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經文：「我為選民凡事忍耐，叫他們也可以得著...救恩，和永遠的榮耀。」（提後2:10） 如果當約伯坐在灰燼中時就能知道神的旨意；知道他所遭遇的磨難正是人間生命問題的解答；或許他可以更早鼓起勇氣。因為沒有人可以光為自己活，而約伯的命運正是我們的命運放大的寫照。 我們不知道前方將會遭遇多少試煉，但是我們相信一件事：約伯受苦的歷程正是他被人記念的原因；如果他不曾受過苦難，他的名字絕不會被記載在聖經上面。因此在我們奮鬥的路程中遭遇阻撓，並且不灰心的日子，也將成爲我們一生中最有意義的時光。--高力爾 Robert Collyer 誰能知道人最大的悲痛，是發生在最幸福的時候！當我們笑容滿面漫步於春花綻放的庭園時，或許我們的心正在此時沮喪下沈。生活富足無虞的人得不到最高的屬靈生命，因為他們已經得到祝福，並且滿足於所擁有的；但是這樣的自滿卻阻礙了他們屬靈生命的成長；停滯了願向更高深境界發展的初衷；這樣的生命來不及與最高貴的心靈樂章産生共鳴，就快速地化爲灰燼。 「哀働的人有福了；因為他們必得安慰。」（太5:4）；星光照耀得最明亮的時候，是在黑暗的冬夜。龍膽花開得最美麗的地方，是在冰雪的山頂。神美好的應許總是需要痛苦壓力的等待，就像最香濃的佳釀需要經過酒坊中機器的壓榨。只有曾經憂患的人，才能認識「憂患之子」。--選 或許你正處在看不見光明的境遇，整個人就像被關鎖在黑暗之中；你曾多番嘗試想脫離這樣的困境，可是總是被神阻止；祂似乎是有意把你留在當中。是，正是如此，這是出於神極大的智慧；祂留你在黑暗中，是有祂的美意的；因為在烈日下你會被曬成無法結果的焦土。祂是你的神，祂知道甚麼對你有益，甚麼對你有害；也知道你何時需要雲雨，何時需要日光；在祂絕對不會有錯。--選 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "I endure all things for the sake of God's own people; so that they also may obtain salvation...and with it eternal glory" (2 Tim. 2:10, Weymouth). If Job could have known as he sat there in the ashes, bruising his heart on this problem of Providence--that in the trouble that had come upon him he was doing what one man may do to work out the problem for the world, he might again have taken courage. No man lives to himself. Job's life is but your life and mine written in larger text....So, then, though we may not know what trials wait on any of us, we can believe that, as the days in which Job wrestled with his dark maladies are the only days that make him worth remembrance, and but for which his name had never been written in the book of life, so the days through which we struggle, finding no way, but never losing the light, will be the most significant we are called to live. --Robert Collyer Who does not know that our most sorrowful days have been amongst our best? When the face is wreathed in smiles and we trip lightly over meadows bespangled with spring flowers, the heart is often running to waste. The soul which is always blithe and gay misses the deepest life. It has its reward, and it is satisfied to its measure, though that measure is a very scanty one. But the heart is dwarfed; and the nature, which is capable of the highest heights, the deepest depths, is undeveloped; and life presently burns down to its socket without having known the resonance of the deepest chords of joy. "Blessed are they that mourn." Stars shine brightest in the long dark night of winter. The gentians show their fairest bloom amid almost inaccessible heights of snow and ice. God's promises seem to wait for the pressure of pain to trample out their richest juice as in a wine-press. Only those who have sorrowed know how tender is the "Man of Sorrows." --Selected Thou hast but little sunshine, but thy long glooms are wisely appointed thee; for perhaps a stretch of summer weather would have made thee as a parched land and barren wilderness. Thy Lord knows best, and He has the clouds and the sun at His disposal. --Selected "It is a gray day." "Yes, but dinna ye see the patch of blue?" --Scotch Shoemaker ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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