Streams in the Desert

Devotional For

November 10

      The Road Uphill
      
      "Walking in the midst of the fire" (Daniel 3:25).
      
      The fire did not arrest their motion; they walked in the midst of it. It was one of the streets through which they moved to their destiny. The comfort of Christ's revelation is not that it teaches emancipation from sorrow, but emancipation through sorrow.
      
      O my God, teach me, when the shadows have gathered, that I am only in a tunnel. It is enough for me to know that it will be all right some day.
      
      They tell me that I shall stand upon the peaks of Olivet, the heights of resurrection glory. But I want more, O my Father; I want Calvary to lead up to it. I want to know that the shadows of this world are the shades of an avenue the avenue to the house of my Father. Tell me I am only forced to climb because Thy house is on the hill! I shall receive no hurt from sorrow if I shall walk in the midst of the fire. --George Matheson
      
      "'The road is too rough,' I said;
      'It is uphill all the way;
      No flowers, but thorns instead;
      And the skies over head are grey.'
      But One took my hand at the entrance dim,
      And sweet is the road that I walk with Him.
      
      "The cross is too great,' I cried--
      'More than the back can bear,
      So rough and heavy and wide,
      And nobody by to care.'
      And One stooped softly and touched my hand:
      'I know. I care. And I understand.'
      
      "Then why do we fret and sigh;
      Cross-bearers all we go:
      But the road ends by-and-by
      In the dearest place we know,
      And every step in the journey we
      May take in the Lord's own company."