Chapter 18

"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs;…they shall afflict¹ them four hundred years;... and afterward² they shall come out with great substance" (Gen. 15:12-14)

An assured part of God's pledged blessing³ to us is delay and suffering. A delay in Abram's own lifetime that seemed to put God's pledge beyond fulfillment was followed by seemingly unendurable delay of Abram's descendants. But it was only a delay: they “came out with great substance.”(Ex.12:36)The pledge was redeemed⁴.

God is going to test me with delays; and with the delays will come suffering, but through it all stands God's pledge: His new covenant⁵ with me in Christ, and His inviolable promise of every lesser⁶ blessing that I need. The delay and the suffering are part of the promised blessing; let me praise Him for them today; and let me wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He will strengthen my heart.━C. G. Trumbull

Unanswered yet the prayer your lips have pleaded

In agony of heart these many years?

Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing?

And think you all in vain those falling tears?

Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer;

You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet? Nay⁷ do not say ungranted;

Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done.

The work began when first your prayer was uttered,

And God will finish what He has begun.

If you will keep the incense⁸ burning there,

His glory you shall see sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered,

Her feet are firmly planted on the Rock;

Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted,

Nor quails⁹ before the loudest thunder shock.

She knows Omnipotence¹⁰ has heard her prayer,

And cries, “It shall be done”–sometime, somewhere.

━Miss Ophelia G. Browning

十月十八日

「你要的确知道，你的后裔必寄居别人的地…那地的人要苦待他们四百年…后来他们必带着许多财物，从那里出来。」（创十五:12-14）

神给我们的祝福中间，有两个是我们所最不欢迎的：一个是迟延，一个是苦难。神给埃布尔兰本身的一个誓约尚未实现，现在又给他的后裔一个同样彷佛不可忍耐的誓约。但是无论如何，这些誓约虽然迟延，至终都得到了实现：以色列人出埃及的时候，果然「把埃及人的财物夺去了」（出十二:36）

神常用迟延和苦难来试验我们；但是在这一切中间却站着神的誓约━祂在基督里与我们所立的新约。所以让我们为着迟延和苦难来赞美祂罢，因为这是祂给我们的祝福。━崔伦保

多年来你从苦痛中发生的祷告，

是不是至如今还没有得到回音？

信心在消沉，希望在幻灭吗？

你可是灰心得泪下沿襟？

莫说天父未曾听到你的祈祷，

总有一天,你期望的音讯必然降临。

还没有回音？莫说未蒙接受,

也许你的事还有全部完工。

在你首次祈祷时就动手,

神作诸事向来有始有终。

只要你继续虔诚崇拜,

某时某地你必见祂荣光。

还没有回音？信心决不会徒劳,

她坚定安稳,如在盘石植根；

在最响的霹雳之下不丧胆,

在狂风暴雨里显出坚贞,

她知道全能的神已听见祈祷,

高喊道:「某时某地,这事必成-------。」

━布兰宁

1 afflict   

vt.使身体或精神受痛苦，折磨

参考例句：

• I wish you wouldn't afflict me with your constant complains.我希望你不要总是抱怨而使我苦恼。
• There are many illnesses,which afflict old people.有许多疾病困扰着老年人。

2 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

3 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

4 redeemed   

adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。
• He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker's. 他从当铺赎回手表。

5 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

6 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

7 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

8 incense   

v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气

参考例句：

• This proposal will incense conservation campaigners.这项提议会激怒环保人士。
• In summer,they usually burn some coil incense to keep away the mosquitoes.夏天他们通常点香驱蚊。

9 quails   

鹌鹑( quail的名词复数 )； 鹌鹑肉

参考例句：

• Speckled quails rustled in the underbrush. 鹌鹑在矮树丛里沙沙作响。
• I went out to pop some quails. 我出去打几只鹌鹑。

10 omnipotence   

n.全能，万能，无限威力

参考例句：

• Central bankers have never had any illusions of their own omnipotence. 中行的银行家们已经不再对于他们自己的无所不能存有幻想了。 来自互联网
• Introduce an omnipotence press automatism dividing device, explained it operation principle. 介绍了冲压万能自动分度装置，说明了其工作原理。 来自互联网