Charles E. Cowman - Streams in the Desert

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"None of these things move me" (Acts20:24).

We read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was crowned at Hebron,

"All the 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 sceptres. 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 splendour of that vision gilded the dingy walls of old Bedford jail while John Bunyan, a princely 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

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"Into a desert place apart" (Matt. 14:13).

"There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it." In our whole lifemelody 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 Gethsemane.

"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."

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"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 immeasurable 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."

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"But the dove found no rest for 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.