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經文：「他在無可指望的時候，因信仍有指望…他的信心還是不軟弱。」（羅4:18-19） 曾經有人問慕勒先生 George Mueller ，如何才能擁有堅強的信心；這位信心偉人答覆說：「我以為只有一個方法，那就是忍受試煉；因為信心只有在凶險的試煉中堅持站住才能生出。」；這話確實是真的，當一切都不可靠的時候，就是信靠神的時候。 所以親愛的讀者，你太輕看你目前的機會了；你現在所受的苦難，就是學得堅強信心的學校；神要在那裡教導你，如何在絕望中抓住祂的施恩寶座。記得「不要怕，只要信。」（可5:36），當你感到害怕時，你就抬頭向著天說：「甚麼時候我怕，那時我更要信靠祢。」這樣你就會感謝神了；因為苦難的學校就是信心的學校。--信宣 A. B. Simpson ＂大信心必須經過大試煉＂神最大的賞賜，都是經過痛苦才能得到的；無論是從精神的領域，或從世界的領域來看；任何偉大的事業與改革，有益的發明與復興，那一樣不是來自前人不眠不休與流血流淚的艱苦呢？有那一件事物的誕生，不是經過好像生産之痛？ 就像大衛要籌備神的聖殿，必須承受許多嚴苛的痛苦；保羅為了使福音和猶太傳統分別爲聖，必須經歷一生漫長的磨難。 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "For Abraham, when hope was gone, hoped on in faith. His faith never quailed" (Rom. 4:18-19). We shall never forget a remark that George Mueller once made to a gentleman who had asked him the best way to have strong faith. "The only way," replied the patriarch of faith, "to learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings." This is very true. The time to trust is when all else fails. Dear one, you scarcely realize the value of your present opportunity; if you are passing through great afflictions you are in the very soul of the strongest faith, and if you will only let go, He will teach you in these hours the mightiest hold upon His throne which you can ever know. "Be not afraid, only believe." And if you are afraid, just look up and say, "What time I am afraid I will trust in thee," and you will yet thank God for the school of sorrow which was to you the school of faith. --A. B. Simpson "Great faith must have great trials." "God's greatest gifts come through travail. Whether we look into the spiritual or temporal sphere, can we discover anything, any great reform, any beneficent discovery, any soul-awakening revival, which did not come through the toils and tears, the vigils and blood-shedding of men and women whose sufferings were the pangs of its birth? If the temple of God is raised, David must bear sore afflictions; if the Gospel of the grace of God is to be disentangled from Jewish tradition, Paul's life must be one long agony." ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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