failed, "He knoweth the
thoughts that he thinketh toward me, thoughts of
peace and not of evil."
In times of special danger or doubt, when human
judgment has seemed to be set at naught, I have
found it easy to go forward with this staff, "In
quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
And in emergencies, when there has seemed to be
no adequate time for deliberation or for action,
I have never found that this staff has failed me,
"He that believeth shall not make haste."
--Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, in The Outlook
"I had never known," said Martin Luther's wife,
"what such and such things meant, in such and
such psalms, such complaints and workings of
spirit; I had never understood the practice of
Christian duties, had not God brought me under
some affliction." It is very true that God's rod
is as the schoolmaster's pointer to the child,
pointing out the letter, that he may the better
take notice of it; thus He pointeth out to us
many good lessons which we should never otherwise
have learned.
--Selected
"God always sends His staff with His rod."
"Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy
days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut.33:25).
Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on
stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes,
and He will not send us out on any journey for
which He does not equip us well. --Maclaren
"I have begun to give;…begin to possess" (Deut.
A great deal is said in the Bible about waiting
for God. The lesson cannot be too strongly
enforced. We easily grow impatient of God's
delays. Much of our trouble in life comes out of
our restless, sometimes reckless, haste. We
cannot wait for the fruit to ripen, but insist on
plucking it while it is green. We cannot wait for
the answers to our prayers, although the things
we ask for may require long years in their
preparation for us. We are exhorted to walk with
God; but ofttimes God walks very slowly. But
there is another phase of the lesson. God often
waits for us.
We fail many times to receive the blessing He has
ready for us, because we do not go forward with
Him. While we miss much good through not waiting
for God, we also miss much through over-waiting.
There are times when our strength is to sit
still, but there are also times when we are to go
forward with a firm step.
There are many Divine promises which are
conditioned upon the beginning of some action on
our part. When we begin to obey, God will begin
to bless us. Great things were promised to
Abraham, but not one of them could have been
obtained by waiting in
home, friends, and country, and go out into
unknown paths and press on in unfaltering
obedience in order to receive the promises. The
ten lepers were told to show themselves to the
priest, and "as they went they were cleansed."
If
they had waited to see the cleansing come in
their flesh before they would start, they would
never have seen it. God was waiting to cleanse
them; and the moment their faith began to work,
the blessing came.
When the Israelites were shut in by a pursuing
army at the
forward." Their duty was no longer one of
waiting, but of rising up from bended knees and
going forward in the way of heroic faith. They
were commanded to show their faith at another
time by beginning their march over the
while the river ran to its widest banks. The key
to unlock the gate into the
held in their own hands, and the gate would not
turn on its hinges until they had approached it
and unlocked it. That key was faith. We are set
to fight certain battles. We say we can never be
victorious; that we never can conquer these
enemies; but, as we enter the conflict, One comes
and fights by our side, and through Him we are
more than conquerors. If we had waited, trembling
and fearing, for our Helper to come before we
would join the battle, we should have waited in
vain. This would have been the over-waiting of
unbelief. God is waiting to pour richest
blessings upon you. Press forward with bold
confidence and take what is yours. "I have begun
to give, begin to possess." --J. R. Miller
"Reckon it nothing but joy...whenever you find
yourself hedged in by the various trials, be
assured that the testing of your faith leads to
power of endurance" (James 1:2-3)
God hedges in His own that He may preserve them,
but oftentimes
they only see the wrong side
of the hedge, and so misunderstand His dealings.
It was so with Job (Job 3:23). Ah, but Satan knew
the value of that hedge! See his testimony in
chapter 1:10. Through
the leaves of every trial
there are chinks of light
to shine through.
Thorns do not prick you unless you lean against
them, and not one touches without His knowledge.
The words that hurt you, the letter which gave
you pain, the cruel wound of your dearest friend,
shortness of money--are all known to Him, who
sympathizes as none else can and watches to see,
if, through all, you will dare to trust Him
wholly.
"The hawthorn hedge that keeps us from intruding,
Looks very fierce and bare
When stripped by winter, every branch protruding
Its thorns that would wound and tear.
