Written by George Matheson (1842-1906), a Scottish minister, hymn writer, and author. He was blind from the age of 17.
My soul, if you would be enlarged into human sympathy, you must be narrowed into limits of human suffering. Joseph’s dungeon is the road to Joseph’s throne. You can not lift the iron load of your brother if the iron has not entered into you. It is your limit that is your enlargement. It is the shadows of your life that are the real fulfillment of your dreams of glory. Murmur not at the shadows; they are better revelations than your dreams. Say not that the shades of the prison-house have fettered you; your fetters are wings — wings of flight into the bosom of humanity. The door of your prison-house is a door into the heart of the universe. God has enlarged you by the binding of sorrow’s chain.
Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. [Psalm 4:1]