STREAMS IN THE DESERT

In a barren wilderness, L. B. Cowman long ago discovered a fountain that sustained her, and she shared it with the world. This collection of prayerful meditations, Christian writings, and God’s written promises will encourage and inspire you to follow Jesus.

Don't Fret

"Do not begin to be anxious" ( Phil. 4:6 , PBV). Not a few Christians live in a state of unbroken anxiety, and others fret and fume terribly. To be perfectly at peace amid the hurly-burly of daily life is a secret worth knowing. What is the use of worrying? It never made anybody strong; never helped anybody to do God's will; never made a way of escape for anyone out of perplexity. Worry spoils lives which would otherwise be useful and beautiful. Restlessness, anxiety, and ca

Providence Of Loss

"It came to pass . . . that the brook dried up" ( 1 Kings 17:7 ). The education of our faith is incomplete if we have not learned that there is a providence of loss, a ministry of failing and of fading things, a gift of emptiness. The material insecurities of life make for its spiritual establishment. The dwindling stream by which Elijah sat and mused is a true picture of the life of each of us. "It came to pass . . . that the brook dried up"--that is the history of our yest

Active Faith

"If thou canst believe, all things are possible. to him that believeth" ( Mark 9:23 ). Seldom have we heard a better definition of faith than was given once in one of our meetings, by a dear old colored woman, as she answered the question of a young man how to take the Lord for needed help. In her characteristic way, pointing her finger toward him, she said with great emphasis: "You've just got to believe that He's done it and it's done." The great danger with most of us is

Don't Rush

"Who is among you that feareth Jehovah, that obeyeth the voice of his servant? He that walketh in darkness and hath no light, let him trust in the name of Jehovah and rely upon his God" ( Isa. 50:10 , RV). What shall the believer do in times of darkness--the darkness of perplexity and confusion, not of heart but of mind? Times of darkness come to the faithful and believing disciple who is walking obediently in the will of God; seasons when he does not know what to do, nor wh

Made Perfect Through Suffering

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" ( Rom. 8:18 ). I kept for nearly a year the flask-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. It is very peculiar in its construction. A narrow opening is left in the neck of the flask, through which the perfect insect forces its way, so that a forsaken cocoon is as entire as one still tenanted, no rupture of the interlacing fibers having taken place. The

God In Everything

"It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good" . ( 1 Sam. 3:18 ) See God in everything, and God will calm and color all that thou dost see!" It may be that the circumstances of our sorrows will not be removed, their condition will remain unchanged; but if Christ, as Lord and Master of our life, is brought into our grief and gloom, "HE will compass us about with songs of deliverance." To see HIM, and to be sure that His wisdom cannot err, His power cannot fail, His love ca

What Cannot Be Uttered

"Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" ( Rom. 8:26 , 27 ). This is the deep mystery of prayer. This is the delicate divine mechanism which words cannot interpret, and which theology c

Mind the Checks

"And after the earthquake a fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle stillness" ( 1 Kings 19:12 , RV margin.) A soul, who made rapid progress in her understanding of the Lord, was once asked the secret of her easy advancement. She replied tersely, "Mind the checks." And the reason that many of us do not know and better understand Him is, we do not give heed to His gentle checks, His delicate restraints and constraints. His is a still, small voice. A still voice can hardly

Facts vs. Feelings

" We walk by faith, not by appearance" ( 2 Cor. 5:7 , RV). By faith, not appearance; God never wants us to look at our feelings. Self may want us to; and Satan may want us to. But God wants us to face facts, not feelings; the facts of Christ and of His finished and perfect work for us. When we face these precious facts, and believe them because God says they are facts, God will take care of our feelings. God never gives feeling to enable us to trust Him; God never gives feel

Be Still

"And the Lord appeared unto Isaac the same night" ( Gen. 26:24 ). "Appeared the same night," the night on which he went to Beer-sheba. Do you think this revelation was an accident? Do you think the time of it was an accident? Do you think it could have happened on any other night as well as this? If so, you are grievously mistaken. Why did it come to Isaac in the night on which he reached Beer-sheba? Because that was the night on which he reached rest. In his old locality,