"But spring-time comes; and like the rod that
budded,
Each twig breaks out in green;
And cushions soft of tender leaves are studded,
Where spines alone were seen,
"The sorrows, that to us seem so perplexing,
Are mercies kindly sent
To guard our wayward souls from sadder vexing,
And greater ills prevent.
"To save us from the pit, no screen of roses
Would serve for our defense,
The hindrance that completely interposes
Stings back like thorny fence.
"At first when smarting from the shock,
complaining
Of wounds that freely bleed,
God's hedges of severity us paining,
May seem severe indeed.
"But afterwards, God's blessed spring-time
cometh,
And bitter murmurs cease;
The sharp severity that pierced us bloometh,
And yields the fruits of peace.
"Then let us sing, our guarded way thus wending
Life's hidden snares among,
Of mercy and of judgment sweetly blending;
Earth's sad, but lovely song."
"Stablish, strengthen, settle you" (1 Peter
5:10).
In taking Christ in any new relationship, we must
first have sufficient intellectual light to
satisfy our mind that we are entitled to stand in
this relationship. The shadow of a question here
will wreck our confidence. Then, having seen
this, we must make the venture, the committal,
the choice, and take the place just as definitely
as the tree is planted in the soil, or the bride
gives herself away at the marriage altar. It must
be once for all, without reserve, without recall.
Then there is a season of establishing, settling
and testing, during which we must "stay put"
until the new relationship gets so fixed as to
become a permanent habit. It is just the same as
when the surgeon sets the broken arm. He puts it
in splints to keep it from vibration. So God has
His spiritual splints that He wants to put upon
His children and keep them quiet and unmoved
until they pass the first stage of faith. It is
not always easy work for us, "but the God of all
grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory
by Jesus Christ, after that ye have suffered
awhile, stablish, strengthen, settle you." --A.
B. Simpson
There is a natural law in sin and sickness; and
if we just let ourselves go and sink into the
trend of circumstances, we shall go down and sink
under the power of the tempter. But there is
another law of spiritual life and of physical
life in Christ Jesus to which we can rise, and
through which we can counterpoise and overcome
the other law that bears us down.
But to do this requires real spiritual energy and
fixed purpose and a settled posture and habit of
faith. It is just the same as when we use the
power in our factory. We must turn on the belt
and keep it on. The power is there, but we must
keep the connection; and while we do so, the
higher power will work and all the machinery will
be in operation.
There is a spiritual law of choosing, believing,
abiding, and holding steady in our walk with God,
which is essential to the working of the Holy
Ghost either in our sanctification or healing.
--Days of Heaven upon Earth
"I am jealous over you with God's own jealousy"
(2 Cor. 11:2)
How an old harper dotes on his harp! How he
fondles and caresses it, as a child resting on
his bosom! His life is bound up in it. But, see
him tuning it. He grasps it firmly, strikes a
chord with a sharp, quick blow; and while it
quivers as if in pain, he leans over intently to
catch the first note that rises. The note, as he
feared, is false and harsh. He strains the chord
with the torturing thumb-screw; and though it
seems ready to snap with the tension, he strikes
it again, bending down to listen softly as
before, till at length you see a smile on his
face as the first true tone trembles upward.
So it may be that God is dealing with you. Loving
you better than any harper loves his harp, He
finds you a mass of jarring discords. He wrings
your heartstrings with some torturing anguish; He
bends over you tenderly, striking and listening;
and, hearing only a harsh murmur, strikes you
again, while His heart bleeds for you, anxiously
waiting for that strain--"Not my will, but thine
be done"--which is melody sweet to His ear as
angels' songs. Nor will He cease to strike until
your chastened soul shall blend with all the pure
and infinite harmonies of His own being.
--Selected.
"Oh, the sweetness that dwells in a harp of many
strings,
While each, all vocal with love in a tuneful
harmony rings!
But, oh, the wail and the discord, when one and
another is rent,
Tensionless, broken and lost, from the cherished
instrument.
"For rapture of love is linked with the pain or
fear of loss,
And the hand that takes the crown, must ache with
many a cross;
Yet he who hath never a conflict, hath never a
victor's palm,
And only the toilers know the sweetness of rest
and calm.
