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經文：「你們應當…常常以頌讚為祭，獻給神。」（來13:15） 有位傳道人在鄉村工作，某天晚上他無意間走進一所又暗又髒的小屋。他聽見屋隅發出微若的人聲，問說：「是誰？」他點起一根火柴，從火光中看見的是人間的缺乏和痛苦，卻擁有天上的喜樂和平安--一位臥病在床的黑人老婦。 她因患風濕症痛苦異常，可是卻仍然充滿平安喜樂。那時正是最冷的二月，她既沒燃料、糧食與燈光，也沒有陪伴的人。她所有的，就只是依靠上帝的信心。 人生的苦難彷彿在她身上全到齊了，似乎沒有甚麼還能使她快樂的。可是她仍舊能夠發出「哈利路亞」的讚美來，好像並沒有那些缺乏和病痛一般。就如經上所說的「四面受敵，卻不被困住；心裡作難，卻不至失望；遭逼迫，卻不被丟棄；打倒了，卻不至死亡。」（林後4:8-9） 馬丁路得在他的病床上極痛苦的時候，仍不住地讚美和感謝。並傳出一段寶貴的信息說：「這些痛苦和困難很像排字人所排的鉛版，現在看上去字是反的，也讀不出甚麼意義來。可是等到鉛版印在紙上，我們就看得清楚並且明瞭其中的意義了。我現在可能無法理解所受的痛苦，但是到了那一天就會明白了。」 保羅在狂風大浪時走出來站在船板上，安慰害怕的眾人說「你們放心」（徒27:22）。確實，保羅、馬丁路得和那位老婦人都是我們的好榜樣。--迦內德 Wm. C. Garnett 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually" (Heb. 13:15). A city missionary, stumbling through the dirt of a dark entry, heard a voice say, "Who's there, Honey?" Striking a match, he caught a vision of earthly want and suffering, of saintly trust and peace, "cut in ebony"--calm, appealing eyes set amid the wrinkles of a pinched, black face that lay on a tattered bed. It was a bitter night in February, and she had no fire, no fuel, no light. She had had no supper, no dinner, no breakfast. She seemed to have nothing at all but rheumatism and faith in God. One could not well be more completely exiled from all pleasantness of circumstances, yet the favorite song of this old creature ran: And so it went on: "Nobody knows de work I does, Nobody knows de griefs I has," the constant refrain being the "Glory Hallelu!" until the last verse rose: "Troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." It takes great Bible words to tell the cheer of that old negro auntie. Remember Luther on his sick-bed. Between his groans he managed to preach on this wise: "These pains and trouble here are like the type which the printers set; as they look now, we have to read them backwards, and they seem to have no sense or meaning in them; but up yonder, when the Lord God prints us off in the life to come, we shall find they make brave reading." Only we do not need to wait till then. Remember Paul walking the hurricane deck amid a boiling sea, bidding the frightened crew "Be of good cheer," Luther, the old negro auntie--all of them human sun-flowers. --Wm. G. Garnett ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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