(轉簡)
May 21		五月二十一日
“I call to remembrance my song in the night.” (Psalm 77:6) I have read somewhere of a little bird that will never sing the melody his master wishes while his cage is full of light. He learns a snatch of this, a bar of that, but never an entire song of its own until the cage is covered and the morning beams shut out. A good many people never learn to sing until the darkling shadows fall. The fabled nightingale carols with his breast against a thorn. It was in the night that the song of the angels was heard. It was at midnight that the cry came, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him."(Mt.25:6) Indeed it is extremely doubtful if a soul can really know the love of God in its richness and in its comforting, satisfying completeness until the skies are black and lowering. Light comes out of darkness, morning out of the womb of the night. James Creelman, in one of his letters, describes his trip through the Balkan States in search of Natalie, the exiled Queen of Serbia. "In that memorable journey," he says, "I learned for the first time that the world's supply of attar of roses comes from the Balkan Mountains. And the thing that interested me most," he goes on, "is that the roses must be gathered in the darkest hours. The pickers start out at one o'clock and finish picking them at two. "At first it seemed to me a relic of superstition; but I investigated the picturesque mystery, and learned that actual scientific tests had proven that fully forty per cent of the fragrance of roses disappeared in the light of day." And in human life and human culture that is not a playful, fanciful conceit; it is a real veritable fact. ━Malcolm J. McLeod.		“我想起我夜間的歌曲。” （詩七十七：6） 據說有一種小鳥，在亮光中不會唱歌的，雖然主人竭力設法去引牠出聲，但牠總是默然。有時偶然發出一些鳴聲，但不足以代表牠歌唱的藝術。只有一個方法可以使牠唱出美麗悅耳的歌聲來，就是在籠的上下四周罩上一層不透光的黑布。 有許多人都要在夜幕下降之後，才知道歌唱，傳說夜鶯在荊棘刺着胸口時鳴啼。夜晚才聽見天使的歌頌之聲，那是大喜的信息說：“新郎來了，你們出來迎接祂”。（太二十五：6）這是在半夜三更，天頂黑的時候報的！ 人何獨不然；天色尚未黑暗，靈魂充滿了自己的安逸，他能否真正領悟神愛的豐富和甘甜？倒不如在最黑暗的處境中才能有所表現。 光明是從黑暗中出來的，早晨亦自從夜晚滋長的。 詹姆斯·克裏曼曆訪巴爾幹諸國，尋找塞維亞流亡女王娜塔麗，他記述此行的信劄中說：“在那值得紀念的旅程中，我第一次知道市上玫瑰香油精的原料，產自巴爾幹山中。使我感到興趣的是，玫瑰必須在黑暗的半夜方可採摘，采花工作就在短短的一二小時內完成”。 “起初我覺得這個採集方式似乎是古代迷信的遺傳；後來深入調查，終於知道連科學家的實驗亦證明了玫瑰花若在日光中採摘，它將損失其香味的百分之四十。” 對於人類的生活和文化，確是事實，不是兒戲幻想。━馬克李奧
May 22 “He worketh.” (Psalm 37:5) The translation that we find in Young of "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass," reads: "Roll upon Jehovah thy way; trust upon him: and he worketh." It calls our attention to the immediate action of God when we truly commit, or roll out of our hands into His, the burden of whatever kind it may be; a way of sorrow, of difficulty, of physical need, or of anxiety for the conversion of some dear one. "He worketh." When? Now. We are so in danger of postponing our expectation of His acceptance of the trust, and His undertaking to accomplish what we ask Him to do, instead of saying as we commit, "He worketh." "He worketh" even now; and praise Him that it is so. The very expectancy enables the Holy Spirit to do the very thing we have rolled upon Him. It is out of our reach. We are not trying to do it any more. "He worketh!" Let us take the comfort out of it and not put our hands on it again. Oh, what a relief it brings! He is really working on the difficulty. But someone may say, "I see no results." Never mind. "He worketh," if you have rolled it over and are looking