Streams in the Desert May 13 Daily Devotional

We know not what we should pray for as we ought (Rom.8:26).
Much that perplexes us in our Christian experience is but the
answer to our prayers. We pray for patience, & our Father sends those who tax us to the utmost; for "tribulation worketh patience."
We pray for submission, & God sends sufferings; for "we learn obedience by the things we suffer."
We pray for unselfishness, & God gives us opportunities to sacrifice ourselves by thinking on the things of others, & by laying down our lives for the brethren.
We pray for strength & humility, & some messenger of Satan torments us until we lie in the dust crying for its removal.
We pray, "Lord, increase our faith," & money takes wings; or the children are alarmingly ill; or a servant comes who is careless,
extravagant, untidy or slow, or some hitherto unknown trial calls for an increase of faith along a line where we have not needed to exercise much faith before.
We pray for the Lamb-life, & are given a portion of lowly service,
or we are injured & must week no redress; for "he was led as a lamb

to the slaughter &...opened not his mouth."
We pray for gentleness, & there comes a perfect storm of temptation
to harshness & irritability. We pray for quietness, & every nerve is strung to the utmost tension, so that looking to Him we may learn that when He giveth quietness, no one can make trouble.
We pray for love, & God sends peculiar suffering & puts us with
apparently unlovely people, & lets them say things which rasp the nerves & lacerate the heart; for love suffereth long & is kind,
love is not impolite, love is not provoked. Love beareth all
things, believeth, hopeth & endureth, love never faileth. We pray for likeness to Jesus, & the answer is, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." "Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong?" "Are ye able?"
The way to peace & victory is to accept every circumstance, every trial, straight from the hand of a loving Father; & to live up in
the heavenly places, above the clouds, in the very presence of the Throne, & to look down from the Glory upon our environment as
lovingly & divinely appointed. --Selected.
I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile All sense of nearness, human and divine;
The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart,
The hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine; But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone,
The everlasting arms upheld my own.
I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds, The moon was darkened by a misty doubt,
The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears,
And all my little candle flames burned out;
But while I sat in shadow, wrapped in night,
The face of Christ made all the darkness bright.
I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease, A slumber drugged from pain, a hushed repose; Above my head the skies were black with storm, And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes;
But while the battle raged, and wild winds blew, I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew.
I thank Thee, Lord, Thou wert too wise to heed
My feeble prayers, and answer as I sought,
Since these rich gifts Thy bounty has bestowed
Have brought me more than all I asked or thought;
Giver of good, so answer each request
With Thine own giving, better than my best. --Annie Johnson Flint.