四月八日 [mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/04/0408.mp3″]
经文: 不怕遭害。因为祢与我同在。(诗篇二十三:4)
请看圣灵如何教基督徒不依靠外在的环境。当周围黑暗环绕,在我们心中仍有明光照耀。当世界摇动,支撑地球的柱子移除时,我们仍能坚定、快乐、宁静、平安!甚至死亡本身也不能使基督徒心中的音乐停顿,反而能教那音乐更甜美、更清晰、更属天。死亡的最后行动所能作到的就是属地的旋律融入天堂的合唱,暂时的欢乐汇入永远的祝福!让我们在赐福的圣灵之能力中充满信心,获得慰藉。你面临贫困吗?不要怕,圣灵能令你比富足者更丰富。不要忧伤!每次的悲痛可能都是精炼的火,要用来烧去你的渣滓;是一线荣耀的光辉,用来照亮你灵魂的隐密之处。你的视力衰退了吗?耶稣是你的光。你的耳朵失聪了吗?耶稣之名是你心灵的最佳音乐。苏格拉底曾经说过:“哲学家可以不靠音乐而喜乐。”当外界所有欣喜之缘由皆逝去时,基督徒能比哲学家更喜乐。无论发生何事,我的心在上帝里面高唱凯歌。赐福之圣灵啊,藉祢的大能,虽然万事皆逆我意,我的心仍要欢喜快乐。
Evening, April 8
Scripture: “I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”(Psalm 23:4)
Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy Ghost can make the Christian! What a bright light may shine within us when it is all dark without! How firm, how happy, how calm, how peaceful we may be, when the world shakes to and fro, and the pillars of the earth are removed! Even death itself, with all its terrible influences, has no power to suspend the music of a Christian’s heart, but rather makes that music become more sweet, more clear, more heavenly, till the last kind act which death can do is to let the earthly strain melt into the heavenly chorus, the temporal joy into the eternal bliss! Let us have confidence, then, in the blessed Spirit’s power to comfort us. Dear reader, are you looking forward to poverty? Fear not; the divine Spirit can give you, in your want, a greater plenty than the rich have in their abundance. You know not what joys may be stored up for you in the cottage around which grace will plant the roses of content. Are you conscious of a growing failure of your bodily powers? Do you expect to suffer long nights of languishing and days of pain? O be not sad! That bed may become a throne to you. You little know how every pang that shoots through your body may be a refining fire to consume your dross-a beam of glory to light up the secret parts of your soul. Are the eyes growing dim? Jesus will be your light. Do the ears fail you? Jesus’ name will be your soul’s best music, and his person your dear delight. Socrates used to say, “Philosophers can be happy without music;” and Christians can be happier than philosophers when all outward causes of rejoicing are withdrawn. In thee, my God, my heart shall triumph, come what may of ills without! By thy power, O blessed Spirit, my heart shall be exceeding glad, though all things should fail me here below.