双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：3月31日 试炼之后

3月31日

试炼之后

“诸天哪，应当欢呼！大地啊，应当快乐！众山哪，应当发声歌唱！因为耶和华已经安慰他的百姓，也要怜恤他困苦之民。”

以赛亚书49:13

舒适和繁荣永远不能像逆境那样使世界变得丰富。最悦耳的歌曲、最凄美的诗篇、最动人心弦的故事，都诞生于痛苦和患难之中；最伟大的灵魂和最蒙福的生命也是诞生于磨难和泪水之中。

J.R.米勒（J.R.Miller）写道：“很多人的生活都是坎坷而痛苦的。我们无法回避。但是，我们不能让这些严酷的经历削弱我们的情感，让我们变得麻木或尖酸。最重要的是怎样在最艰难的环境和经历中，保持一颗温柔、美善的心。”

我们大女儿嫁给了一个瑞士人。他们有七个孩子。他们通常在瑞士过夏天，在美国过冬天。有时候我们去瑞士看望他们，我们会带他们的孩子坐缆车上阿尔卑斯山的高处。穿过数英里的土地，我们俯瞰下面的花朵，那真是世界上所能看到的最美丽的花朵。这些花朵经受了寒冬的大雪。冰雪的重压、严冬的风暴，使它们更加鲜艳夺目，生机勃勃。很难相信，就在几个星期之前，这些花儿还被埋在几英尺之深的大雪之下。我们所负的重担也会对我们的生命产生同样的影响。

当基督徒面对逆境和困扰的风暴时，他们会像云雀一样腾飞而起。他们就像经过风暴的树木，因为他们的根扎得很深。他们就像生长在我们北卡罗来纳州的树木一样，饱经风雨，而我们可以在其中找到最坚实的木材。

云雀、鲜花、树木，所有这些都诠释了约伯的话：“然而他知道我所行的路；他试炼我之后，我必如精金。”（约伯记23:10）

凡明白神这一的特性的基督徒都会在患难中找到安慰，在痛苦中找到平安。“神所惩治的人是有福的！所以你不可轻看全能者的管教。因为他打破，又缠裹；他击伤，用手医治。”（约伯记5:17-18）

今日祷告：

父啊，伤痛虽然难以忍受，但你的管教使我们一生都得益处而喜乐。因为你正将我们立为你所栽种的公义橡树。我们祈求你继续以公义建造我们；奉耶稣的名，阿门。

March 31

BLESSED BY BURDENS

Shout for joy,O heavens;rejoice,O earth;burst into song,O mountains!For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.Isaiah 49:13 NIV

Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as adversity has done.Out of pain and problems have come the sweetest songs,the most poignant poems,the most gripping stories.Out of suffering and tears have come the greatest spirits and the most blessed lives.

J.R.Miller wrote,“Many of us find life hard and full of pain.We cannot avoid these things;but we should not allow the harsh experiences to deaden our sensibilities,or make us stoical or sour.The true problem of living is to keep our hearts sweet and gentle in the gentle in the hardest conditions and experiences.”

Our oldest daughter married a Swiss.They have seven children and usually spend their summers in Switzerland and their winters in America.Sometimes when we visit them in Switzerland we take the children and go high up in the Alps on chair lifts.We cross over miles of land,looking down below at some of the most beautiful flowers to be found anywhere in the world.These flowers have survived the heavy snows of winter.The burdens of ice,snow,and winter storms have added to their luster,beauty,and growth.It is hard to believe that just a few weeks earlier these flowers were buried under many feet of snow.Our burdens can have the same effect on our lives.

As Christians face the winds of adversity and the storms of trouble,they rise like the skylark.They are like the trees that survive the storm because their roots are driven deep.They are like the trees that grow on our mountain ridges in North Carolina-trees battered by winds,yet,trees in which we find the strongest wood.

The skylark,the flowers,the trees-all these illustrate Job’s words:“When he has tested me,I will come forth as gold”(23:10 NIV).The Christian who understands this aspect of God’s nature can find comfort in his suffering and peace in his pain.“Blessed is the man whom God corrects;so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.For he wounds,but he also binds up;he injures,but his hands also heal”(Job 5:17-18 NIV).

Pray for the Day:

Father,Your wounds are hard to bear,but Your discipline brings us great joy in the long run.For You are establishing us as oaks of righteousness,planted by You.We pray that You will continue to build us in righteousness;in Jesus’Name,Amen.