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經文：「我雖然使你受苦，卻不再使你受苦。」（鴻1:12） 受苦是有限制的，神能使你受苦，也能夠免你受苦。親愛的讀者，你豈不是在嘆息說：「要受苦到何時才能停止呢？」哦，請讓我們耐心等候，直到上帝的旨意成就。當父神杖的目的完成以後，自然就會把杖挪去的。 上帝使我們受苦，若目的是為試驗我們；要我們在受苦中，靠恩典榮耀祂。那就必須等到我們在人前有了明白的見證之後，苦難才會停止。所以我們不該盼望苦難早些離去，除非神已經得到那應得的一切榮耀和尊貴。 也許今天就會有平安，誰能知波浪翻騰的海，頃刻間就會變成平靜如鏡的玻璃海？經歷這許多的艱難之後，犛和鐮都可以收藏起來，禾捆可以紮成收在倉裡，到那時我們都要歡喜快樂了！ 在神不難將黑夜變成白晝。祂能使黑雲密佈天空，祂也能很容易地使天氣清朗。所以放心罷，苦難終究是要過去，請讓我們預先歌頌哈利路亞。--司布眞 C. H. Spurgeon 農夫不會一直在打穀，上帝也不會一直用杖。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其目的--為要成就我們永遠的榮耀。 信徒若受到試煉，乃是證明主對我們的寶貴；不然祂不會花這麼多時間、力氣和心思在我們身上。若非發現有非常寶貴的信心礦苗混在我們肉體的沙礫中，神絕對不會來試煉我們。因為要把我們純粹的信心提煉出來，就必須放我們在試煉的爐火中。 受苦的信徒阿，請忍耐！我們未來所得的獎賞，將遠超過現在所付的代價。在萬王之王的面前得稱讚；在千萬天使的面前受尊敬；在耶穌基督裡得榮耀；在國度與永恆中戴冠冕、操鐵杖、坐寶座--作王直到永遠。啊，這實在是何等的賞賜呢！--譯自火的試煉 Tried by Fire 大時鐘的鐘錘是使鐘走得準時的必需物；照樣患難也是屬靈生命的必需物。香料壓得越緊，香氣越是濃郁；最美麗的花卉，常常生長在荒僻的雪地；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 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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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 ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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