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「你要的確知道，你的後裔必寄居別人的地....那地的人要苦待他們四百年....後來他們必帶著很多財物，從那裡出來」（聖經創世紀十五章 13/14 節）
神給我們的祝福中間，有兩個是我們所最不歡迎的：一個是遲延，一個是苦難。
神給亞伯蘭本身的一個誓約尚未實現，現在又給他的後裔一個同樣彷彿不可忍耐的誓約。但是無論如何，這些誓約雖然遲延，至終都得到了實現 ：以色列人出埃及的時候，果然「把埃及人的財物奪去了」（聖經出埃及記十二章 36 節）。
神常用遲延和苦難來試驗我們；但是在這一切中間卻站著神的誓約 ；祂在基督裡與我們所立的新約。所以，讓我們為著遲延和苦難來讚美祂吧，因為這是祂給我們的祝福。── 崔倫保（C. G. Trumbull）
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"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs; … they shall afflict them four hundred years; … and afterward they shall come out with great substance." (Gen. 15:12-14.)
An assured part of God's pledged blessing to us is delay and suffering. A delay in Abram's own lifetime that seemed to put God's pledge beyond fulfillment was followed by seemingly unendurable delay of Abram's descendants. But it was only a delay: they "came out with great substance." The pledge was redeemed.
God is going to test me with delays; and with the delays will come suffering, but through it all stands God's pledge: His new covenant with me in Christ, and His inviolable promise of every lesser blessing that I need. The delay and the suffering are part of the promised blessing; let me praise Him for them today; and let me wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He will strengthen my heart. -- C. G. Trumbull.
Unanswered yet the prayer your lips have pleaded In agony of heart these many years? Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing? And think you all in vain those falling tears? Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer; You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Nay do not say ungranted; Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done. The work began when first your prayer was uttered, And God will finish what He has begun. If you will keep the incense burning there, His glory you shall see sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered, Her feet are firmly planted on the Rock; Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted, Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock. She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer, And cries, "It shall be done" --sometime, somewhere. -- Miss Ophelia G. Browning.
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