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『神是我們的避難所，是我們在患難中隨時的幫助。』（詩四十六篇一節）
當有人問：『神為甚麼不早一點幫助我？』我們的回答乃是：這不是神的次序。神要你先在患難中學習。神的應允是：『他在急難中，我要與他同在，我要搭救，他使他尊貴』（詩九十一篇十五節）
神必須先和你同在急難中，然後再救你從其中出來。甚麼時候才救你出來呢？乃是在你不再好動，不再煩躁，完全鎮定、安靜的時候。那時候神要說：『夠了』（撒下二十四章十六節）。
神常藉著患難給我們寶貴的課。目的為要教導我們。當神的目的達到了之後，我們就要得著榮耀的報償。所以患難裡面蘊藏著的，乃是甘甜的喜樂和真實的價值。這樣看來，神給我們的，不是患難，乃是機會。－選
我記得有一次有一位年老的弟兄對我說：『當神試驗你的時候，正是你試驗神的好機會－你可以把祂的應允拿來放在祂面前，盡量向祂索取你在試煉中所需用的一切。』
要脫離試煉，有兩種方法。
一種是直接求神救你脫離試煉；當試煉過去的時候，就應當感謝。
另一種是承認試煉是從神來的一個挑戰，你應當抓住這個機會，向神索取更大的祝福。
這樣，連仇敵也被我們利用了；反對我們的，成了我們的幫助。這就是靠著愛我們的主已得勝有餘了。－信宣（A. B. Simpson）
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“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
(Psalm 46:1)
The question often comes, “Why didn't He help me sooner ? ” It is not His order. He must first adjust you to the trouble and cause you to learn your lesson from it. His promise is, “I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.” He must be with you in the trouble first all day and all night. Then He will take you out of it. This will not come till you have stopped being restless and fretful about it and become calm and quiet. Then He will say, “It is enough.”
God uses trouble to teach His children precious lessons. They are intended to educate us. When their good work is done, a glorious recompense will come to us through them. There is a sweet joy and a real value in them. He does not regard them as difficulties but as opportunities.--Selected.
Not always OUT of our troublous times,
And the struggles fierce and grim,
But IN -- deeper IN -- to our one sure rest,
The place of our peace, in Him.
-- Annie Johnson Flint.
We once heard a simple old colored man say something that we have never forgotten: “When God tests you, it is a good time for you to test Him by putting His promises to the proof, and claiming from Him just as much as your trial have rendered necessary.”
There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of Divine grace. Thus even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the furtherance of our way. Surely, this is to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us. --A. B. Simpson.
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