Lawn Care

"He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass" ( Ps. 72:6 ). Amos speaks of the king's mowings. Our King has many scythes, and is perpetually mowing His lawns. The musical tinkle of the whetstone on the scythe portends the cutting down of myriads of green blades, daisies and other flowers. Beautiful as they were in the morning, within an hour or two they lie in long, faded rows. Thus in human life we make a brave show, before the scythe of pain, the shears of disappointm

Contentment

"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" ( Phil. 4:11 ). Paul, denied of every comfort, wrote the above words in his dungeon. A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning, and found everything withered and dying. He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it was sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine. The pine was all out of heart because it could not be

Learning from Suffering

"If I am in distress, it is in the interests of your comfort, which is effective as it nerves you to endure the same sufferings as I suffered myself. Hence my hope for you is well-founded, since I know that as you share the sufferings you share the comfort also" (2 Cor. 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 no

Waiting Is Hard

"When the cloud tarried . . . then the children of Israel . . . journeyed not" ( Num. 9:19 ). This was the supreme test of obedience. It was comparatively easy to strike tents, when the fleecy folds of the cloud were slowly gathering from off the Tabernacle, and it floated majestically before the host. Change is always delightful; and there was excitement and interest in the route, the scenery, and the locality of the next halting-place. But, ah, the tarrying. Then, however

Service Of Waiting

After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithyma: but the Spirit suffered them not" ( Acts 16:7 ). What a strange prohibition! These men were going into Bithynia just to do Christ's work, and the door is shut against them by Christ's own Spirit. I, too, have experienced this in certain moments. I have sometimes found myself interrupted in what seemed to me a career of usefulness. Opposition came and forced me to go back, or sickness came and compelled me to ret

Trained to Comfort

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God" ( Isa. 40:1 ). Store up comfort. This was the prophet's mission. The world is full of comfortless hearts, and ere thou art sufficient for this lofty ministry, thou must be trained. And thy training is costly in the extreme; for, to render it perfect, thou too must pass through the same afflictions as are wringing countless hearts of tears and blood. Thus thy own life becomes the hospital ward where thou art taught the Divine

Who Is Leading?

"O Lord , I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" ( Jer. 10:23 ). "Lead me in a plain path" ( Ps. 27:14 ). Many people want to direct God, instead of resigning themselves to be directed by Him; to show Him a way, instead of passively following where He leads. --Madame Guyon I said: "Let me walk in the field"; God said: 'Nay, walk in the town"; I said: "There are no flowers there"; He said: "No flowers, but a crown." I

Come Close to Him

"He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray, and as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering . . . they saw his glory" ( Luke 9:29 , 32 ). "If I have found grace in thy sight, show me thy glory" ( Exod. 33:13 ). When Jesus took these three disciples up into that high mountain apart, He brought them into close communion with Himself. They saw no man but Jesus only; and it was good to be there.

Trust and Rest

"Trust also in him" Ps. 37:3 The word trust is the heart word of faith. It is the Old Testament word, the word given to the early and infant stage of faith. The word faith expresses more the act of the will, the word belief the act of the mind or intellect, but trust is the language of the heart. The other has reference more to a truth believed or a thing expected. Trust implies more than this, it sees and feels, and leans upon a person, a great, true, living heart of love.

Run with Patience

"Let us run with patience" Heb. 12:1 O run with patience is a very difficult thing. Running is apt to suggest the absence of patience, the eagerness to reach the goal. We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet, I do not think the invalid's patience the hardest to achieve. There is a patience which I believe to be harder--the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under t

In God, Not Out of Trouble

And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life...

