Streams in the Desert December 10 Daily Devotional

If I am in distress, it is in the interests of your comfort, which
is effective as It nerves you to endure the some sufferings as I
suffered myself. Hence my hope for you is well-founded, since I know that as you shore the sufferings you share the comfort also (2Cor. 1:6, 7).
Are there not some in your circle to whom you naturally betake
yourself in times of trial and sorrow? They always seem to speak
the right word, to give the very counsel you are longing for, you
do not realized, however, the cost which they had to pay ere they
became so skillful in binding up the gaping wounds and drying
tears. But if you were to investigate their past history you would
find that they have suffered more than most They have watched the slow untwisting of some silver cord on which the lamp of life hung. They have seen the golden bowl of joy dashed to their feet and its contents spilt They have stood by ebbing tides, and drooping
gourds, and noon sunsets; but all this has been necessary to make
them the nurses, the physicians, the priests of men. The boxes that
come from foreign climes are clumsy enough; but they contain spices which scent the air with the fragrance of the Orient. So suffering
is rough and hard to bear, but it hides beneath it discipline,
education, possibilities, which not only leave us nobler, but

perfect us to help others. Do not fret, or set your teeth, or wait doggedly for the suffering to pass; but get out of it all you can, both for yourself and for your service to your generation,
according to the will of God. --Selected.
Once I heard a song of sweetness, As it cleft the morning air,
Sounding in its blest completeness, Like a tender, pleading prayer;
And I sought to find the singer,
Whence the wondrous song was borne; And I found a bird, sore wounded,
Pinioned by a cruel thorn.
I have seen a soul in sadness,
While its wings with pain were furl'd. Giving hope, and cheer and gladness That should bless a weeping world
And I knew that life of sweetness,
Was of pain and sorrow borne, And a stricken soul was singing, With its heart against a thorn.
Ye are told of One who loved you, Of a Saviour crucified,
Ye are told of nails that pinioned, And a spear that pierced His side;
Ye are told of cruel scourging, Of a Saviour bearing scorn,
And He died for your salvation, With His brow against a thorn.
Ye "are not above the Master."
Will you breathe a sweet refrain?
And His grace will be sufficient,
When your heart is pierced with pain. Will you live to bless His loved ones, Tho' your life be bruised and torn,
Like the bird that sang so sweetly,
With its heart against a thorn? --Selected.