"Only between the storms can the Alpine traveller
know
Transcendent glory of clearness, marvels of gleam
and glow;
Had he the brightness unbroken of cloudless
summer days,
This had been dimmed by the dust and the veil of
a brooding haze.
"Who would dare the choice, neither or both to
know,
The finest quiver of joy or the agony thrill of
woe!
Never the exquisite pain, then never the
exquisite bliss,
For the heart that is dull to that can never be
strung to this."
"God is in the midst of her; she shall not be
moved: God shall help her, and that right early"
(Ps. 46:2, 3, 5)
"Shall not be moved"--what an inspiring
declaration! Can it be possible that we, who are
so easily moved by the things of earth, can
arrive at a place where nothing can upset us or
disturb our calm? Yes, it is possible; and the
Apostle Paul knew it. When he was on his way to
Jerusalem where he foresaw that "bonds and
afflictions" awaited him, he could say
triumphantly, "But none of these things move
me."
Everything in Paul's life and experience that
could be shaken had been shaken, and he no longer
counted his life, or any of life's possessions,
dear to him. And we, if we will but let God have
His way with us, may come to the same place, so
that neither the fret and tear of little things
of life, nor the great and heavy trials, can have
power to move us from the peace that passeth
understanding, which is declared to be the
portion of those who have learned to rest only on
God.
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the
temple of my God; and he shall go no more out."
To be as immovable as a pillar in the house of
our God, is an end for which one would gladly
endure all the shakings that may be necessary to
bring us there!
--Hannah Whitall Smith
When God is in the midst of a kingdom or city He
makes it as firm as Mount Zion, that cannot be
removed. When He is in the midst of a soul,
though calamities throng about it on all hands,
and roar like the billows of the sea, yet there
is a constant calm within, such a peace as the
world can neither give nor take away. What is it
but want of lodging God in the soul, and that in
His stead the world is in men's hearts, that
makes them shake like leaves at every blast of
danger?
--Archbishop Leighton
"They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount
Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth
forever." There is a quaint old Scottish version
that puts iron into our blood:
"Who sticketh to God in stable trust
As Zion's mount he stands full just,
Which moveth no whit, nor yet doth reel,
But standeth forever as stiff as steel!"
"I will be as the dew unto Israel" (Hosea
14:5).
The dew is a source of freshness. It is nature's
provision for renewing the face of the earth. It
falls at night, and without it the vegetation
would die. It is this great value of the dew
which is so often recognized in the Scriptures.
It is used as the symbol of spiritual refreshing.
Just as nature is bathed in dew, so the Lord
renews His people. In Titus 3:5 the same thought
of spiritual refreshing is connected with the
ministry of the Holy Ghost--"renewing of the Holy
Ghost."
Many Christian workers do not recognize the
importance of the heavenly dew in their lives,
and as a result they lack freshness and vigor.
Their spirits are drooping for lack of dew.
Beloved fellow-worker, you recognize the folly of
a laboring man attempting to do his day's work
without eating. Do you recognize the folly of a
servant of God attempting to minister without
eating of the heavenly manna? Nor will it suffice
to have spiritual nourishment occasionally. Every
day you must receive the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. You know when your whole being is
pulsating with the vigor and freshness of Divine
life and when you feel jaded and worn. Quietness
and absorption bring the dew. At night when the
leaf and blade are still, the vegetable pores are
open to receive the refreshing and invigorating
bath; so spiritual dew comes from quiet lingering
in the Master's presence. Get still before Him.
Haste will prevent your receiving the dew. Wait
before God until you feel saturated with His
presence; then go forth to your next duty with
the conscious freshness and vigor of Christ.
--Dr. Pardington
Dew will never gather while there is either heat
or wind. The temperature must fall, and the wind
cease, and the air come to a point of coolness
and rest--absolute rest, so to speak--before it
can yield up its invisible particles of moisture
to bedew either herb or flower. So the grace of
God does not come forth to rest the soul of man
until the still point is fairly and fully
reached.
"Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease:
Take from our souls the strain and stress;
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
"Breathe through the pulses of desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, its beats expire:
Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm!"
"He giveth quietness." (Job 34:29).
