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經文：「又如鷹攪動巢窩，在雛鷹以上兩翅搧展，接取雛鷹，背在兩翼之上，這樣，耶和華獨自引導他，並無外邦神與他同在。」（申32:11-12） 我們的神也會將祂所保護的孩子帶到峭壁頂上，再推他們下去，好使他們發覺自身飛行的能力；期間只要他們遇到危險，祂便立即俯衝接住，將他們背在兩翼之上。所以，神如果將我們放在一個非常困難的處境，我們只需要大膽地依靠祂，因為我們深信祂的拯救就在身旁。--譯自勝利的凱歌 The Song of Victory 「如果神放一個重擔在你身上，祂必以膀臂自你身下托住你。」 有株小花生在一棵高大的橡樹蔭下，它非常敬重那處庇護自己的樹蔭，也非常珍惜它所擁有的安穩。但是來了一個樵夫，砍倒了橡樹。小花非常傷心哭道：「唉，我的保護失去了；從此狂風會將我吹倒，大雨會給我打擊！」 這時小花的天使安慰它道：「不要擔心，以後太陽會照耀你，甘霖會滋潤你；你弱小的身軀將會長得更加可愛，你的花瓣將在日光之下歡笑；人們將會稱讚你說：『這株小花長得多快啊！橡樹砍去後，它長得更加美麗了！』」 親愛的讀者，你沒有看見嗎？神挪去你的安慰與好處，是為了要你長得更美麗。神要訓練祂的精兵，不會在柔軟的床上，祂必須領他們出去，強迫他們行軍與勞役；使他們爬山、涉水、負重。這樣，才能將他們訓練成精兵。那不會是給為他們穿上精緻的軍服，讓他們在營門前虛有其表地高視闊步，更不是讓他們在公園裡逍遙閒晃。 神知道精兵是在戰爭中造成的，不是在平安中造成的；他們必須身沾火藥氣息，飽經槍林彈雨。信徒們，如果神要把你造成一個這樣的精兵，你願意嗎？祂若將你投身在戰爭的火燄中，你豈不該穿上祂賜你的全副軍裝好贏得勝仗？--司布眞 C. H. Spurgeon 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him" (Deut. 32:11, 12). Our Almighty Parent delights to conduct the tender nestlings of His care to the very edge of the precipice, and even to thrust them off into the steeps of air, that they may learn their possession of unrealized power of flight, to be forever a luxury; and if, in the attempt, they be exposed to unwonted peril, He is prepared to swoop beneath them, and to bear them upward on His mighty pinions. When God brings any of His children into a position of unparalleled difficulty, they may always count upon Him to deliver them. --The Song of Victory "When God puts a burden upon you He puts His own arm underneath." There is a little plant, small and stunted, growing under the shade of a broad-spreading oak; and this little plant values the shade which covers it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest which its noble friend affords. But a blessing is designed for this little plant. Once upon a time there comes along the woodman, and with his sharp axe he fells the oak. The plant weeps and cries, "My shelter is departed; every rough wind will blow upon me, and every storm will seek to uproot me!" "No, no," saith the angel of that flower; "now will the sun get at thee; now will the shower fall on thee in more copious abundance than before; now thy stunted form shall spring up into loveliness, and thy flower, which could never have expanded itself to perfection shall now laugh in the sunshine, and men shall say, 'How greatly hath that plant increased! How glorious hath become its beauty, through the removal of that which was its shade and its delight!'" See you not, then, that God may take away your comforts and your privileges, to make you the better Christians? Why, the Lord always trains His soldiers, not by letting them lie on feather-beds, but by turning them out, and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long march with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. This is the way in which He makes them soldiers--not by dressing them up in fine uniforms, to swagger at the barrack gates, and to be fine gentlemen in the eyes of the loungers in the park. God knows that soldiers are only to be made in battle; they are not to be grown in peaceful times. We may grow the stuff of which soldiers are made; but warriors are really educated by the smell of powder, in the midst of whizzing bullets and roaring cannonades, not in soft and peaceful times. Well, Christian, may not this account for it all? Is not thy Lord bringing out thy graces and making them grow? Is He not developing in you the qualities of the soldier by throwing you into the heat of battle, and should you not use every appliance to come off conqueror? --Spurgeon. ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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