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經文：「忽然有驚人的大黑暗落在他身上。」（創15:12） 太陽西沈，夜晚自東方迅速展開，將大地覆上一層厚重的帳幕。亞伯拉罕經過一整天的內心掙扎和全神貫注地守候之後已疲倦不堪沉沉入睡。就在深眠之中，他的靈魂被沉重又可怖的黑暗所壓迫；就像是夢魘壓在心上那般，幾乎要令他窒息。 你知道這種黑暗令人壓抑的程度嗎？這漆黑的悲哀與神的愛絕不調和；它對你靈魂的壓迫，簡直把神的憐憫所給予你的一切安息都擠壓淨盡，彷彿被拋入看不見一絲希望的海裏，殘酷與不仁地嘲笑著那信靠的心。直到人開始懷疑：到底天上有沒有神看見這一切？難道祂允許這驚人的大黑暗？ 人生的構成，本就是交錯著黑暗與光明，陰影和陽光；層層烏雲之後，緊跟著燦爛的光輝。關於神的一切義行，都有其預定的計劃；它的影響遍及某些彷彿受有特別揀選的靈魂，也遍及所有其他的人。 你們看見那驚人的黑暗，是因爲這是神爲世人所作的安排。所以應當學會信靠神那絕不犯錯的智慧，這與祂的公義是一體的兩面；要知道基督也曾大聲呼喊：「我的神，我的神，爲甚麽離棄我！」（太27:46） 也曾經歷各各他的可怕黑暗的主，始終預備陪你行過死蔭的幽谷，直到你重新看見希望的陽光。但願我們藉著許多屬靈的先驅者，將希望之錨拋向遮蔽未來的黑暗中，安穩堅定緊抓不放，直到天光破曉安全進港；有基督明確的指引做我們的擔保。--梅爾 F. B. Meyer 曾經，門徒以爲那洶湧的海水，將他們與基督隔離了。不僅如此，其中幾位更悲觀地以爲所遭遇的患難，表示主已將他們全然遺忘不再關心。其實，每當這種時候就表示：患難已長出毒刺，魔鬼也正在耳語，說：「神已經忘記你了；神已經棄絕你了。」 也就是你不信主的心就像當初基甸那樣喊道：「耶和華若與我們同在，我們何至遭遇這一切事？」；其實，你遭遇患難是為了使你與主更親近而非更疏遠；是為了使你更加忠貞，不屈不撓又一心一意地依靠祂。 唯有感覺神似乎已經棄絕我們的時候，我們才會將自己完全交托給祂。願我們享受神樂意賜下的亮光和安慰；願我們所羨慕的不是祂的恩賜，乃是祂的自己。而當祂把我們投入全然的信心黑夜時，我們仍然要在痛苦的黑暗中盡力前進。--選 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "Lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him" (Gen. 15:12). The sun at last went down, and the swift, eastern night cast its heavy veil over the scene. Worn out with the mental conflict, the watchings, and the exertions of the day, Abraham fell into a deep sleep, and in that sleep is soul was oppressed with a dense and dreadful darkness, such as almost stifled him, and lay like a nightmare upon his heart. Do you understand something of the horror of that darkness? When some terrible sorrow which seems so hard to reconcile with perfect love, crushes down upon the soul, wringing from it all its peaceful rest in the pitifulness of God, and launching it on a sea unlit by a ray of hope; when unkindness, and cruelty maltreat the trusting heart, till it begins to doubt whether there be a God overhead who can see and still permit--these know something of the "horror of great darkness." It is thus that human life is made up; brightness and gloom; shadow and sun; long tracks of cloud, succeeded by brilliant glints of light, and amid all Divine justice is working out its own schemes, affecting others equally with the individual soul which seems the subject of special discipline. O ye who are filled with the horror of great darkness because of God's dealings with mankind, learn to trust that infallible wisdom, which is co-assessor with immutable justice; and know that He who passed through the horror of the darkness of Calvary, with the cry of forsakenness, is ready to bear you company through the valley of the shadow of death till you see the sun shining upon its further side. Let us, by our Forerunner, send forward our anchor, Hope, within the veil that parts us from the unseen; where it will grapple in ground and will not yield, but hold until the day dawns, and we follow it into the haven guaranteed to us by God's immutable counsel. --F. B. Meyer The disciples thought that that angry sea separated them from Jesus. Nay, some of them thought worse than that; they thought that the trouble that had come upon them was a sign that Jesus had forgotten all about them, and did not care for them. Oh, dear friend, that is when troubles have a sting, when the devil whispers, "God has forgotten you; God has forsaken you"; when your unbelieving heart cries as Gideon cried, "If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?" The evil has come upon you to bring the Lord nearer to you. The evil has not come upon you to separate you from Jesus, but to make you cling to Him more faithfully, more tenaciously, more simply. --F. S. Webster, M.A. Never should we so abandon ourselves to God as when He seems to have abandoned us. Let us enjoy light and consolation when it is His pleasure to give it to us, but let us not attach ourselves to His gifts, but to Himself; and when He plunges us into the night of pure faith, let us still press on through the agonizing darkness. ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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