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經文：「過了四十年，在西乃山的曠野，有一位天使，從荊棘火焰中，向摩西顯現。…說…我的百姓在埃及所受的困苦，我實在看見了。他們悲歎的聲音，我也聽見了。我下來要救他們，你來，我要差你往埃及去。」（徒7:30-34） 接受一個重大使命之前，需要長時間的等候和豫備！神若延遲並不是遺忘，而是在預備祂的器皿，給予他們足夠的訓練和教育；到了所指定的時間，神就會興起他們來背負所命定的工作。甚至是主耶穌也必須有三十年的預備，直等到祂的智慧和身量，並神和人喜愛祂的心成長完全了，才開始祂的工作。--喬懷德 Dr. Jowett 神從來不急躁，祂肯花長時間去預備所重用的器皿，也從不以為預備的時日太長或是太枯燥。在苦難中最難熬的部分常常是時間；短而急的痛苦易受，長而慢的痛苦難當。有時候痛苦會纏身數年，隨著時日經過並沒有得著減輕，那時身上的力量就會失去。如果沒有神的恩典，我們一定會陷入絕境。 約瑟的試煉是一個漫長的經歷，等日子到了竟成就為何等生命！神常常藉著火將試煉燃燒在人的最深處。「祂必坐下如煉淨的銀子」（馬3:3），就像銀匠一般，神知道該煉多少時間。當祂看見銀子煉得能反映祂的形像時，便立即把火停住。我們現在雖然看不見神的美意，也看不見將來榮耀的結果；但是憑信心知道神是不會錯的，祂使「萬事都互相効力，叫愛神的人得益處」（羅8:28）。 請讓我們像約瑟一樣，在神苦難的學校中，用心學習所有的功課。少求盼望立時的拯救，每一門功課都是必需的，一旦學成後拯救自然到來。那時我們就要看見：如果不曾在試煉中受過訓練，我們絕不能站在更大的工場上擔任更重要的工作。 所以親愛的讀者們，神若現在訓練我們，是為了我們將來更大的事奉和更多的蒙福；等到我們有資格可以坐寶座時，神的拯救就來了，到那時沒有任何事物再能攔阻我們。但願我們不奪去神手中的明天，給神充分的時間來哉培我們。祂絕不會來得太遲，且學習耐心等候罷。--選 不要性急地跑在神的前面，要學習等候祂的時間，就像鐘表上的指針運轉，總是有一定時間的。 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush…saying…I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt" (Acts 7:30, 32, 34). That was a long wait in preparation for a great mission. When God delays, He is not inactive. He is getting ready His instruments, He is ripening our powers; and at the appointed moment we shall arise equal to our task. Even Jesus of Nazareth was thirty years in privacy, growing in wisdom before He began His work. --Dr. Jowett God is never in a hurry but spends years with those He expects to greatly use. He never thinks the days of preparation too long or too dull. The hardest ingredient in suffering is often time. A short, sharp pang is easily borne, but when a sorrow drags its weary way through long, monotonous years, and day after day returns with the same dull routine of hopeless agony, the heart loses its strength, and without the grace of God, is sure to sink into the very sullenness of despair. Joseph's was a long trial, and God often has to burn His lessons into the depths of our being by the fires of protracted pain. "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver," but He knows how long, and like a true goldsmith He stops the fires the moment He sees His image in the glowing metal. We may not see now the outcome of the beautiful plan which God is hiding in the shadow of His hand; it yet may be long concealed; but faith may be sure that He is sitting on the throne, calmly waiting the hour when, with adoring rapture, we shall say, "All things have worked together for good." Like Joseph, let us be more careful to learn all the lessons in the school of sorrow than we are anxious for the hour of deliverance. There is a "need-be" for every lesson, and when we are ready, our deliverance will surely come, and we shall find that we could not have stood in our place of higher service without the very things that were taught us in the ordeal. God is educating us for the future, for higher service and nobler blessings; and if we have the qualities that fit us for a throne, nothing can keep us from it when God's time has come. Don't steal tomorrow out of God's hands. Give God time to speak to you and reveal His will. He is never too late; learn to wait. --Selected Do not run impetuously before the Lord; learn to wait His time: the minute-hand as well as the hour-hand must point the exact moment for action. ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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