九月十五日

他必不怕凶惡的信息。（詩112：7）

基督徒啊！當你聽見凶信的時候切不應當害怕；若你因此愁眉不展，痛苦萬狀，那末你和別人有什麽兩樣呢？別人沒有你所有的神可以投奔，他們不像你一樣已經知道神的信實，所以不怪他們被驚恐打倒，被懼怕嚇壞；但你說你有了另一種生命，你已重生且得了活潑的盼望，你的心得以存活乃是依靠屬天而非屬世之物；你若與別人一樣地煩惱，那麽你說你所得到的恩典有什麽價值呢？你說你所有的新性情有什麽尊貴呢？再者，若你像別人一樣擔驚受怕，無疑，你也要犯別人在苦難環境中所犯的罪。不信神的人，當他們聽到凶信的時候，就背叛神，怨恨神，以爲是神苦待他們。

你也要犯這樣的罪嗎？你也要像他們一樣來觸犯神嗎？有很多不得救的人常用錯誤的手段企圖脫離困難，若你的心勝不過眼前的壓力也必出此。要信靠神，耐心等候他。最聰明的辦法莫如摩西在紅海所作的：“只管站住！看耶和華今天向你們所要施行的救恩。”若你因凶信而害怕起來，你就不能因想到你的責任而用鎮靜的態度迎接苦難，幷在灾害之中振作起來。若你作一個畏縮的懦夫還能榮耀神嗎？聖徒們常在焚燒他們的火中高聲歌頌神，但你的疑惑和失望，好像感到舉目無告似地，表現出沒有幫助你的樣子，能榮耀至高者嗎？要勇敢，要倚靠，幷相信與你立永約之神的信實：“不要輕易動心，也不要驚慌。”（改譯）

September 15

"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings." -- Psalm 112:7

Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to; they have never proved His faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear: but you profess to be of another spirit; you have been begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess?

Again, if you should be filled with alarm, as others are, you would, doubtless, be led into the sins so common to others under trying circumstances. The ungodly, when they are overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God; they murmur, and think that God deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do?

Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order to escape from difficulties, and you will be sure to do the same if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea, "Stand still and see the salvation of God." For if you give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure which nerves for duty, and sustains under adversity. How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God's high praises in the fires, but will your doubting and desponding, as if you had none to help you, magnify the Most High? Then take courage, and relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God, "let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."