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經文:「祢的杖，祢的竿，都安慰我。」（詩23:4） 在我父親的家中有一個小房間，裡面藏著我家幾代所用的許多手杖。有的是爬山用的，有的是走平坦大道用的，有的是走泥濘之地用的，有的是雨雪之後行路用的，每種手杖的樣式各不相同。有時我回去探望父親，他老人家常喜歡和我出外散步；每次出發前，我們總先到手杖室去揀選那次所最適用的手杖。因此我常常想起：神的話語是我們生活中的手杖，總會給我無限的幫助與安慰。 爭戰時，緊急的風聲使我們心慌意亂，此時神給我們的杖是：「他必不怕兇惡的信息；他心堅定，倚靠耶和華。」（詩112:7）這杖扶持我們經過許多黑暗的日子。 當死亡奪去我們的孩子，使我們心碎的時候，我在應許中找到另一根安慰的杖：「一宿雖然有哭泣，早晨便必歡呼。」（詩30:5） 有一回我病倒了，在外養病有一年之久。在此時期我不知道自己究竟能否再恢復，能否再回家，能否再擔任以前的工作。在這無可指望之中，我始終抓住主的杖：「耶和華說，我知道我向你們所懷的意念，是賜平安的意念，不是降災禍的意念」（耶29:11） 在危險或疑懼的時候，在人的判斷都說「完了」的時候，我發現了一根帶領我安然過去的杖：「你們得力在乎平靜安穩」（賽30:15） 在遭遇意外的時候，似乎沒有任何方法可以補救，我發現了一根從來沒有誤事的杖：『信靠的人必不著急』（賽28:16）。--亞保德便雅憫 Benjamin Vaughan Abbott 馬丁路德的妻子說：「如果神不叫我經過苦難，我永遠不會知道詩篇中的話語是甚麼意思；也永遠不會明白基督徒的責任是甚麼。」眞的，神的杖好像導師訓練學子識字的教鞭般，是我們在別的地方永遠學不到的。--選 「神總是用祂的竿和杖指引我們。」「你的鞋是銅的、鐵的。你的日子如何，你的力量也必如何。」（申33:25） 請讓我們記得：如果神要我們走在堅硬的石路上，祂必先給我們穿上鐵鞋或銅鞋。祂絕不會不先替我們預備好，就差我們出去走那崎嶇的路。--馬克拉倫 Alexander Maclaren 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (Ps. 23:4). At my father's house in the country there is a little closet in the chimney corner where are kept the canes and walking-sticks of several generations of our family. In my visits to the old house, when my father and I are going out for a walk, we often go to the cane closet, and pick out our sticks to suit the fancy of the occasion. In this I have frequently been reminded that the Word of God is a staff. During the war, when the season of discouragement and impending danger was upon us, the verse, "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord," was a staff to walk with many dark days. When death took away our child and left us almost heartbroken, I found another staff in the promise that "weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning." When in impaired health, I was exiled for a year, not knowing whether I should be permitted to return to my home and work again, I took with me this staff which never failed, "He knoweth the thoughts that he thinketh toward me, thoughts of peace and not of evil." In times of special danger or doubt, when human judgment has seemed to be set at naught, I have found it easy to go forward with this staff, "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." And in emergencies, when there has seemed to be no adequate time for deliberation or for action, I have never found that this staff has failed me, "He that believeth shall not make haste." --Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, in The Outlook "I had never known," said Martin Luther's wife, "what such and such things meant, in such and such psalms, such complaints and workings of spirit; I had never understood the practice of Christian duties, had not God brought me under some affliction." It is very true that God's rod is as the schoolmaster's pointer to the child, pointing out the letter, that he may the better take notice of it; thus He pointeth out to us many good lessons which we should never otherwise have learned. --Selected "God always sends His staff with His rod." "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut.33:25). Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and He will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well. --Maclaren ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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