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經文：「眾聖之王阿，祢的方法義哉，誠哉。」（啟15:3） 在患難中經歷極深的司布眞師母說： 「某天晚上我獨自坐在椅子上休息；雖然室內光線明亮，但是我心靈中有一層黑暗壟罩，使我無法看見甚麼，也感覺不到主的扶持。我好似滑跌在傷痛之中，就憂憂愁愁地自問說：「為甚麼我的神如此待祂的孩子？為甚麼一直把嚴厲的痛苦加給我？為甚麼容許交織的輭弱攔組我去事奉祂呢？」 「令人驚奇的是，這些惱人的困惑立即得到回應。回覆我的是一個特別的聲響，不需要人來翻譯，神已經在我心裡輕聲地說明。究竟那是甚麼聲音？絕不會是知更雀在那歌唱，因為正是寒冷的夜晚。又是一聲，這次我才發現，原來璧爐中的一根橡樹枝，正被猛烈的火燄焚燒著，然後從它的裂口中發出那個好聽的音響來！」 「於是我有了一些感想：當這根樹枝嫩綠清翠的時候，有許多歌鳥遊歇其上，唱過許多美麗的曲調。而它就把那些歌聲收集起了，儲藏在身體裡面。後來當它漸老，樹枝變硬，那聲音便永久地封住其中。直到猛烈的火燄燒毀了它的堅硬，關鎖的音樂才被釋放。」 「同樣地，原來神用痛苦的火燄燃燒我們，原是要從我們塵封的心中釋放出讚美的歌聲，好叫我們的神得著榮耀！就在此時，我得到了安慰。恐怕我們的生命也像這根樹枝；老、冷、硬、麻木；如果沒有火的催逼，就不會發出讚美的聲音來。那麼如果苦難的火燄能使冷卻的心得到溫暖，甚願爐中的火燄還比先前加旺『七倍！』」--選 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints" (Rev. 15:3). The following incident is related by Mrs. Charles Spurgeon, who was a great sufferer for more than a quarter of a century: "At the close of a dark and gloomy day, I lay resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on; and though all was bright within my cozy room, some of the external darkness seemed to have entered into my soul and obscured its spiritual vision. Vainly I tried to see the Hand which I knew held mine, and guided my fog-enveloped feet along a steep and slippery path of suffering. In sorrow of heart I asked," 'Why does my Lord thus deal with His child? Why does He so often send sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He permit lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render to His poor servants?' "These fretful questions were quickly answered, and through a strange language; no interpreter was needed save the conscious whisper of my heart. "For a while silence reigned in the little room, broken only by the crackling of the oak log burning in the fireplace. Suddenly I heard a sweet, soft sound, a little, clear, musical note, like the tender trill of a robin beneath my window." 'What can it be? surely no bird can be singing out there at this time of the year and night.'"Again came the faint, plaintive notes, so sweet, so melodious, yet mysterious enough to provoke our wonder. My friend exclaimed," 'It comes from the log on the fire!' The fire was letting loose the imprisoned music from the old oak's inmost heart! "Perchance he had garnered up this song in the days when all was well with him, when birds twittered merrily on his branches, and the soft sunlight flecked his tender leaves with gold. But he had grown old since then, and hardened; ring after ring of knotty growth had sealed up the long-forgotten melody, until the fierce tongues of the flames came to consume his callousness, and the vehement heart of the fire wrung from him at once a song and a sacrifice. 'Ah,' thought I, 'when the fire of affliction draws songs of praise from us, then indeed we are purified, and our God is glorified!' "Perhaps some of us are like this old oak log, cold, hard, insensible; we should give forth no melodious sounds, were it not for the fire which kindles around us, and releases notes of trust in Him, and cheerful compliance with His will." 'As I mused the fire burned,' and my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so strangely set forth before me."Singing in the fire! Yes, God helping us, if that is the only way to get harmony out of these hard apathetic hearts, let the furnace be heated seven times hotter than before." ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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