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「親愛的阿，有火煉的試驗臨到你們，不要以為奇怪....倒要歡喜；因為你們是與基督一同受苦。」（聖經彼得前書四章12節）
大衛的遭難使他的古琴發出更悅耳的音樂來，他的遇險使他發出「感謝和歌唱的聲音」（聖經以賽亞書五十章3節）來；他的詩篇直到今天仍能叫地上的很多軟弱信徒得到幫助，叫天上的父神得到快樂。
究竟甚麼東西使耶西的兒子有這般屬靈的藝術呢？
仇敵的吼叫，逼他發出向神的呼籲來。神大能的拯救、豐富的恩慈，使他唱出感謝和歡樂的讚美來。所以，每一次的苦難在他琴上添一根弦；每一次的拯救給他一個讚美的新題目。
一次痛苦躲過，一次祝福扣留；一次危難避去，一次榮耀失去。平穩度日的人不懂得依靠，所以他們不會看見神的榮耀，也不會唱出讚美來。
如果我們要多明白屬靈的奧祕，我們就不能懼怕在前面等待我們的苦難；因為有很多寶貝的課程，是必須在苦難中方能學到的。 ── 薛伯登（ Anna Shipton）
「祂試驗我，為要派我服事祂。」（聖經提摩太前書一章12節韋氏譯本）（Way's Translation）
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"Beloved, do not be surprised at the ordeal that has come to test you....you are sharing what Christ suffered; so rejoice in it."(1 Peter 4:12.)
MANY a waiting hour was needful to enrich the harp of David, and many a waiting hour in the wilderness will gather for us a psalm of "thanksgiving, and the voice of melody," to cheer the hearts of fainting ones here below, and to make glad our Father's house on high.
What was the preparation of the son of Jesse for the songs like unto which none other have ever sounded on this earth?
The outrage of the wicked, which brought forth cries for God's help. Then the faint hope in God's goodness blossomed into a song of rejoicing for His mighty deliverances and manifold mercies. Every sorrow was another string to his harp; every deliverance another theme for praise.
One thrill of anguish spared, one blessing unmarked or unprized, one difficulty or danger evaded, great would have been our loss in that thrilling Psalmody in which God's people today find the expression of their grief or praise!
To wait for God, and to suffer His will, is to know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings, and to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. So now, if the vessel is to be enlarged for spiritual understanding, be not affrighted at the wider sphere of suffering that awaits you. The Divine capacity of sympathy will have a more extended sphere, for the breathing of the Holy Ghost in the new creation never made a stoic, but left the heart's affection tender and true. --- Anna Shipton.
"He tested me ere He entrusted me." (1 Tim. 1:12.) (Way's Trans.)
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