七月二十一日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/07/0721.mp3″]
经文: 我为何时常哀痛呢？（诗篇四十二：9）
你为何哀痛不能欢欣？你的理由是什么？为何你向愁苦让步？谁说黑夜永不过去，白昼永不再来？谁告诉你海水会流干只留下可怖贫脊的泥土？谁说你不满之冬天将持续从霜冻至另一霜冻，从雪、冰、雹到更深的雪、更令人绝望之暴风雨？黑夜逝去、白昼来临，潮汐交替，春夏让位给严冬。但愿你能充满盼望！上帝永不令你失望！在万事万物中，祂最爱你。高山虽被黑暗隐没，仍如白昼般真实，上帝的爱现在仍然真实，就像最光明的时刻一段。没有一位父亲会不断惩罚自己的孩子。主恨恶用仗，就像你恨恶它一般。祂使用杖的原因也就是要让你愿意接受它的原因──给你带来永远的好处。你可能与众天使一同攀登雅各之梯，看哪，与你立约的上帝，祂坐在梯子的顶端。在永恒的光辉中，你将忘却各样的考验。即使你能记得这些考验，也只是为了称颂上帝，因祂领你经过试验，藉此带给你永久的好处。来吧，让我们在苦难中高唱。虽然经过火炉的试验也当喜乐。愿旷野的花朵变成玫瑰！激动沙漠，使它与欢腾的喜乐一同发声。因为这些至轻的苦难瞬间将过去，然后，你能永远与王同在，你的福气将永不消逝。
Evening, July 21
Scripture: “Why go I mourning?”(Psalm 42:9)
Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and God’s love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as much as thou dost; he only cares to use it for that reason which should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob’s ladder with the angels, and behold him who sits at the top of it－thy covenant God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then “for ever with the Lord,” thy bliss shall never wane.
“Faint not nor fear, his arms are near,
He changeth not, and thou art dear;
Only believe and thou shalt see,
That Christ is all in all to thee.”