Quietness amid the dash of the storm. We sail the
lake with Him still; and as we reach its middle
waters, far from land, under midnight skies,
suddenly a great storm sweeps down. Earth and
hell seem arrayed against us, and each billow
threatens to overwhelm. Then He arises from His
sleep, and rebukes the winds and the waves; His
hand waves benediction and repose over the rage
of the tempestuous elements. His voice is heard
above the scream of the wind in the cordage and
the conflict of the billows, "Peace, be still!"
Can you not hear it? And there is instantly a
great calm. "He giveth quietness." Quietness
amid
the loss of inward consolations. He sometimes
withdraws these, because we make too much of
them. We are tempted to look at our joy, our
ecstasies, our transports, or our visions, with
too great complacency. Then love for love's sake,
withdraws them. But, by His grace, He leads us to
distinguish between them and Himself. He draws
nigh, and whispers the assurance of His presence.
Thus an infinite calm comes to keep our heart and
mind. "He giveth quietness."
"He giveth quietness." O Elder Brother,
Whose homeless feet have pressed our path of
pain,
Whose hands have borne the burden of our sorrow,
That in our losses we might find our gain.
"Of all Thy gifts and infinite consolings,
I ask but this: in every troubled hour
To hear Thy voice through all the tumults
stealing,
And rest serene beneath its tranquil power.
"Cares cannot fret me if my soul be dwelling
In the still air of faith's untroubled day;
Grief cannot shake me if I walk beside thee,
My hand in Thine along the darkening way.
"Content to know there comes a radiant morning
When from all shadows I shall find release,
Serene to wait the rapture of its dawning--
Who can make trouble when Thou sendest peace?"
Lessons in the Shadow
"In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and
made me a polished shaft: in his quiver hath he
hid me" (Isa. 49:2).
"In the shadow." We must all go there
sometimes.
The glare of the daylight is too brilliant; our
eyes become injured, and unable to discern the
delicate shades of color, or appreciate neutral
tints--the shadowed chamber of sickness, the
shadowed house of mourning, the shadowed life
from which the sunlight has gone.
But fear not! It is the shadow of God's hand. He
is leading thee. There are lessons that can be
learned only there.
The photograph of His face can only be fixed in
the dark chamber. But do not suppose that He has
cast thee aside. Thou art still in His quiver; He
has not flung thee away as a worthless thing.
He is only keeping thee close till the moment
comes when He can send thee most swiftly and
surely on some errand in which He will be
glorified. Oh, shadowed, solitary ones, remember
how closely the quiver is bound to the warrior,
within easy reach of the hand, and guarded
jealously.
--Christ in Isaiah, Meyer
In some spheres the shadow condition is the
condition of greatest growth. The beautiful
Indian corn never grows more rapidly than in the
shadow of a warm summer night. The sun curls the
leaves in the sultry noon light, but they quickly
unfold, if a cloud slips over the sky. There is a
service in the shadow that is not in the shine.
The world of stellar beauty is never seen at its
best till the shadows of night slip over the sky.
There are beauties that bloom in the shade that
will not bloom in the sun. There is much greenery
in lands of fog and clouds and shadow. The
florist has "evening glories" now, as well as
"morning glories." The "evening
glory" will not
shine in the noon's splendor, but comes to its
best as the shadows of evening deepen.
If all of life were sunshine,
Our faces would be fain
To feel once more upon them
The cooling plash of rain.
--Henry Van Dyke
"And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the
wilderness" (Mark 1:12).
It seemed a strange proof of Divine favor.
"Immediately." Immediately after what? After
the
opened heavens and the dove-like peace and the
voice of the Father's blessing, "Thou art my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." It is no
abnormal experience. Thou, too, hast passed
through it, O my soul. Are not the times of thy
deepest depression just the moments that follow
thy loftiest flight? Yesterday thou wert soaring
far in the firmament, and singing in the radiance
of the morn; today thy wings are folded and thy
song silent. At noon thou wert basking in the
sunshine of a Father's smile; at eve thou art
saying in the wilderness, "My way is hid from the
Lord."
Nay, but, my soul, the very suddenness of the
change is a proof that it is not revolutionary.
