The beauty of the meadows fair
Replaced by barren deserts bare.
Eden’s lush and fruitful land
Exchanged for rocks and scorching sand.
The Scriptures read, the prayers are prayed;
The nights are cold- the soul dismayed.
The howling wolves; the bitter thirst;
Sojourning through a land accursed.
En Gedi’s springs cannot be found;
Pilgrim’s corpses all around.
Sinai’s burning bush concealed;
Canaan’s path is unrevealed.
All strength is sapped, no fight is left;
The spirit crushed, the soul bereft.
Abandoned, lost, and heart forlorn;
My friends- the brier and the thorn.
Waterless dunes and arid planes;
The sandy storms and hurricanes.
These all attempt to overthrow
The truth within my soul I know.
Like Jesus from the Jordan led,
By Spirit to the tempter’s dread.
Though hungered, weary and deprived,
Strength to fight from God derived.
O weary desert trav’ller see;
Beyond Elijah’s juniper tree.
A rigid hope that stands secure-
The cross, the grave, the double-cure.
The wastelands of discouragement,
Fought by gospel armament.
Only by God’s truth applied,
Are desert seasons sanctified.
~ By Daniel Kriss, June 27, 2018
(Dealing with Discouragement)