Streams In The Desert #231

The LORD alone led him. (Deuteronomy 32:12)

The hill was steep, but cheered along the way

By conversation sweet, climbing with the thought

That it might be so till the height was reached;

But suddenly a narrow winding path

Appeared, and then the Master said, “My child,

Here you will walk safest 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 unspeakable, the rugged way

Illumined, such light as only can be seen

In close companionship with God.

A little while, and we will 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 life now passed, I think one memory

More dear and sacred than the rest, will rise,

And we who gather in the golden streets,

Will oft be stirred to speak with grateful love

Of that dark day Jesus called us to climb

Some narrow steep, leaning on Him alone.

There is never a majestic mountain without a deep valley, and there is no birth without pain. Daniel Crawford