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荒漠甘泉 Streams in the Desert
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| 被擄的人 |
經文: 「以西結在迦巴魯河邊被擄的人中，天就開了，得見上帝的異象。……耶和華的話特特臨到。」（結一1-3）
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被擄的人是最佳的釋經家。當我們坐在自己的巴別溪旁時，舊的「詩篇」用新的感力為我們發顫音；當我們發現自己被擄的人歸還，好像南地的水複流，並為我們響起了新的喜樂之聲。
凡是經歷過許多苦難的人，不會輕易離開他的那本「聖經」。在別人看來，似乎另一本書與他自己的一本書相同，但是對他來說，卻不相同，因為他曾在他的這本淚痕斑斑的舊「聖經」上寫有許多字，這些字除了他自己外，別人的眼睛都認不出，其中記載著他自己的親身經驗，例如他一再遇到伯特利的柱子和以琳的棕樹，所以這些字是他一生中幾個關鍵性章節的備忘錄。
如果我們要從自己「被擄」中得到益處，我們就必須接受自己的處境，並盡可能轉變它為最好的處境。為已經挪去或已經除掉的環境煩惱，非但無補於事，反足以妨礙我們改進現有的環境。有時上帝喜歡把我們暫時幽禁在試煉、患難中；如果我們竭力掙扎的話，我們的桎梏就會越掙越緊。
一匹急躁的馬，如果不肯安安靜靜地套著馬頭絡，反竭力掙扎的話，結果無非在厩舍中勒死。一隻負軛的動物，如果倔強掙扎，結果無非擦傷牠自己的頸肩。所以讓我們不學愚昧好動的掠鳥，用翅膀拍撲鳥籠，結果反拍傷了自己的翅膀；讓我們來作馴良的金絲雀，靜坐在棲木上歌唱。
沒有一件災禍能傷害我們，如果我們立刻用虔誠的禱告把它帶到上帝面前去。常有人在樹下避雨，無意間在樹上找到果子；照樣當我們逃到上帝的翅膀蔭下去避難的時候，也將在上帝裡面找到許多我們以前所未曾看見，未曾知道的東西。
這樣，上帝藉著我們的試煉、患難，給了我們新的啟示；雅博渡口變成了毘努依勒－－摔跤變成了「面對面見了上帝」（創卅二30）。受苦的信徒阿，你還有甚麼可傷心的呢？上帝將使你「夜間歌唱」，「使死蔭變為晨光」（摩五8）。你快來讚美祂罷！──戴威廉（William Taylor）
服從上帝的旨意是最柔輭的靠頭枕。
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| The Captive |
Scripture: "As I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God . . . and the hand of the Lord was there upon me" (Ezek. 1:1,3).
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There is no commentator of the Scriptures half so valuable as a captivity. The old Psalms have quavered for us with a new pathos as we sat by our "Babel's stream," and have sounded for us with new joy as we found our captivity turned as the streams in the South.
The man who has seen much affliction will not readily part with his copy of the Word of God. Another book may seem to others to be identical with his own; but it is not the same to him, for over his old and tear-stained Bible he has written, in characters which are visible to no eyes but his own, the record of his experiences, and ever and anon he comes on Bethel pillars or Elim palms, which are to him the memorials of some critical chapter in his history.
If we are to receive benefit from our captivity we must accept the situation and turn it to the best possible account. Fretting over that from which we have been removed or which has been taken away from us, will not make things better, but it will prevent us from improving those which remain. The bond is only tightened by our stretching it to the uttermost.
The impatient horse which will not quietly endure his halter only strangles himself in his stall. The high-mettled animal that is restive in the yoke only galls his shoulders; and every one will understand the difference between the restless starling of which Sterne has written, breaking its wings against the bars of the cage, and crying, "I can't get out, I can't get out," and the docile canary that sits upon its perch and sings as if it would outrival the lark soaring to heaven's gate.
No calamity can be to us an unmixed evil if we carry it in direct and fervent prayer to God, for even as one in taking shelter from the rain beneath a tree may find on its branches fruit which he looked not for, so we in fleeing for refuge beneath the shadow of God's wing, will always find more in God than we had seen or known before.
It is thus through our trials and afflictions that God gives us fresh revelations of Himself; and the Jabbok ford leads to Peniel, where, as the result of our wrestling, we "see God face to face," and our lives are preserved. Take this to thyself, O captive, and He will give thee "songs in the night," and turn for thee "the shadow of death into the morning." --William Taylor
"Submission to the divine will is the softest pillow on which to recline."
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