to Jesus to do it. Faith may be tested, but "He worketh"; the Word is sure! ━V. H. F. "I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me." (Psalm 57:2) The beautiful old translation says, "He shall perform the cause which I have in hand." Does not that make it very real to us today? Just the very thing that "I have in hand"━my own particular bit of work today, this cause that I cannot manage, this thing that I undertook in miscalculation of my own powers━this is what I may ask Him to do "for me," and rest assured that He will perform it. "The wise and their works are in the hands of God." ━Havergal. The Lord will go through with His covenant engagements. Whatever He takes in hand He will accomplish; hence past mercies are guarantees for the future and admirable reasons for continuing to cry unto Him. ━C. H. Spurgeon.		五月二十二日 “祂就工作。” （詩三十七：5直譯） 楊氏譯本把詩篇三十七篇五節“當將你的事交托耶和華，並倚靠祂，祂就必成全“譯作“當將你的事輥在耶和華身上倚靠祂，祂就工作”。 這給我們看見當我們把無論甚麼重擔真正交托，或者從我們手中輥到祂手中的時候，祂就立刻工作；祂並非將要工作，或者或許工作，乃是就工作━現在就工作。真的，如果我們把所有的重擔━憂愁的重擔，難處的重擔，物質需要的重擔，工作的重擔等等━都交托祂，祂必現在就替我們工作。 詩篇說：“祂就工作“。甚麼時候呢？現在！可是我們信神現在就工作的信心太遲鈍。我們不信當我們━交托給神的時候，神就工作；我們以為神必慢慢而行。我們立刻信，神就立刻行；我們就用不着自己再去試了。我們不能，神能；讚美感謝祂！ 立刻的期望，可使聖靈眷顧到我們所交托的事。這不是我們的能力所及，亦不必自己去徒然費力，“祂就工作”。 讓我們在這裏享受安息，不要把我們的手放上去罷！哦，多麼輕鬆！祂正在替我們工作！ 但是有人要說：“我看不見甚麼結果“。不要緊的。如果你已經輥給祂了“祂就工作”。信心或許要受試驗，但是祂的話語必定可靠！ “我要求告至高的神，就是為我成全諸事的神”（詩五十七：2）。 有一種古譯本把“為我成全諸事”譯作“為我成全在我手中的事”。正在我手中的事━今天我自己的一點特別的瑣事我所不能辦的事情━這就是我可以求祂“為我”作的；讓我們自己安息下來罷！深信祂必成全。“智慧人，並他們的作為都在神手中”（傳九：1）。━海弗格爾 神必履行祂的聖約，凡在神手中的，神必成全。因此過去的恩典，卽為將來的保障，也是繼續求告於神的力量。━司布真
May 23 “At their wit's end, they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out.” (Psalm 107:27, 28) Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner," Christian, with troubled brow? Are you thinking of what is before you, And all you are bearing now? Does all the world seem against you, And you in the battle alone? Remember━at "Wit's End Corner" Is just where God's power is shown. Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner," Blinded with wearying pain, Feeling you cannot endure it, You cannot bear the strain, Bruised through the constant suffering, Dizzy, and dazed, and numb? Remember━at "Wit's End Corner" Is where Jesus loves to come. Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner"? Your work before you spread, All lying begun, unfinished, And pressing on heart and head, Longing for strength to do it, Stretching out trembling hands? Remember━at. "Wit's End Corner" The Burden-bearer stands. Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner"? Then you're just in the very spot To learn the wondrous resources Of Him who faileth not: No doubt to a brighter pathway Your footsteps will soon be moved, But only at "Wit's End Corner" Is the "God who is able" proved. ━Antoinette Wilson. Do not get discouraged; it may be the last key in the bunch that opens the door. ━Stansifer.		五月二十三日 “他們的智慧無法可施。於是他們在苦難中哀求耶和華，祂從他們的禍患中領出他們來。” （詩一百零七：28） 基督徒哪！你的愁眉緊鎖， 你是否到了才窮智竭的地步， 你是不是在想面前的遭遇， 以及承擔着種種重負？ 全世界都像與你相忤， 你在戰場上孤獨無助？ 要記得到了才窮智竭的地步， 神的豐滿和能力才會顯露。 你四周的苦痛，使你眼花繚亂， 你是否到了才窮智竭的地步， 你覺得力不能支持否！ 這種緊張的局面無法應付？ 不斷的苦難，使你帶着種種傷痕， 昏暈，麻木，如生疾痼。 要記得：到了才窮智竭的地步， 就會得着耶穌的愛護。 環境在你的面前展開， 你是否到了才窮智竭的地步， 這正在開始，尚待結束， 它們侵擾你的心，如蝕如磨。 渴望有能力去處理， 伸出的手卻顫抖無措。 要記得：到了才窮智竭的地步， 耶穌就會卸下你的重負。 你是否到了才窮智竭的地步， 那麼你所站立之處， 正可認識從不失誤的， 神所有的神奇財富。 你的腳步卽將 移向更光明的道路。 唯有到了才窮智竭的地步， 才能證實全能的天父。 ━威爾遜 你不要失望，也許最後的一把鑰匙，它纔是替你開了門。━司單雪弗
