Daily Devotion - Mar 11 - ¯îºz¥Ì¬u Streams in the Desert

荒漠甘泉 Streams in the Desert

悲憤化為力量

經文: 「耶和華的僕人摩西死了以後，耶和華曉諭摩西的幫手嫩的兒子約書亞，說，我的僕人摩西死了。現在你要起來，和眾百姓過這約但河。」（書一1~2）

當憂愁和損失同時臨到你的時候，你第一個衝動就是想放棄一切，坐在失望中傷心。但是你絕不能這樣，須知你是在戰場的前線，正當勝敗關頭。如果你躊躇一刻，同胞就要喪膽，上帝就要受著虧損。所以不該稍有耽延，連痛哭一場的時間也不能。

某名將常述說他在戰爭時所遭遇的一段傷心的經歷：將軍的兒子是一個陸軍中尉。一次，父子各率一軍，開拔前線。不久，總攻擊開始，將軍身先士卒，向敵陣衝鋒；在戰場上，他偶然瞥見一個本國的戰死軍官，躺在地上。跑近一看，乃是他自己的兒子，他第一個意念就是抱了屍體痛哭一場，但是轉念之間，他想到身負重責，戰爭的勝敗，就在這一點，豈可因個人私事貽誤大事；於是在死者灰白的唇上，搶了一個熱吻，鼓著勇氣急忙率領軍兵，向前衝去。

如果約書亞在摩西的墓旁一直哀哭，是哭不活摩西的，也哭不出上帝的祝福來。憂愁無非是使傷痕更深、使痛苦擴大。上帝吩咐約書亞在摩西死後從哀傷中起來背負上帝的使命前去，約書亞遵行上帝的旨意。果眞面前有亮光、能力和祝福。坐下來悲哀，會使我們四圍的環境更黑暗、會使我們的心更痛苦、會使我們的力量更衰弱。只要我們不去理會痛苦，立即負起上帝的使命來，光明就會隨著來到，我們也會剛強起來了。──密勒（J.R.Miller）


Strength From the Sorrow

Scripture: "Now it came to pass after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now, therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people" (Joshua 1:1-2).

Sorrow came to you yesterday, and emptied your home. Your first impulse now is to give up, and sit down in despair amid the wrecks of your hopes. But you dare not do it. You are in the line of battle, and the crisis is at hand. To falter a moment would be to imperil some holy interest. Other lives would be harmed by your pausing, holy interests would suffer, should your hands be folded. You must not linger even to indulge your grief.
A distinguished general related this pathetic incident of his own experience in time of war. The general's son was a lieutenant of battery. An assault was in progress. The father was leading his division in a charge; as he pressed on in the field, suddenly his eye was caught by the sight of a dead battery-officer lying just before him. One glance showed him it was his own son. His fatherly impulse was to stop beside the loved form and give vent to his grief, but the duty of the moment demanded that he should press on in the charge; so, quickly snatching one hot kiss from the dead lips, he hastened away, leading his command in the assault.
Weeping inconsolably beside a grave can never give back love's banished treasure, nor can any blessing come out of such sadness. Sorrow makes deep scars; it writes its record ineffaceably on the heart which suffers. We really never get over our great griefs; we are never altogether the same after we have passed through them as we were before. Yet there is a humanizing and fertilizing influence in sorrow which has been rightly accepted and cheerfully borne. Indeed, they are poor who have never suffered, and have none of sorrow's marks upon them. The joy set before us should shine upon our grief as the sun shines through the clouds, glorifying them. God has so ordered, that in pressing on in duty we shall find the truest, richest comfort for ourselves. Sitting down to brood over our sorrows, the darkness deepens about us and creeps into our heart, and our strength changes to weakness. But, if we turn away from the gloom, and take up the tasks and duties to which God calls us, the light will come again, and we shall grow stronger.--J. R. Miller


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