Streams in the Desert October 1 Daily Devotional

It is good for me that I have been afflicted (Psalm 119:71).
It is a remarkable circumstance that the most brilliant colors of
I plants are to be seen on the highest mountains, in spots that are most exposed to the wildest weather. The brightest lichens and
mosses, the loveliest gems of wild flowers, abound far up on the bleak, storm-scalped peak
One of the richest displays of organic coloring I ever beheld was
near the summit of Mount Chenebettaz, a hill about 10,000 feet
high, immediately above the great St. Bernard Hospice. The whole face of an extensive rock was covered with a most vivid yellow
lichen which shone in the sunshine like the golden bafflement of an enchanted castle.
There, in that lofty region, amid the most frowning desolation ,
exposed to the fiercest tempest of the sky, this lichen exhibited
a glory of color such as it never showed in the sheltered valley.
I have two specimens of the same lichen before me while I write
these fines, one from the great St. Bernard, and the other from the wall of a Scottish castle, deeply embossed among sycamore trees; and the difference in point of form and coloring between them is
most staking.
The specimen nurtured amid the wild storms of the mountain peak is of a lovely primrose hue, and is smooth in texture and complete in
outline, while the specimen nurtured amid the soft airs and the delicate showers of the lowland valley is of a dim rusty hue, and is scurfy in texture, and broken in outline.
And is ft not so with the Christian who is afflicted, tempest
tossed, and not comforted? The storms and vicissitudes of God's providence beat upon him again and again, his character appears
marred and clouded; but @ clear away the obscurity, perfect the outlines of his disposition, and give brightness and blessing to
his life.
Amidst my list of blessings infinite
Stands this the foremost, that my heart has bled;
For all I bless Thee, most for the severe. --Hugh Macmillan.