December 11

"Ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion" (Ps.134:1-3)

Strange time for adoration¹, you say, to stand in God's house by night, to worship in the depth of sorrow ━it is indeed an arduous² thing. Yes, and therein lies the blessing³; it is the test of perfect faith. If I would know the love of my friend I must see what it can do in the winter. So with the Divine love.

It is easy for me to worship in the summer sunshine when the melodies of life are in the air and the fruits of life are on the tree. But let the song of the bird cease and the fruit of the tree fall, and will my heart still go on to sing? Will I stand in God's house by night? Will I love Him in His own night? Will I watch with Him even one hour in His Gethsemane? Will I help to bear His cross up the dolorous⁴ way? Will I stand beside Him in His dying moments with Mary and the beloved disciple⁵? Will I be able with Nicodemus to take up the dead Christ? Then is my worship complete and my blessing glorious. My love has come to Him in His humiliation⁶. My faith has found Him in His lowliness. My heart has recognized His majesty⁷ through His mean disguise, and I know at last that I desire not the gift but the Giver. When I can stand in His house by night I have accepted Him for Himself alone. ━George Matheson

"My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace,

Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;

'Tis His to lead me there, not mine, but His-

'At any cost, dear Lord, by my road!"

"So faith bounds forward to its goal in God

And love can trust her Lord to lead her there;

'Upheld by Him, my soul is following hard

Till God hath full fulfilled my deepest prayer."

"No matter if the way be sometimes dark,

No matter though the cost be ofttimes great,

He knoweth how I best shall reach the mark,

The way that leads to Him must needs be straight.

"One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay⁸;

One thing I do, I press towards my Lord;

My God my glory here, from day to day,

And in the glory there my Great Reward.”

十二月十一日

「耶和华的仆人，夜间在耶和华殿中的……愿造天地的耶和华，从锡安赐福给你们。」 （诗一三四:1-3）

「夜间在耶和华殿中」━在忧伤中敬拜神━实在是一件困难的事情。是的，是困难的，可是里面蕴藏着祝福。这是信心的考验，雪中送炭，可以见出朋友的真情，对神的爱亦复如此。

我们在夏日阳光中━空中充满了音乐，树上结满了果子的时候━敬拜神是一件容易的事情。但是当小鸟的歌声停止了，树上的果子下坠了，我们的心能不能继续歌唱呢？我们愿不愿意做夜间站在耶和华殿中的呢？我们会不会再爱祂呢？我们肯不肯在客西马尼同祂儆醒片时呢？我们肯不肯作古利奈人西门去背祂的十字架呢？我们肯不肯在祂临死的时候和马利亚并祂所爱的那门徒一同站在祂旁边呢？我们肯不肯和尼哥底母一同带着没药和沉香去安葬死的基督呢？亲爱的，如果你肯，愿造天地的耶和华，从锡安赐福给你！━马德胜

我的目的不是欢乐或平安,

也不是幸福,乃是我的神;

引导我到那里的,是祂不是我,

主啊,任何犠牲,任何路途,我都愿意。

凭信直往前,要得神自己,

凭爱来跟随,从不依别的;

愿主拯救我,脱离我自己,

我深处所祷,神是我一切。

不论所经的路途有时多么黑暗,

不论所付的代价为数多少,

祂深知如何使我达到目的,

通往祂的路,必是正直之道。

我知道的只是我不能违背祂,

我所作的只是紧随我的响导;

日复一日,这是我的神和光荣,

在那光荣里,有我伟大的酬报

1 adoration   

n.爱慕，崇拜

参考例句：

• He gazed at her with pure adoration.他一往情深地注视着她。
• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。

2 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

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 dolorous   

adj.悲伤的；忧愁的

参考例句：

• With a broken-hearted smile,he lifted a pair of dolorous eyes.带著伤心的微笑，他抬起了一双痛苦的眼睛。
• Perhaps love is a dolorous fairy tale.也许爱情是一部忧伤的童话。

5 disciple   

n.信徒，门徒，追随者

参考例句：

• Your disciple failed to welcome you.你的徒弟没能迎接你。
• He was an ardent disciple of Gandhi.他是甘地的忠实信徒。

6 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

7 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

8 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。