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『聽見拉撒路病了，就在所居之地，仍住了兩天。』（約十一章六節）
在前一節聖經裏，我們明明看見：『耶穌素來愛馬大和她妹子，並拉撒路』（五節）。怎麼祂所愛的人病了，還不立即前去呢？這就是告訴我們：神對付我們的方法，無論怎樣嚴厲、怎樣神祕，我們仍可相信並斷言神的愛是無限的、豐裕的、不變的。
按照馬大和馬利亞姊妹兩人的心理想來，耶穌一聽到拉撒路生病的消息，一定會立即不顧一切地趕去醫治她們的兄弟。但是，耶穌怎樣呢？『聽見拉撒路病了，就在所居之地，仍住了兩天。』
祂不立即前去，並不是因為不愛她們，乃是因為愛她們。惟有祂的愛能保持祂不立即趕往祂所親愛的那個憂傷的家庭裡去。主若沒有無限的愛，就會立即跑去安慰那些所愛的困惱的心，止住他們的憂愁，擦乾她們的眼淚，消解她們的悲哀和嘆息。只有神的愛能不急躁－能任天使作完祂要作的工。
在很多事情，我們不能不感謝有患難和痛苦。基督人生活上有很多美德，都是由患難和痛苦來的；因為沒有試煉，就沒有信心；沒有需要容忍的事情，就沒有忍耐；沒有艱難，就沒有經歷。－選
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"When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was." (John 11:6.)
IN forefront of this marvelous chapter stands the affirmation, "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus," as if to teach us that at the very heart and foundation of all God's dealings with us, however dark and mysterious they may be, we must dare to believe in and assert the infinite, unmerited, and unchanging love of God. Love permits pain. The sisters never doubted that He would speed at all hazards and stay their brother from death, but, "When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was."
What a startling "therefore"! He abstained from going, not because He did not love them, but because He did love them. His love alone kept Him back from hasting at once to the dear and stricken home. Anything less than infinite love must have rushed instantly to the relief of those loved and troubled hearts, to stay their grief and to have the luxury of wiping and stanching their tears and causing sorrow and sighing to flee away. Divine love could alone hold back the impetuosity of the Savior's tender-heartedness until the Angel of Pain had done her work.
Who can estimate how much we owe to suffering and pain? But for them we should have little scope for many of the chief virtues of the Christian life. Where were faith, without trial to test it; or patience, with nothing to bear; or experience, without tribulation to develop it? --- Selected.
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