Set Apart

"He went up into a mountain apart" Matt. 14:23 One of the blessings of the old-time Sabbath was its calm, its restfulness, its holy peace. There is a strange strength conceived in solitude. Crows go in flocks and wolves in packs, but the lion and the eagle are solitaires. Strength is not in bluster and noise. Strength is in quietness. The lake must be calm if the heavens are to be reflected on its surface. Our Lord loved the people, but how often we read of His going away fr

Rejoice

"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice" ( Phil. 4:4 ). "Sing a little song of trust, O my heart! Sing it just because you must, As leaves start; As flowers push their way through dust; Sing, my heart, because you must. "Wait not for an eager throng Bird on bird; 'Tis the solitary song That is heard. Every voice at dawn will start, Be a nightingale, my heart! "Sing across the winter snow, Pierce the cloud; Sing when mists are drooping low Clear and loud; But sin

Worship in the Night

"Ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion" ( Ps. 134:1 , 3 ). Strange time for adoration, you say, to stand in God's house by night, to worship in the depth of sorrow --it is indeed an arduous thing. Yes, and therein lies the blessing; it is the test of perfect faith. If I would know the love of my friend I must see what it can do in the winter. So with the Divine love. It is easy for m

In the Heavenly Places

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" ( Eph. 2:4-6 ). This is our rightful place, to be "seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," and to "sit still" there. But how few there are who make it their actual experience! How few, indeed think even that it is possible for them

Grace in the Morning

"Come up in the morning . . . and present thyself unto me in the top of the mount" ( Exod. 34:2 ). The morning is the time fixed for my meeting the Lord. The very word morning is as a cluster of rich grapes. Let us crush them, and drink the sacred wine. In the morning! Then God means me to be at my best in strength and hope. I have not to climb in my weakness. In the night I have buried yesterday's fatigue, and in the morning take a new lease of energy. Blessed is the day wh

Music of the Storm

"Nevertheless afterward" ( Heb. 12:11 ). There is a legend that tells of a German baron who, at his castle on the Rhine, stretched wires from tower to tower, that the winds might convert them into an Aeolian harp. And the soft breezes played about the castle, but no music was born. But one night there arose a great tempest, and hill and castle were smitten by the fury of the mighty winds. The baron went to the threshold to look out upon the terror of the storm, and the Aeoli

Strong in Suffering

"Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well" ( 2 Kings 4:26 ). "Be strong, my soul! Thy loved ones go Within the veil. God's thine, e'en so; Be strong. "Be strong, my soul! Death looms in view. Lo, here thy God! He'll bear thee through; Be strong." For sixty-two years and five months I had a beloved wife, and now, in my ninety-second year I am left alone. But I turn to the ever present Jesus, as I walk up and down in my room, and say,

Delayed

"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs; . . . they shall afflict them four hundred years; . . . and afterward they shall come out with great substance" ( Gen. 15:12-14 ). An assured part of God's pledged blessing to us is delay and suffering. A delay in Abram's own lifetime that seemed to put God's pledge beyond fulfillment was followed by seemingly unendurable delay of Abram's descendants. But it was only a delay: they "came out wit

Impossible Flowers

"For with God nothing shall be impossible" Luke 1:37 Far up in the Alpine hollows, year by year God works one of His marvels. The snow-patches lie there, frozen with ice at their edge from the strife of sunny days and frosty nights; and through that ice-crust come, unscathed, flowers that bloom. Back in the days of the by-gone summer, the little soldanelle plant spread its leaves wide and flat on the ground, to drink in the sun-rays, and it kept them stored in the root throu

Mrs. Charles E. Cowman was the wife of Rev. Charles Cowman, founder of the Oriental Missionary Society. This organization was founded by Rev. Cowman with the purpose of evangelizing and setting up native ministries in Japan, Korea, China, and Formosa. Rev. and Mrs. Cowman served for 20 years until Rev. Cowman's failing health forced them to return to their home in California.

Streams in the Desert is a devotional compiled by Mrs. Cowman from various sermons, readings, writings, and poetry she had read over the years. The immense popularity of this book has allowed at least 19 editions of the book to be printed. The initial response to the devotional brought letters from China, Japan, Korea, Australia, Africa, and many island countries. The widespread appeal grows daily as new readers discover the joy, challenge, and inspiration found in Streams in the Desert and Mrs. Cowman's other compilations.