May 24 “Sarah bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” (Gen. 21:2) The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11). But we must be prepared to wait God's time. God has His set times. It is not for us to know them; indeed, we cannot know them; we must wait for them. If God had told Abraham in Haran that he must wait for thirty years until he pressed the promised child to his bosom, his heart would have failed him. So, in gracious love, the length of the weary years was hidden, and only as they were nearly spent, and there were only a few more months to wait, God told him that "according to the time of life, Sarah shall have a son." (Gen. 18:14.) The set time came at last; and then the laughter that filled the patriarch's home made the aged pair forget the long and weary vigil. Take heart, waiting one, thou waitest for One who cannot disappoint thee; and who will not be five minutes behind the appointed moment: ere long "your sorrow shall be turned into joy." (Jn.16:20) Ah, happy soul, when God makes thee laugh! Then sorrow and crying shall flee away forever, as darkness before the dawn. ━Selected. It is not for us who are passengers, to meddle with the chart and with the compass. Let that all-skilled Pilot alone with His own work. ━Hall. "Some things cannot be done in a day. God does not make a sunset glory in a moment, but for days may be massing the mist out of which He builds His palaces beautiful in the west." "Some glorious morn━but when? Ah, who shall say? The steepest mountain will become a plain, And the parched land be satisfied with rain. The gates of brass all broken; iron bars, Transfigured, form a ladder to the stars. Rough places plain, and crooked ways all straight, For him who with a patient heart can wait. These things shall be on God's appointed day: It may not be tomorrow━yet it may."		五月二十四日 “當亞伯拉罕年老的時候，撒拉懷了孕；到神所說的日期，就給亞伯拉罕生了一個兒子。” （創二十一：2） “耶和華的籌算永遠立定，祂心中的思念萬代常存“（詩卅三：11）。但是我們必須預備等待神的時間。神有祂的定時，我們不能預知；只能等待。 如果神在哈蘭，就告訴亞伯拉罕：他必須等待三十年，然後纔得到以撒，亞伯拉罕的心要何等難過呢！所以，這是神的愛━神特意將這長而乏味的時期不說，只說“到了日期，撒拉必生一個兒子。”(創世記第十八章十四節) 最後，神的定時來了；喜樂充滿了信心之父的家；這對年老的夫婦忘了他們所等的長而乏味的時期。 啊，焦急的信徒們啊，你要知道你所等的那一個，是不會叫你失望的；祂不會比定時遲五分鐘的：不久“你們的憂愁，要變為喜樂”（約十六：20）。神要使你歡笑！憂愁要在你面前逃跑，好像黑暗在早晨前逃跑一般。━選 我們是船上的乘客，盡可不必去過問那航海圖與羅盤針。讓全能的舵手單獨去駕駛吧。 有的事情決非一天之內可以完成的。神並非在片刻之間構成落日時的彩霞，祂要經過好幾天的積聚雲霧，纔在天的西邊造成了那美麗的宮殿。 光榮的黎明，誰能說何時出現？ 到那時崎嶇的地形將變為平原， 乾枯的土地有充分的雨水， 緊鎖的銅門，再不將你阻攔， 鐵柵改成階梯，通往天國堂殿， 平原千里，彎曲的道路都修齊， 一切都為了那些忍耐等候的人。 何時出現？神會確定祂的時間， 也許不是明天，也許就是明天。
May 25 “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."(Mt.5:4) 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.		五月二十五日 “我為選民凡事忍耐，叫他們也可以得着……救恩，和永遠的榮耀。” （提後二：10） 當約伯坐在灰燼之中，假使他能知道神的旨意，究竟如何的時候，他所遭遇的磨難，正是給世人解答這回問題，他可能重新鼓起勇氣來。沒有人只為自己而活。約伯的生命，只是你我生命擴大的寫照。我們雖不知道每一個人將遭遇到何種的試煉，但能相信，使約伯在苦痛疾病中掙扎着過那些日子，就是使他值得為後世之人懷念的日子。若不是那些日子，他的名字決不會寫在聖經上。因此我們在奮鬥前進，遭遇到這種阻撓，而從不灰心的這些日子，也將成為我們一生中最有意義的日子。━高里爾 誰不知道我們最大的悲痛，是發生在最幸福的時候！當我們笑容滿面，閒步於春花怒放的庭園時，我們的心常在此時頹唐下沉。 生活愉快逍遙的人，得不到最高屬天的生命，他已有了酬報，而且滿足於所得的酬報，卻是他屬靈生命長進的阻礙；使他本能意願向最高最深之處的發展，亦因此而停滯了；他的生命還沒有和最高貴的喜悅之音產生共鳴，就很快的耗為灰燼了。 “哀慟的人有福了；因為他們必得安慰”（太五：4）。星光照耀得最亮的時候，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。 神的應許，似乎要等待痛苦的壓力，象酒坊中的壓酢機那樣，酢出最香烈的佳釀來。唯有經歷悲哀的人，才知道耶穌是多麼慈愛。━選 你雖只有一點點陽光，但對於你這長夜的陰暗是明智的安排。如果永遠驕陽麗日的夏天，也許會把你曬成一片乾枯不毛之地。你的主無所不知，雲和太陽，都受祂的使喚與調節。━選 “這是個陰天”“不錯，但你難道沒有看見也有斑點似的幾片蔚藍的天空嗎“？━舒密嘉
May 26 “Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it.” (Num. 21:17) This was a strange song and a strange well. They had been traveling over the desert's barren sands, no water was in sight and they were famishing with thirst. Then God spake to Moses and said: "Gather the people together, and I will give them water," (Verse 16) and this is how it came. They gathered in circles on the sands. They took their staves and dug deep down into the burning earth and as they dug, they sang, "Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it," and lo, there came a gurgling sound, a rush of water and a flowing stream which filled the well and ran along the ground. When they dug this well in the desert, they touched the stream that was running beneath, and reached the flowing tides that had long been out of sight. How beautiful the picture given, telling us of the river of blessing that flows all through our lives, and we have only to reach by faith and praise to find our wants supplied in the most barren desert. How did they reach the waters of this well? It was by praise. They sang upon the sand their song of faith, while with their staff of promise they dug the well. Our praise will still open fountains in the desert, when murmuring will only bring us judgment, and even prayer may fail to reach the fountains of blessing. There is nothing that pleases the Lord so much as praise. There is no test of faith so true as the grace of thanksgiving. Are you praising God enough? Are you thanking Him for your actual blessings that are more than can be numbered, and are you daring to praise Him even for those trials which are but blessings in disguise? Have you learned to praise Him in advance for the things that have not yet come? ━Selected. "Thou waitest for deliverance! O soul, thou waitest long! Believe that now deliverance Doth wait for thee in song! "Sigh not until deliverance Thy fettered feet doth free: With songs of glad deliverance God now doth compass thee."		五月二十六日 “井阿！湧上水來。你們要向這井歌唱。” （民廿一：17） 一口希奇的井！一首希奇的歌！當以色列人在曠野流蕩，沒有水喝，幾乎渴死的時候，耶和華對摩西說： “招聚百姓，我好給他們水喝”（十六節）。於是他們集合在一處，用杖挖掘粗松的沙地；他們一面掘，一面唱， “井阿，湧上水來。你們要向這井歌唱“。看哪，頃刻間，久藏地下的泉源，一起湧上來滿足他們的需要。 這個故事也教訓我們一件事：今天在這屬靈的曠野行走的枯乾的我們也可以憑信心和讚美來得到祝福的泉源。 他們怎樣得到井水呢？藉着讚美。他們在沙地上唱信心的歌，同時用應許的杖掘井。 讚美使我們得泉源，怨言使我們招審判。甚至禱告亦不能使井湧上水來，因為沒有一件東西比讚美更能叫神喜悅。 讚美是信心最準確的憑據。信徒阿，你有沒有讚美神呢？神給你數不過來的恩典，你有否讚美祂呢？你有沒有膽量為着祂所給你的患難━化裝的祝福━來讚美祂呢？你有否學會為着尚未來到的祝福預先讚美祂呢？━選 靈魂啊，你等了好久， 等待主的拯救， 要相信此刻救主， 已在歌聲中守候。 不要歎息，等待天父， 解除你雙足桎梏， 祂正在快樂的歌聲中， 給你引路，賜你救贖。
May 27 “Bring them hither to me.” (Matt. 14:18) Are you encompassed with needs at this very moment, and almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials, and emergencies? These are all divinely provided vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and if you but rightly understood their meaning, they would become opportunities for receiving new blessings and deliverances which you can get in no other way. Bring these vessels to God. Hold them steadily before Him in faith and prayer. Keep still, and stop your own restless working until He begins to work. Do nothing that He does not Himself command you to do. Give Him a chance to work, and He will surely do so; and the very trials that threatened to overcome you with discouragement and disaster, will become God's opportunity for the revelation of His grace and glory in your life, as you have never known Him before. "Bring them (all needs) to me." ━A. B. Simpson. "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:19) What a source━"God!" What a supply━"His riches in glory!" What a channel━"Christ Jesus!" It is your sweet privilege to place all your need over against His riches, and lose sight of the former in the presence of the latter. His exhaustless treasury is thrown open to you, in all the love of His heart; go and draw upon it, in the artless simplicity of faith, and you will never have occasion to look to a creature-stream, or lean on a creature-prop. ━C. H. M. "MY CUP RUNNETH OVER" There is always something over, When we trust our gracious Lord; Every cup He fills o'erfloweth, His great rivers all are broad. Nothing narrow, nothing stinted, Ever issues from His store; To His own He gives full measure, Running over, evermore. There is always something over, When we, from the Father's hand, Take our portion with thanksgiving, Praising for the path He planned. Satisfaction, full and deepening, Fills the soul, and lights the eye, When the heart has trusted Jesus All its need to satisfy. There is always something over, When we tell of all His love; Unplumbed depths still lie beneath us, Unsealed heights rise far above: Human lips can never utter All His wondrous tenderness, We can only praise and wonder, And His name forever bless. ━Margaret E. Barber "How can He but, in giving Him, lavish on us all things." (Rom. 8:32)		五月二十七日 “拿過來給我。” （太十四：18） 你現在是不是正被患難，試煉，危險，缺乏所包圍呢？這些都是神為你安排的器皿，為着盛滿聖靈用的；如果你能懂得神的用意，它們就會作你得新祝福和新拯救的機會；這種祝福和拯救，除此之外，別無他法可得。 把這些器皿拿過來給神。用信心和禱告帶到祂面前來。安靜罷，停止你自己的活動，除非祂有所吩咐。不要作祂所沒有吩咐你作的事情。給祂一個機會去作罷；這樣，使你害怕的患難，試煉，危險，缺乏，都要變作神彰顯祂恩典和榮耀的機會。神吩咐我們：“拿過來給我”。━宣信 “我的神必照祂榮耀的豐富，在基督耶穌裏使你們一切所需用的都充足“（腓四：19）。 何等的來源━“神”！何等的寶貝━“祂榮耀的豐富“！何等的導管━“基督耶穌”！何等的供給━“一切所需用的”！這是你無上的權利━把你一切所需用的去換祂榮耀的豐富！祂無盡的寶庫，已因祂不竭之愛，為你開着了；用無偽的，簡單的信心去支取你的需用罷！祂決不會怕你支取得過多的，因為祂的寶庫從無缺貨之虞。━馬金都 “使我的福杯滿溢” 信靠了慈愛的主， 祂會把祝福注入杯中， 多得滿溢，豈但充滿！ 且波浪滾滾之大江， 永不枯竭，絕不缺短， 祂的賜予從無限止， 祂給子民豐滿的供應， 如滔滔的激湍流長源遠。 我們的杯，將永遠充溢不竭， 只要我們從天父手邊， 接受給我們杯中的分， 以感激之心讚美祂的成全。 我衷心信賴了耶穌， 靈中注滿了完實的歡欣， 祇有耶穌使我心足意滿， 一片光明，充沛眼前。 只要我們稱頌祂的愛， 我們的杯將永遠不竭； 祂的愛高得無法言喻， 那樣奇妙的愛， 那樣溫柔的愛， 永遠稱頌祂的名， 永遠稱頌祂的名， 我們讚美，我們欣歡。 ━巴伯 “神旣不愛惜自己的兒子為我們眾人舍了，豈不也把萬物和祂一同白白的賜給我們麼？”（羅八：32）
May 28 “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me ... and he blessed him there.” (Gen. 32:26, 29) Jacob got the victory and the blessing not by wrestling, but by clinging. His limb was out of joint and he could struggle no longer, but he would not let go. Unable to wrestle, he wound his arms around the neck of his mysterious antagonist and hung all his helpless weight upon him, until at last he conquered. We will not get victory in prayer until we too cease our struggling, giving up our own will and throw our arms about our Father's neck in clinging faith. What can puny human strength take by force out of the hand of Omnipotence? Can we wrest blessing by force from God? It is never the violence of wilfulness that prevails with God. It is the might of clinging faith, that gets the blessing and the victories. It is not when we press and urge our own will, but when humility and trust unite in saying, "Not my will, but Thine." (Lk.22:42) We are strong with God only in the degree that self is conquered and is dead. Not by wrestling, but by clinging can we get the blessing. ━J. R. Miller. An incident from the prayer life of Charles H. Usher (illustrating "soul-cling" as a hindrance to prevailing prayer): "My little boy was very ill. The doctors held out little hope of his recovery. I had used all the knowledge of prayer which I possessed on his behalf, but he got worse and worse. This went on for several weeks. "One day I stood watching him as he lay in his cot, and I saw that he could not live long unless he had a turn for the better. I said to God, 'O God, I have given much time in prayer for my boy and he gets no better; I must now leave him to Thee, and I will give myself to prayer for others. If it is Thy will to take him, I choose Thy will━I surrender him entirely to Thee.' "I called in my dear wife, and told her what I had done. She shed some tears, but handed him over to God. Two days afterwards a man of God came to see us. He had been very interested in our boy Frank, and had been much in prayer for him. "He said, 'God has given me faith to believe that he will recover━have you faith?' "I said, 'I have surrendered him to God, but I will go again to God regarding him.' I did; and in prayer I discovered that I had faith for his recovery. From that time he began to get better. It was the 'soul-cling' in my prayers which had hindered God answering; and if I had continued to cling and had been unwilling to surrender him, I doubt if my boy would be with me today. "Child of God! If you want God to answer your prayers, you must be prepared to follow the footsteps of 'our father Abraham,' even to the Mount of Sacrifice." (See Rom. 4:12)		五月二十八日 “祢不給我祝福，我就不容祢去…於是在那裏給雅各祝福。” （創三十二：26，29） 雅各得着祝福，不是因着奮鬥乃是因着糾纏。他的大腿窩扭了，不能再摔跤了；但是他纏住對方，不肯放祂去。他的腿瘸了，他只能伸出他的手臂來圍着對方的頸項，把他全身的重量掛在其上。 我們禱告，也是這樣。甚麼時候我們停止自己的努力，放棄我們自己的主意，用信心的手臂纏住父的頸項，甚麼時候我們就會得着答應。 微弱的人們能用武力從全能者的手中奪取祝福麼？我們的努力會叫神屈服麼？決不。頑強決不能從神得到甚麼。只有不移的信心，完全的依靠，能叫我們得到神的祝福。我們堅強的意志不能幫助我們得到甚麼，只有謙卑和信靠聯合說：“不要…我的意思，只要…祢的意思”（路廿二：42）。能幫助我們得到祝福。只有己的死能叫我們與神一同剛強。━密勒 有一位烏喧先生說他禱告的經歷如後：“我的小兒子病得很重，醫生亦說希望甚少。我祇有懇切地為這孩子禱告，但這孩子的情況日趨惡化，這樣過了多日”。 “一天，我站在孩子的病榻之旁，憑我的觀察，如無神跡，恐將不治了。所以我祈求在神面前：“神啊；我費了多少時間為這孩子祈禱，並未有甚麼轉機，我現在把他交給祢，我將為別人而代禱了；如果祢有意思要將孩子帶走，我亦接受你的美意━把孩子完完全全交給神”。 “我把太太叫來，把事情經過告訴了她。她灑着眼淚，也願把孩子交給神。兩天之後，有一位傳教士來看我們，他也很關心孩子，而且常常為他代禱。” 他說：“神給我信心，相信這孩子會康復的。你有信心嗎”？ 我說：“我把孩子交給了神，但我將繼續禱告。”在禱告中，我發現了對他康復的信心。 從此孩子也漸漸地好轉，過去因為在禱告中沒有排除己意，所以妨礙了神的答復，如果堅持固執己見，不願將孩子交給神，我想後果堪慮了。 “神的孩子們哪！倘使你要神給你回答，必須準備跟從先聖亞伯拉罕的腳蹤，先要走上自我犧牲的道路”。(見羅馬書第四章十二節)
May 29 “I have called you friends.” (John 15:15) Years ago there was an old German professor whose beautiful life was a marvel to his students. Some of them resolved to know the secret of it; so one of their number hid in the study where the old professor spent his evenings. It was late when the teacher came in. He was very tired, but he sat down and spent an hour with his Bible. Then he bowed his head in secret prayer; and finally closing the Book of books, he said, "Well, Lord Jesus, we're on the same old terms." To know Him is life's highest attainment; and at all costs, every Christian should strive to be "on the same old terms with Him." The reality of Jesus comes as a result of secret prayer, and a personal study of the Bible that is devotional and sympathetic. Christ becomes more real to the one who persists in the cultivation of His presence. ━Maltbie D. Babcock Speak thou to Him for He heareth, And spirit with spirit will meet! Nearer is He than breathing, Nearer than hands and feet. ━Maltbie D. Babcock		五月二十九日 “我乃稱你們為朋友。” （約十五：15） 數年前某大學有一位年老的德文教授，他的生活是為全校學生所欽佩的。他們中間有幾個好奇的學生，很想探聽他所以這樣生活的秘訣；所以其中有一個學生隱匿在教授的書室中，看他每天晚上在那裏幹些甚麼。 教授走進書室，時間已很遲了。看他的樣子似乎很累，但是他坐下來，打開聖經，頂虔誠的讀了一個鐘頭。然後低頭默禱；最後，把聖經關起來，說： “主耶穌，我們又是一次歡聚”！ 與主歡聚是屬靈生活中的最高點；每一個基督人，該不惜任何代價，尋求與主“又是一次歡聚”。 禱告和讀經能使我們覺得基督的實在。越在密室中追求主的同在的，越覺得主的實在。━貝伯考克 祂正聽着， 用你的心聲與祂接觸， 靈靈相交，密如心腹， 呼吸相通，親同手足。 ━貝伯考克
May 30 “And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth” (Rev. 14:3) There are songs which can only be learned in the valley. No art can teach them; no rules of voice can make them perfectly sung. Their music is in the heart. They are songs of memory, of personal experience. They bring out their burden from the shadow of the past; they mount on the wings of yesterday. St. John says that even in Heaven there will be a song that can only be fully sung by the sons of earth━the strain of redemption. Doubtless it is a song of triumph, a hymn of victory to the Christ who made us free. But the sense of triumph must come from the memory of the chain. No angel, no archangel can sing it so sweetly as I can. To sing it as I sing it, they must pass through my exile, and this they cannot do. None can learn it but the children of the Cross. And so, my soul, thou art receiving a music lesson from thy Father. Thou art being educated for the choir invisible. There are parts of the symphony that none can take but thee. There are chords too minor for the angels. There may be heights in the symphony which are beyond the scale━heights which angels alone can reach; but there are depths which belong to thee, and can only be touched by thee. Thy Father is training thee for the part the angels cannot sing; and the school is sorrow. I have heard many say that He sends sorrow to prove thee; nay, He sends sorrow to educate thee, to train thee for the choir invisible. In the night He is preparing thy song. In the valley He is tuning thy voice. In the cloud He is deepening thy chords. In the rain He is sweetening thy melody. In the cold He is moulding thy expression. In the transition from hope to fear He is perfecting thy lights. Despise not thy school of sorrow, O my soul; it will give thee a unique part in the universal song. ━George Matheson. "Is the midnight closing round you? Are the shadows dark and long? Ask Him to come close beside you, And He'll give you a new, sweet song. He'll give it and sing it with you; And when weakness lets it down, He'll take up the broken cadence, And blend it with His own. "And many a rapturous minstrel Among those sons of light, Will say of His sweetest music 'I learned it in the night.' And many a rolling anthem, That fills the Father's home, Sobbed out its first rehearsal, In the shade of a darkened room."		五月三十日 “除了從地上買來的那十四萬四千人以外，沒有人能學這歌。” （啟十四：3） 有一種歌，旣非藝術所能教，也非樂理所能編，只有在患難中能學會的。這種歌它發自內心，是一種記憶與親身經歷的歌聲，從過去的苦難中宣洩出來，而以昨天的體驗，構成了今天的讚美。聖約翰說，卽使在天上，也祇有一首世人唱得完美的歌曲━救贖之頌。無疑地這是勝利之歌。但勝利意義之產生，必須來自鎖煉的回憶。 沒有一個天使能唱得像我們這麼好聽。他們要唱，他們就必須走我們所走的道路，經歷我們所經歷的經歷。沒有一人能學會，除了十架之子。 所以，我的己哪，你現在正在從父學習音樂功課。祂訓練你，要使你有資格加入天上的大歌詠團。有一部分聲音，沒有別人能擔任，連天使和天使長也不能。只有你一人能擔任的。天使雖能唱高音，但是這幽而且沉的低音，只有你一人能唱。 你的父在訓練你擔任那天使所不能擔任的一部份；訓練你的學校就是苦難。很多人說，神給你苦難，為了要證驗你，但有一個更確當的說法，就是神給你的苦難，為了要教育你，訓練你能參加天上的歌詠團。 在黑雲中祂試你的聲音。在憂傷中祂教你唱歌的表情。在患難中祂練你的氣。在試煉中祂教你發音的準確。 不要輕看這神的音樂院；許多人雖然羡慕，可是還不能被選呢！━馬得勝 黑夜已包圍上來了嗎？ 帶着它深長的陰沈； 此時，求祂到你身旁， 祂會教你一首新的詠吟。 祂要陪同你歌唱， 如果你氣衰而歌聲不高揚， 祂會補綴零落的音韻， 用祂的歌聲來調節均勻。 許多逍遙的吟游詩人， 沐浴着屬天的聖恩， 見證他們學到了最美的韻音， 是在萬籟俱寂的夜深。 許多上達寶座的讚頌， 音律抑揚生動， 都是在幽暗的內室， 發出初次的吟誦。
May 31 “Like a shock of corn fully ripe.” (Job 5:26) A gentleman, writing about the breaking up of old ships, recently said that it is not the age alone which improves the quality of the fiber in the wood of an old vessel, but the straining and wrenching of the vessel by the sea, the chemical action of the bilge water, and of many kinds of cargoes. Some planks and veneers made from an oak beam which had been part of a ship eighty years old were exhibited a few years ago at a fashionable furniture store on Broadway, New York, and attracted general notice for the exquisite coloring and beautiful grain. Equally striking were some beams of mahogany taken from a bark which sailed the seas sixty years ago. The years and the traffic had contracted the pores and deepened the color, until it looked as superb in its chromatic intensity as an antique Chinese vase. It was made into a cabinet, and has today a place of honor in the drawing-room of a wealthy New York family. So there is a vast difference between the quality of old people who have lived flabby, self-indulgent, useless lives, and the fiber of those who have sailed all seas and carried all cargoes as the servants of God and the helpers of their fellow men. Not only the wrenching and straining of life, but also something of the sweetness of the cargoes carried get into the very pores and fiber of character. ━Louis Albert Banks. When the sun goes below the horizon he is not set; the heavens glow for a full hour after his departure. And when a great and good man sets, the sky of this world is luminous long after he is out of sight. Such a man cannot die out of this world. When he goes he leaves behind him much of himself. Being dead, he speaks. ━Beecher. When Victor Hugo was past eighty years of age he gave expression to his religious faith in these sublime sentences: "I feel in myself the future life. I am like a forest which has been more than once cut down. The new shoots are livelier than ever. I am rising toward the sky. The sunshine is on my head. The earth gives me its generous sap, but Heaven lights me with its unknown worlds. "You say the soul is nothing but the resultant of the bodily powers. Why, then, is my soul more luminous when my bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. I breathe at this hour the fragrance of the lilacs, the violets, and the roses as at twenty years. The nearer I approach the end the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me. It is marvelous, yet simple."		五月三十一日 “好像禾捆到時收藏。” （伯五：26） 有一個人提出了關於拆卸古老海船的報告，他說舊船木料質地之所以佳良，不僅因為年代久遠，而且還因為船隻曾在海上曆受了種種的磨煉，以及它所接觸的海水，所載的各種貨品，使它發生了化學作用。 在紐約百老彙街一家時式傢俱店，展出了一些橡木板料，這些板料取材於一艘具有八十年歷史的舊船的橫樑，其色澤之美，紋理之精緻，吸引了許多市民的注意參觀。 還有一艘在六十年前航行海上的帆船，它那桃花心木的橫樑，也非常出色。悠長的歲月和航行的歷史，使木料氣孔緊縮，顏色變深，它堅韌的質地，古趣盎然的色澤，可與中國古瓶比美。這木料如今在紐約一位富豪的客廳裏製成了一個小小的暖閣，成為客廳中的尊貴之地。 由此看來，那些不經磨煉，悠悠忽忽，虛度一生的人們，和那些曾經滄海，載負過各種貨物，侍奉神而幫助人的基督徒，在性質上具有極大的差別。後者不僅有磨練的經驗，他們所載運的貨物中的甜蜜氣質，也滲入了他們的待人接物的美德中。━班克斯 太陽雖下了地平線，其實並未消逝，它離去以後，天上仍有整整一個小時的光亮。一位偉人和義人去世之後，他的蹤跡雖逝，但他的音容宛在此世，他雖死了，他身後留下的一切對世有貢獻的事物，雖死猶生。━皮邱 法國文豪雨果過了八十歲以後，他以下面的一段名言來表達他的心意說：“我感覺到未來的新生命。我像一度曾經數度砍伐的森林，而新的萌芽充滿了前所未有的活潑生機。我升向天空，陽光照在我的頭上。大地給我豐富的活力，天的光明四照，使我看清了神秘的宇宙萬象”。 “你說靈魂不過是肉體力量的延長。那麼為甚麼我的體力已開始衰退，而我的靈魂變得更為光明？冬季已臨到我的頭上，永恆的春季卻在我的心頭。此刻我呼吸着紫丁香，紫羅蘭，和玫瑰花，就像在二十歲的時候一樣，我愈接近人生的終點，愈能聽清楚四周歡迎我的交響樂，歡迎我前往那不朽的世界。這雖屬神奇，但道理卻十分單純”。

↑

請點擊圖片-轉其他網頁