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經文：「祂知道我所行的路。」（伯23:10） 各位信徒哪，這是何等靠得住的事實！你的道路不論是曲直、是寬窄、是崎嶇、是平坦，神都知道。因為祂是全能的神，祂指導我們的腳步；有時向著瑪拉，有時向著以琳。 道路不一定盡都順利，但在走出埃及的黑暗路口，神供給以色列民雲柱、火柱、嗎哪和甘泉。爐子裏燃燒著烈火，我們不僅僅能信靠那點火的人，並且可以斷定那烈火不是用來燒毀我們，乃是用來鍛煉我們，鍛煉完成之後，我們必成精金。既有這樣的把握，信徒們，放膽邁步罷！ 當人們認爲神離自己很遠的時候，卻是神最接近的時候；「我的靈在我裡面發昏的時候，祢知道我的道路。」（詩142:3）。你可知道，神比太陽最光輝的輻射還要明亮；早晨祂以榮光喚醒我們，再整天以慈愛和溫柔的視線注視我們，並知道我們所行的路。你明白這道理嗎？ 世人在遭受患難的時候，往往空洞地喊著「天意」。何謂天意？爲什麽放棄了活著的神，放棄了永生的耶和華，代之以空洞無生命的所謂天意？ 我們若像約伯在災難中只見神的手，所受的試煉就會變得輕鬆了。約伯在示巴人的刀劍後面，在天上降下的火後面，在曠野颳來的狂風後面，都看見神的手。「賞賜的是耶和華，收取的也是耶和華；耶和華的名，是應當稱頌的。」（伯1:20） 約伯在每一件事上都看見神，所以他能在爐灰中說：「祂雖殺我，我還要信靠祂。」（伯13:15）--馬克拉倫 Alexander Maclaren |
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Scripture: "He knoweth the way that I take" (Job 23:10). Believer! What a glorious assurance! This way of thine--this, it may be, a crooked, mysterious, tangled way--this way of trial and tears. "He knoweth it." The furnace seven times heated--He lighted it. There is an Almighty Guide knowing and directing our footsteps, whether it be to the bitter Marah pool, or to the joy and refreshment of Elim. That way, dark to the Egyptians, has its pillar of cloud and fire for His own Israel. The furnace is hot; but not only can we trust the hand that kindles it, but we have the assurance that the fires are lighted not to consume, but to refine; and that when the refining process is completed (no sooner--no later) He brings His people forth as gold. When they think Him least near, He is often nearest. "When my spirit was overwhelmed, then thou knewest my path." Do we know of ONE brighter than the brightest radiance of the visible sun, visiting our chamber with the first waking beam of the morning; an eye of infinite tenderness and compassion following us throughout the day, knowing the way that we take? The world, in its cold vocabulary in the hour of adversity, speaks of "Providence"--"the will of Providence"--"the strokes of Providence." PROVIDENCE! what is that? Why dethrone a living, directing God from the sovereignty of His own earth? Why substitute an inanimate, death-like abstraction, in place of an acting, controlling, personal Jehovah? How it would take the sting from many a goading trial, to see what Job saw (in his hour of aggravated woe, when every earthly hope lay prostrate at his feet)--no hand but the Divine. He saw that hand behind the gleaming swords of the Sabeans--he saw it behind the lightning flash--he saw it giving wings to the careening tempest--he saw it in the awful silence of his rifled home. "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" Thus seeing God in everything, his faith reached its climax when this once powerful prince of the desert, seated on his bed of ashes, could say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." --Macduff ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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