Daily Devotional
October 1
Streams in the Desert
"It is good for me that I have been afflicted (Psalm 119:71.) T is a remarkable circumstance that the most brilliant colors of plants are to be seen on the highest moun¬ tains, in spots that are most exposed to the wildest weather. The brightest lichens and mosses, the love¬ liest 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 Chene- bettaz, 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 battlement of an enchanted castle.
There, in that lofty region, amid the most frowning desola¬ tion, exposed to the fiercest tempest of the sky, this lichen ex¬ hibited 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 lines, 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 striking.
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 it not so with the Christian who is afflicted, tempest- tossed, and not comforted? Till the storms and vicissitudes of God's providence beat upon him again and again, his character appears marred and clouded; but trials clear away the obscur¬ ity, 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.