『深淵說,不在我內。』(伯二十八章十四節)
我記得有一年夏天,我說『我所需要的是海洋』,我就到有海洋的地方去,但是海洋說:『不在我內!』海洋並不照我所要的給我成就。
於是我說:『高山一定會使我得到安息』,我就到有高山的地方去;我清晨醒來,前面立著我所渴望的巍然的高山;但是高山說:『不在我內!』高山又不能使我滿足。
哦!我所需要的究竟是甚麼呢?我所需要的是神的愛海和真理山。深淵說,智慧不在他裡面;是的,智慧本不像珍珠、黃金和寶石那樣多。惟有基督是智慧,是我們最大的需要。我們的煩惱,只有基督的友誼和愛情能安慰我們。-濮登(MargarretBottme)
你沒有法子將一隻老鷹扣留在森林裡。你就是替牠聚集了一群最美麗的小鳥在牠四圍歌唱,你就是給牠在最大的松樹上安放一根棲木,你就是差遣有翼的使者帶最美味的珍饈給牠,都不能動牠的心。伸展著高聳的翅膀,眼望著高臨的絕壁,牠喜歡飛往牠自己的老家-磐石、風雨、瀑布中-去安息的。
人類的心,也像老鷹一般。如果沒有永久的磐石,就永遠得不到安息。我們的老家乃是天家。『主阿,你世世代代作我們的居所』(詩九十篇一節)。-馬克特夫(Macduff)
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"It is not in me." (Job 28:14.)
I REMEMBER a summer in which I said, "It is the ocean I need," and I went to the ocean; but it seemed to say, "It is not in me!" The ocean did not do for me what I thought it would. Then I said, "The mountains will rest me," and I went to the mountains, and when I awoke in the morning there stood the grand mountain that I had wanted so much to see; but it said, "It is not in me!" It did not satisfy. Ah! I needed the ocean of His love, and the high mountains of His truth within. It was wisdom that the "depths" said they did not contain, and that could not be compared with jewels or gold or precious stones. Christ is wisdom and our deepest need. Our restlessness within can only be met by the revelation of His eternal friendship and love for us. --- Margaret Bottome.
"My heart is there!
Where. on eternal hills, my loved one dwells
Among the lilies and asphodels;
Clad in the brightness of the Great White Throne.
Glad in the smile of Him who sits thereon,
The glory gilding all His wealth of hair
And making His immortal face more fair─
THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there.
"My heart is there!
With Him who made all earthly life so sweet,
So fit to live, and yet to die so meet;
So mild, so grand, so gentle and so brave,
So ready to forgive, so strong to save.
His fair, pure Spirit makes the Heavens more fair,
And thither rises all my longing prayer─
THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there."
─Favorite poem of the late Chas. E. Cowman.
You cannot detain the eagle in the forest. You may gather around him a chorus of the choicest bird; you may give him a perch on the goodliest pine; you may charge winged messengers to bring him choicest dainties; but he will spurn them all. Spreading his lofty wings, and with his eye on the Alpine cliff, he will soar away to his own ancestral halls amid the munition of rocks and the wild music of tempest and waterfall.
The soul of man, in its eagle soarings, will rest with nothing short of the rock of Ages. Its ancestral halls are the halls of Heaven. Its munitions of rocks are the attributes of God. The sweep of its majestic flight is Eternity! "Lord, THOU hast been our dwelling place in all generations." ---Macduff.
"My Home is God Himself"; Christ brought me there.
I laid me down within His mighty arms;
He took me up, and safe from all alarms,
He bore me "where no foot but His hath trod,"
Within the holiest at Home with God,
And bade me dwell in Him, rejoicing there.
O Holy Place! O Home divinely fair!
And we, God's little ones, abiding there.
"My Home is God Himself"; it was not so!
A long, long road I traveled night and day,
And sought to find within myself some way,
Aught I could do, or feel to bring me near;
Self effort failed, and I was filled with fear,
And then I found Christ was the only way,
That I must come to Him and in Him stay,
And God had told me so.
And now "my Home is God," and sheltered there,
God meets the trials of my earthly life,
God compasses me round from storm and strife,
God takes the burden of my daily care.
O Wondrous Place! O Home divinely fair!
And I, God's little one, safe hidden there.
Lord, as I dwell in Thee and Thou in me,
So make me dead to everything but Thee;
That as I rest within my Home most fair,
My soul may evermore and only see
My God in everything and everywhere;
My Home is God.
─Auathor Unknown.
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