Refuge for the soul

(Newman Hall, "The Shadow of the Almighty" 1867)

The desert is dreary.

The way is long.

Heavily burdened, a weary traveler slowly drags
onward his wounded feet. Faint by reason of the
fiery blaze which smites him from the unclouded
sky and the scorching sand, he eagerly looks
around for shelter. He pants for even the muddiest
pool where he may quench his raging thirst.

In such "a weary land," how welcome "the shadow
of a great rock," and the clear, cool fountain gushing
up within its rugged clefts!

But where can such a refuge for the soul be found . . .
  weary with wandering,
  crushed by care,
  groaning under guilt?

Where can . . .
  its burden be taken off,
  its sorrows soothed,
  its mighty thirst assuaged?

"And a Man shall be as a hiding place from the
 wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers
 of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a
 great rock in a weary land." Isaiah 32:2