Streams in the Desert

Devotional For

February 18

      Alone
      
      "So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." (Deut. 32:12).
      
      "The hill was steep, but cheered along the way
      By converse sweet, I mounted on the thought
      That so it might be till the height was reached;
      
      But suddenly a narrow winding path
      Appeared, and then the Master said, 'My child,
      Here thou wilt safest walk with Me alone.'
      
      "I trembled, yet my heart's deep trust replied,
      'So be it, Lord.' He took my feeble hand
      In His, accepting thus my will to yield Him
      All, and to find all in Him.
      One long, dark moment,
      And no friend I saw, save Jesus only.
      
      "But oh! so tenderly He led me on
      And up, and spoke to me such words of cheer,
      Such secret whisperings of His wondrous love,
      That soon I told Him all my grief and fear,
      And leaned on His strong arm confidingly.
      
      "And then I found my footsteps quickened,
      And light ineffable, the rugged way
      Illumined, such light as only can be seen
      In close companionship with God.
      
      "A little while, and we shall meet again
      The loved and lost; but in the rapturous joy
      Of greetings, such as here we cannot know,
      And happy song, and heavenly embraces,
      And tender recollections rushing back
      Of pilgrim life, methinks one memory
      More dear and sacred than the rest, shall rise,
      "And we who gather in the golden streets,
      Shall oft be stirred to speak with grateful love
      
      Of that dark day when Jesus bade us climb
      Some narrow steep, leaning on Him alone."
      "There is no high hill but beside some deep valley.
      There is no birth without a pang."
      --Dan Crawford