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經文：「我若不信在活人之地得見耶和華的恩惠，就早已喪膽了。」（詩27:13） 「不要…喪膽」（弗三13），這句話是何等重大的考驗；當我們遭受特別的失去和痛苦的時候，我們的靈是何其的消沈，我們的心是何等的悲痛，就連信心也開始動搖。然後我們會說：「我已無法忍受，心如喪膽昏沉，簡直快要倒下，我該怎麼辦呢？神囑咐我不要喪膽；但是我連一分鐘都不能支持下去，該怎麼辦呢？」 當你身體軟弱快要昏倒的時候，你會怎麼作？甚麼都不能！只能停止自己的活動，倒在所愛的人身上，緊緊倚靠獲得安息。不再自己設法或努力，因為你信靠他。 當你靈性軟弱快要昏倒的時候，也應該如此；神給我們的信息已經不是「你當剛強壯膽」。因為祂知道我們已經筋疲力盡，已經奮發不起了。祂知道我們的力量和勇氣已經消失，祂給我們的信息乃是「你們要休息，要知道我是神。」 戴德生 Hudson Taylor 先生臨終幾個月，身心靈都已非常軟弱，在他寄給知心好友的信中說：「我極其軟弱，不能寫信，不能讀經，甚至不能禱告；我只能像是一個孩子，躺在神的懷中安靜、休息、信靠。」。神也要你如此；當你在痛苦的烈火中喪膽的時候，不必自己設法，只要休息。要知道祂是神，祂必支持你帶你過去。--選 「當壯膽，堅固你的心。」（詩27:14） 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會 |
◇◇◇ Scripture: "I had fainted unless…!(Ps. 27:13). "FAINT NOT!" How great is the temptation at this point! How the soul sinks, the heart grows sick, and the faith staggers under the keen trials and testings which come into our lives in times of special bereavement and suffering. "I cannot bear up any longer, I am fainting under this providence. What shall I do? God tells me not to faint. But what can one do when he is fainting?" What do you do when you are about to faint physically? You cannot do anything. You cease from your own doings. In your faintness, you fall upon the shoulder of some strong loved one. You lean hard. You rest. You lie still and trust. It is so when we are tempted to faint under affliction. God's message to us is not, "Be strong and of good courage," for He knows our strength and courage have fled away. But it is that sweet word, "Be still, and know that I am God." Hudson Taylor was so feeble in the closing months of his life that he wrote a dear friend: "I am so weak I cannot write; I cannot read my Bible; I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child, and trust." This wondrous man of God with all his spiritual power came to a place of physical suffering and weakness where he could only lie still and trust. And that is all God asks of you, His dear child, when you grow faint in the fierce fires of affliction. Do not try to be strong. Just be still and know that He is God, and will sustain you, and bring you through. "God keeps His choicest cordials for our deepest faintings." "Stay firm and let thine heart take courage" (Psa. 27:14, --After Osterwald). ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman |