「聖靈立刻把耶穌催到曠野去」。（聖經馬可福音一章 12 節）
這似乎是很奇怪的一回事。「立刻」。在什麼事情發生了之後，才有「立刻
」呢？在主從水裡上來，看見天開了，聖靈仿佛鴿子降在祂身上，父神公開宣布
：「你是我的愛子，我喜悅你」（可一：１０）之後。這並不是反常的經歷。你有否
這樣的經歷？豈不是山峰一程之後，立刻就是山谷的一程麼？可能昨天你曾飛翔
天空，歌唱讚美﹔今天你的翅膀下垂，歌聲全止了。早晨你曾享受父神的歡笑﹔
晚上你會在曠野中說：「我的道路向耶和華隱藏」（賽四十：２７）。
可是，信徒們啊，事情突然轉變，並非出乎偶然，乃是有神的美意在其中。
你有沒有想過：為什麼祝福之後，就有這「立刻」呢？原來祝福是手續，「
立刻」是目的。「立刻」就是祝福的下文。神給你祝福，原是要使你能勝任前面
的荒漠----客西馬尼、各各他。神光照你，高舉你，給你力量，原是要你衝過前面
可怕的陣地﹔神給你亮光，原是要你經過黑夜﹔神給你幫助，原是要幫助那些無
助的。
並非隨時有資格到曠野去受試煉的，你必須先有約旦河的祝福，然後才配到
曠野去。唯有聖子的啟示，才能使你承擔聖靈的重負﹔惟有洗禮的榮耀，才能支
持沙漠中的飢餓。～馬得勝
祝福之後就是試煉的開始。
一個人的精神修養，將因試煉而充實，而有顯著的進步。但試煉時期是不平
常的，在這個時期，地獄好像張開了口的門戶，我們的靈魂如入羅網之中，神並
且讓我們落到魔鬼的手掌中去。但這個時期，對于永遠把靈魂依賴祂的人，遲早
必會結束於勝利之中，不管這試煉時期有多長，深信神的應允及無窮的果效。
～懷特
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“And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.” (Mark 1:12.)
It seemed a strange proof of Divine favor. “Immediately.” Immediately after what? After the opened heavens and the dove-like peace and the voice of the Father’s blessing, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well please.” It is no abnormal experience. Thou, too, hast passed through it, O my soul. Are not the times of thy deepest depression just the moments that follow thy loftiest flight? Yesterday thou wert soaring far in the firmament, and singing in the radiance of the morn; today thy wings are folded and thy song silent. At noon thou wert basking in the sunshine of a Father’s smile; at eve thou art saying in the wilderness, “My way is hid from the Lord.”
Nay, but, my soul, the very suddenness of the changhe is a proof that it is not revolutionary.
Hast thou weighed the comfort of that word “immediately”? Why does it come so soon after the blessing? Just to show that it is the sequel to the blessing. God shines on thee to make thee fit for life’s desert-places---for its Gethsemanes, for its Calvaries. He lifts thee up that He may give thee strength to go further down; He illuminates thee that He may send thee into the night, that He may make thee a help to the helpless.
Not at all time art thou worthy of the wilderness; thou art only worthy of the wilderness after the splendors of Jordan. Nothing but the Son’s vision can fit thee for the Spirits’s burden; only the glory of the baptism can support the hunger of the desert. --- George Matheson.
After benediction comes battle.
The time of testing that marks and mightily enriches a soul’s spiritual career is no ordinary one, but a period when all hell seems let loose, a period when we realize our souls are brought into a net, when we know that God is permitting us to be in the devil’s hand. But it is a period which always ends in certain triumph for those who have committed the keeping of their souls to Him, a period of marvelous “nevertheless afterward” of abundant usefulness, the sixty-fold that surely follows. --- Aphra White.
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