Hast thou weighed the comfort of that word
"immediately"? Why does it come so soon after
the
blessing? Just to show that it is the sequel to
the blessing. God shines on thee to make thee fit
for life's desert-places--for its Gethsemanes,
for its Calvaries. He lifts thee up that He may
give thee strength to go further down; He
illuminates thee that He may send thee into the
night, that He may make thee a help to the
helpless.
Not at all times art thou worthy of the
wilderness; thou art only worthy of the
wilderness after the splendors of Jordan. Nothing
but the Son's vision can fit thee for the
Spirit's burden; only the glory of the baptism
can support the hunger of the desert. --George
Matheson
After benediction comes battle.
The time of testing that marks and mightily
enriches a soul's spiritual career is no ordinary
one, but a period when all hell seems let loose,
a period when we realize our souls are brought
into a net, when we know that God is permitting
us to be in the devil's hand. But it is a period
which always ends in certain triumph for those
who have committed the keeping of their souls to
Him, a period of marvelous "nevertheless
afterward" of abundant usefulness, the sixty-fold
that surely follows.
--Aphra White
"I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth" (Isa. 58:14).
Those who fly through the air in airships tell us
that one of the first rules they learn is to turn
their ship toward the wind, and fly against it.
The wind lifts the ship up to higher heights.
Where did they learn that? They learned it from
the birds. If a bird is flying for pleasure, it
goes with the wind. But if the bird meets danger,
it turns right around and faces the wind, in
order that it may rise higher; and it flies away
towards the very sun.
Sufferings are God's winds, His contrary winds,
sometimes His strong winds. They are God's
hurricanes, but, they take human life and lift it
to higher levels and toward God's heavens.
You have seen in the summer time a day when the
atmosphere was so oppressive that you could
hardly breathe? But a cloud appeared on the
western horizon and that cloud grew larger and
threw out rich blessing for the world. The storm
rose, lightning flashed and thunder pealed. The
storm covered the world, and the atmosphere was
cleansed; new life was in the air, and the world
was changed.
Human life is worked out according to exactly the
same principle. When the storm breaks the
atmosphere is changed, clarified, filled with new
life; and a part of heaven is brought down to
earth. --Selected
Obstacles ought to set us singing. The wind finds
voice, not when rushing across the open sea, but
when hindered by the outstretched arms of the
pine trees, or broken by the fine strings of an
Aeolian harp. Then it has songs of power and
beauty. Set your freed soul sweeping across the
obstacles of life, through grim forests of pain,
against even the tiny hindrances and frets that
love uses, and it, too, will find its singing
voice. --Selected
"Be like a bird that, halting in its flight,
Rests on a bough too slight.
And feeling it give way beneath him sings,
Knowing he hath wings."
"Ye shall not go out with haste" (Isa. 52:12).
I do not believe that we have begun to understand
the marvelous power there is in stillness. We are
in such a hurry--we must be doing--so that we are
in danger of not giving God a chance to work. You
may depend upon it, God never says to us, "Stand
still," or "Sit still," or "Be
still," unless He
is going to do something.
This is our trouble in regard to our Christian
life; we want to do something to be Christians
when we need to let Him work in us. Do you know
how still you have to be when your likeness is
being taken?
Now God has one eternal purpose concerning us,
and that is that we should be like His Son; and
in order that this may be so, we must be passive.
We hear so much about activity, may be we need to
know what it is to be quiet. --Crumbs
Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
Nor deem these days--these waiting days--as ill!
The One who loves thee best, who plans thy way,
Hath not forgotten thy great need today!
And, if He waits, 'tis sure He waits to prove
To thee, His tender child, His heart's deep love.
Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
Thou longest much to know thy dear Lord's will!
While anxious thoughts would almost steal their
way
Corrodingly within, because of His delay
Persuade thyself in simple faith to rest
That He, who knows and loves, will do the best.
Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
Nor move one step, not even one, until
His way hath opened. Then, ah then, how sweet!
How glad thy heart, and then how swift thy feet
Thy inner being then, ah then, how strong!
And waiting days not counted then too long.
Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
What higher service could'st thou for Him fill?
'Tis hard! ah yes! But choicest things must cost!
For lack of losing all how much is lost!
'Tis hard, 'tis true! But then--He giveth grace
To count the hardest spot the sweetest place.
--J. D. Smith