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經文：「我們…遭遇苦難，被壓太重…甚至連活命的指望都絕了。自己心裡也斷定是必死的，叫我們不靠自己，只靠叫死人復活的上帝。」（林後1:8-9） 遭遇苦難，使我們更重視生命；在一次死裡逃生之後，我們能感到擁有一個全新的開始，會思想如何更好地事奉神與服事人。 遭遇苦難，也使我們更能諒解與同情別人的苦難；人們比較容易批評別人如何逃避試煉與沒有信心，但是曾經遭受苦難的人絕不會如此，因為可以體會與理解他人所遭受的苦處是甚麼。 保羅說：「死是在我們身上發動，生卻在你們身上發動。」（林後4:12） 苦難是催促我們前進的必需品，正如汽船中的爐火是使汽船航行的必需品一般。--信宣 A. B. Simpson 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會 |
◇◇◇ Scripture: "I was crushed...so much so that I despaired even of life, but that was to make me rely not on myself, but on the God who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:8, 9). The pressure of hard places makes us value life. Every time our life is given back to us from such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much it is worth, and make more of it for God and man. The pressure helps us to understand the trials of others, and fits us to help and sympathize with them. There is a shallow, superficial nature, that gets hold of a theory or a promise lightly, and talks very glibly about the distrust of those who shrink from every trial; but the man or woman who has suffered much never does this, but is very tender and gentle, and knows what suffering really means. This is what Paul meant when he said, "Death worketh in you." Trials and hard places are needed to press us forward, even as the furnace fires in the hold of that mighty ship give force that moves the piston, drives the engine, and propels that great vessel across the sea in the face of the winds and waves. --A. B. Simpson ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman |