1月25日

你的杖，你的竿，都安慰我。（诗篇23章4节）

在我父亲乡村房子里，在烟囱角落处有一个小壁櫃，里面藏着我家几代人所用的各种手杖。我有时回到这所老房子，当父亲与我外出散步时，通常到贮藏手杖的壁櫃里挑出适合这次散步的手杖。这会使我常常连想到，上帝的话就是各式各样手杖。
　　在战争时期，当受到挫败，即将到来的危险正在逼进我们时，诗篇中的这句经文，“他不因凶恶的信息而惊惶；他的心坚定，一心信靠耶和华。”（诗篇112章7节）就是一根合适的手杖，这手杖扶持我度过许多黑暗的日子。
　　当死亡夺去我们的孩子，让我们几乎心碎的时候，我在应许的经文中发现了另一根手杖：“夜里眼泪汪汪，朝来喜气洋洋。”（诗篇30章5节）。
　　有一次我被迫流亡一年，健康大为受损，在这时期中我不知道是否会让我回家，重新工作。我始终抓住这根手杖，它没有让我失望过，“他知道他对我所作的安排，是赐平安，不是降灾祸。”（耶利米书29章11节）。
　　在特别危险或疑惑太深时，人似乎失去了判断能力，我发现了一根带领我安然前进的手杖：“沉着冷静，信心会给你们力量”。（以赛亚书30章15节）在紧急情况下，似乎没有一点时间来思考或采取行动了，我发现了一根从来没有误过我的手杖：“有信心的人必然坚定不移。”（以赛亚书28章16节）

本杰明. 沃恩. 雅伯特，《观点》

　　马丁. 路得的妻子说：“如果上帝不把我置于一些苦难之中，我永远不会知道在如此艰难的创作和抱怨声中，在如此多诗篇中，这些事，这些话是什么意思；我也永远不会明白基督徒的责任是什么。”真的，上帝的杖好象教员指示孩子识字的教鞭一样，指到个字，孩子就注意这个字；同样，上帝给我们指出许多有益的经验教训，是我们在别的地方永远学不到。
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　　      上帝总是用他的杖指引他的信徒。

　　你的鞋是铜的、铁的；你的日子如何，你的力量也必如何。（申命记33章25节）。
　　我们每个人要相信，如果上帝要把我们送到多石的路上，他必先给我们穿上结实的鞋；在没有作好准备前，他决不会把我们送上任何旅程。

麦克劳

1008

January 25

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me (Psa. 23:4) .

At my father’s house in the country there is a little closet in the chimney corner where are kept the canes and walking-sticks of several generations of our family. In my visits to the old house, when my father and I are going out for a walk, we often go to the cane closet, and pick out our sticks to suit the fancy of the occasion. In this I have frequently been reminded that the Word of God is a staff.

During the war, when the season of discouragement and impending danger was upon us, then verse, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord,” was a staff to walk with many dark days.

When death took away our child and left us almost heartbroken, I found another staff in the promise that “weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

When in impaired health, I was exiled for a year, not knowing whether I should be permitted to return to my home and work again, I took with me this staff which never failed, “He knoweth the thoughts that he thinketh toward me, thoughts of peace and not of evil.”

In times of special danger or doubt, when human judgement has seemed to be set at naught, I have found it easy to go forward with this staff, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” And in emergencies, when there has seemed to be no adequate time for deliberation or for action, I have never found that this staff has failed me, “He that believeth shall not make haste.”

Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, in the Outlook.

“I had never known,” said Martin Luther’s wife, “what such and such things meant, in such and such psalms, such complaints and workings of spirit; I had never understood the practice of Christian duties, had not God brought me under some affliction.” It is very true that God’s rod is as the schoolmaster’s pointer to the child, pointing out the letter, that he may the better take notice of it; thus He pointeth out to us many good lessons which we should never otherwise have learned.

 Selected.

God always sends His staff with His rod.

Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be (Deut. 33:25.) .

Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and He will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well.

 Maclaren.