Streams in the Desert March 11 Daily Devotional

Now it came to pass after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses'
minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead, now, therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people (Joshua 1:1, 2).
Sorrow came to you yesterday, and emptied your home. Your first impulse now is to give up, and sit down in despair amid the wrecks
of your hopes. But you dare not do it You are in the fine of
battle, and the crisis is at hand. To falter a moment would be to
imperil some holy interest Other fives would be harmed by your
pausing, holy interests would suffer, should your hands be folded. You must not finger even to indulge your grief.
A distinguished general related this pathetic incident of his own
experience in time of war. The general's son was a lieutenant of
battery. An assault was in progress. The father was leading his
division in a charge; as he pressed on in the field, suddenly his
eye was caught by the sight of a dead battery-officer lying just
before him. One glance showed him it was his own son. His fatherly impulse was to stop beside the loved form and give vent to his
grief, but the duty of the moment demanded that he should press on in the charge; so, quickly snatching one hot kiss from the dead
lips, he hastened away, leading his command in the assault.
Weeping inconsolably beside a grave can never give back love's
banished treasure, nor can any blessing come out of such sadness. Sorrow makes deep scars; it writes its record ineffaceably on the

heart which suffers. We really never get over our great griefs; we
are never altogether the same after we have passed through them as we were before. Yet there is a humanizing and fertilizing influence
in sorrow which has been rightly accepted and cheerfully bome.
Indeed, they are poor who have never suffered, and have none of
sorrow's marks upon them. The joy set before us should shine upon our griefs as the sun shines through the clouds, glorifying them.
God has so ordered, that in pressing on in duty we shall find the
truest richest comfort for ourselves. Sitting down to brood over
our sorrows, the darkness deepens about us and creeps into our
heart and our strength changes to weakness. But if we turn away
from the gloom, and take up the tasks and duties to which God calls us, the fight will come again, and we shall grow stronger. --J. R.
Miller.
Thou knowest that through our tears Of hasty, selfish weeping
Comes surer sin, and for our petty fears Of loss thou hast in keeping
A greater gain than all of which we dreamed; Thou knowest that in grasping
The bright possessions which so precious seemed We lose them; but if, clasping
Thy faithful hand, we tread with steadfast feet The path of thy appointing,
There waits for us a treasury of sweet 'Delight, royal anointing
With oil of gladness and of strength. --Helen Hunt Jackson.