Daily Devotion - Feb 16 - ¯îºz¥Ì¬u Streams in the Desert

荒漠甘泉 Streams in the Desert

一宿雖然有哭泣

經文: 「我雖然使你受苦，卻不再使你受苦。」（鴻一12）

受苦是有限制的，上帝能使你受苦，也能免去你受苦。讀者阿，你豈不是在嘆息說：「要受苦到幾時方纔停止呢？」哦，讓我們耐心等候，直到上帝的旨意成功。當父用杖的目的完成以後，我們的父自然會把杖挪去的。

上帝使我們受苦，若是目的為要試驗我們，要我們在受苦中，靠恩典榮耀祂，那麼，必須等到我們在人前有了明顯的見證之後，苦難纔會停止。

我們不該盼望苦難早些離去，除非上帝已經從我們得到了我們該給祂的一切榮耀和尊貴。

也許今天就會有平安，誰知道波浪翻騰的海，頃刻之間就會變成平靜如鏡的玻璃海呢？

經歷了許多艱難之後，犛和鐮可以藏起來了，禾可以紮成捆，收在倉裡。那時，我們都要歡喜快樂了。

在上帝不難將黑夜變白晝。祂能將黑雲密佈天空，祂也能很容易地使天氣清朗。所以讓我們放心罷，苦難終究是要過去的，讓我們預先唱哈利路亞罷。──司布眞（C. H. Spurgeon）

農夫不會一直打穀的，上帝也不會一直用杖的。試煉不過是暫時的，目前雖然有暴雨，不久卻要停止；一宿雖然有哭泣，早晨便必歡呼。因為祂的怒氣，不過是轉眼之間，祂的恩典乃是一生之久。我們這至輕的苦楚乃是至暫的，並且這至暫的苦楚也是有目的的──為要完成我們永遠的榮耀。

信徒受試煉，就是證明我們在主面前的寶貴；不然主不會花這許多時間、力氣和心機在我們身上的。主絕不會來試煉我們，除非祂發現我們有頂寶貴的信心的礦苗，混在我們肉體的沙石中，祂要把我們純粹的信心提出來，就必須放我們在試煉的爐火中。

哦，受苦的信徒阿，耐著罷！將來我們所得的酬報，將遠超過現在所出的代價。在萬王之王的面前得稱讚；在千萬聖天使面前受尊敬；在基督裡得榮耀；在國度和永世裡戴冠冕、操鐵杖、坐寶座──作王直到永遠。阿，這是何等的賞賜呢！──譯自火的試煉（Tried by Fire）

時鳴鐘上的鐘錘，是使時鳴鐘走得準確的必需品；照樣患難也是屬靈生命的必需品。香料越壓得緊，香氣越是濃郁；最美麗的花卉，是生長在荒僻的雪地裡的；最精美的寶石，受匠人琢磨的時間最長；最貴重的雕刻，受鑿子的擊打最多。──譯自日誠報（Daily Devotional Commentary）


Weeping May Last For a Night

Scripture: "Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more" (Nah. 1:12).

There is a limit to affliction. God sends it, and removes it. Do you sigh and say, "When will the end be?" Let us quietly wait and patiently endure the will of the Lord till He cometh. Our Father takes away the rod when His design in using it is fully served.
If the affliction is sent for testing us, that our graces may glorify God, it will end when the Lord has made us bear witness to His praise.
We would not wish the affliction to depart until God has gotten out of us all the honor which we can possibly yield Him.
There may be today "a great calm." Who knows how soon those raging billows will give place to a sea of glass, and the sea birds sit on the gentle waves?
After long tribulation, the flail is hung up, and the wheat rests in the garner. We may, before many hours are past, be just as happy as now we are sorrowful.
It is not hard for the Lord to turn night into day. He that sends the clouds can as easily clear the skies. Let us be of good cheer. It is better farther on. Let us sing Hallelujah by anticipation.--C. H. Spurgeon.
The great Husbandman is not always threshing. Trial is only for a season. The showers soon pass. Weeping may tarry only for the few hours of the short summer night; it must be gone at daybreak. Our light affliction is but for a moment. Trial is for a purpose, "If needs be."
The very fact of trial proves that there is something in us very precious to our Lord; else He would not spend so much pains and time on us. Christ would not test us if He did not see the precious ore of faith mingled in the rocky matrix of our nature; and it is to bring this out into purity and beauty that He forces us through the fiery ordeal.
Be patient, O sufferer! The result will more than compensate for all our trials, when we see how they wrought out the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. To have one word of God's commendation; to be honored before the holy angels; to be glorified in Christ, so as to be better able to flash His glory on Himself--ah! that will more than repay for all. --Tried by Fire
As the weights of the clock, or the ballast in the vessel, are necessary for their right ordering, so is trouble in the soul-life. The sweetest scents are only obtained by tremendous pressure; the fairest flowers grow amid Alpine snow-solitudes; the fairest gems have suffered longest from the lapidary's wheel; the noblest statues have borne most blows of the chisel. All, however, are under law. Nothing happens that has not been appointed with consummate care and foresight. --Daily Devotional Commentary


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