八月五日
我们晓得万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处。（罗8：28）
有几件事是信徒所当确实知道的。例如：当船颠簸得最厉害的时候，他当知道有神坐在船尾。他相信有一只看不见的手永远掌著世界的舵，无论世界走到哪里，都是在神的旨意之中，幷且神操舵的手是不会放松的。确实知道这一点之后，他才能应付将要来到的一切事。他看到澎湃汹涌的波涛，看到耶稣曾踏过狂浪，幷听到他的声音说：“是我，不要怕。”他也知道神永远是智慧的，既然如此，他便信他不会作偶然的、错误的事；不应当发生的事是不会发生的。他说：“若我应当失去我所有的，那末我失去比不失去好得多。如果是神的旨意，出于神的安排，那末临到我的最不幸的事，也是最有智慧、最有恩慈的事。”“我们晓得万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处。”
基督徒不应当把这真理当作理论看待，而当知道它是实在的事。万事曾互相效力叫人得益；各种毒药按著一定的成份调合起来，便能治疗某种疾病；割病刀能割除赘瘤幷有医疗的功用。一切事至终都成爲神赐恩的工具；因此，当信神管理一切，幷且他以大能和智慧主宰一切，他能使凶变吉，使人从凶恶中蒙受利益。信徒的心应当确知此事，那末他便能逆来顺受，坦然地面向一切灾害。信徒当依靠顺服地祷告说：“神啊！只要是从你来的，那末就按你的旨意行吧！你绝不会把不好的东西给你的儿女。”全能者到处都有他的仆役。他的方法虽然严厉，但他的心却是慈祥的。神的时候是正合适的，不早，也不晚；不先，也不后。
August
5
“We
know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” —
Romans 8:28
Upon some points a believer is absolutely
sure. He knows, for instance, that God sits in the stern-sheets of the vessel
when it rocks most. He believes that an invisible hand is always on the world’s
tiller, and that wherever providence may drift, Jehovah steers it. That
re-assuring knowledge prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging
waters and sees the spirit of Jesus treading the billows, and he hears a voice
saying, “It is I, be not afraid.” He knows too that God is always
wise, and, knowing this, he is confident that there can be no accidents, no
mistakes; that nothing can occur which ought not to arise. He can say, “If
I should lose all I have, it is better that I should lose than have, if God so
wills: the worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall
to me if God ordains it.” “We know that all things work together for
good to them that love God.” The Christian does not merely hold this as a
theory, but he knows it as a matter of fact. Everything has worked for good as
yet; the poisonous drugs mixed in fit proportions have worked the cure; the
sharp cuts of the lancet have cleansed out the proud flesh and facilitated the
healing. Every event as yet has worked out the most divinely blessed results;
and so, believing that God rules all, that He governs wisely, that He brings
good out of evil, the believer’s heart is assured, and he is enabled calmly to
meet each trial as it comes. The believer can in the spirit of true resignation
pray, “Send me what thou wilt, my God, so long as it comes from Thee;
never came there an ill portion from Thy table to any of Thy children.”
“Say not my soul, ‘From whence can
God relieve my care?
Remember that Omnipotence has servants
everywhere.
His method is sublime, His heart profoundly
kind,
God never is before His time, and never is behind.'”
