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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1:1-2） 當憂愁和損失同時臨到的時候，你當下的衝動就是想要放棄一切，坐在失望中傷心。但是絕對不能如此，當知你正在戰場勝敗關鍵的前線。如果躊躇一刻，同胞就要喪膽，神就要受著虧損。所以不該稍有耽延，甚至痛哭一場的時間都沒有。 曾經有位著名的將軍，時常述說他在戰爭時所遭遇的一段傷心的經歷：當時將軍的兒子是一位陸軍中尉，在某場戰役中與將軍各率一軍開拔前線。後來總攻擊開始，將軍身先士卒向敵陣衝鋒。在戰場上他偶然瞥見一位戰死的本國軍官躺在地上，跑近一看竟是他的兒子。當下他第一個念頭就是抱著屍體痛哭一場，但是轉念之間他想起身負戰爭勝敗的重責，豈可因為私情耽誤大事？於是他在死者灰白的唇上搶了一個熱吻，就再重新鼓起勇氣，率軍急起向前直衝。 如果約書亞在摩西的墳前一直哀哭，既哭不活摩西，也哭不出神的祝福。憂愁只會使傷痕更深，使痛苦擴大。摩西死後，神吩咐約書亞從哀傷中起來，背負神的使命前進。約書亞既遵行了神的旨意，果眞前路有亮光、能力和祝福。 坐下來悲哀，只會使我們四圍的環境更黑暗，使我們的心更痛苦，使我們的力量更軟弱。只要我們不去理會痛苦，立即負起神的使命來，光明就會隨著來到，我們也就剛強起來了。--密勒 J.R.Miller 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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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 ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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