8/24 English 荒漠甘泉 Streams in the Desert

生在黑暗裡

經文: 「我樣樣都有，並且有餘。」（腓四18）

在我一本園藝書籍裡面，有一篇叫做「生在黑暗裡的花」。內中講到有一種小花，是從來不需要日光的。我的先生告訴我說，這種小花不但不怕黑暗，並且在黑暗裡反倒生長得快。         靈界裡也有同樣的小花，當物質環境最黑暗的時候，他們就出來了。他們是生在黑暗裡的。         使徒保羅寫這封腓立比書信的時候，正在羅馬作俘虜。那時候，他一生的事業似乎將要結束了。正是在這樣受圍困的黑暗裡，花兒開放得特別可愛。也許保羅以前已經看見過這些花兒，但是它們卻從來沒有像今天這樣濃郁美麗的。上帝的話替他揭開了一個他以前沒有看見過的寶藏。         在這個寶藏裡面有幾樣奇異的東西：基督恩典、基督的愛、基督的喜樂和平安；這些東西似乎需要黑暗去開發他們的神秘和榮耀一般。經歷了黑暗以後，保羅開始發現他以前所沒有發現的屬靈產業的廣大和豐富了。－－喬懷德（Dr. Jowett）         每一朵花，就是最美麗的，在日光下也都有它的黑影的。         光越大，影越黑。

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Grow in the Gloom

Scripture: "I have all, and abound" (Phil. 4:18).

In one of my garden books there is a chapter with a very interesting heading, "Flowers that Grow in the Gloom." It deals with those patches in a garden which never catch the sunlight. And my guide tells me the sort of flowers which are not afraid of these dingy corners--may rather like them and flourish in them.         And there are similar things in the world of the spirit. They come out when material circumstances become stern and severe. They grow in the gloom. How can we otherwise explain some of the experiences of the Apostle Paul?         Here he is in captivity at Rome. The supreme mission of his life appears to be broken. But it is just in this besetting dinginess that flowers begin to show their faces in bright and fascinating glory. He may have seen them before, growing in the open road, but never as they now appeared in incomparable strength and beauty. Words of promise opened out their treasures as he had never seen them before.         Among those treasures were such wonderful things as the grace of Christ, the love of Christ, the joy and peace of Christ; and it seemed as though they needed an "encircling gloom" to draw out their secret and their inner glory. At any rate the realm of gloom became the home of revelation, and Paul began to realize as never before the range and wealth of his spiritual inheritance.         Who has not known men and women who, when they arrive at seasons of gloom and solitude, put on strength and hopefulness like a robe? You may imprison such folk where you please; but you shut up their treasure with them. You cannot shut it out. You may make their material lot a desert, but "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."--Dr. Jowett         "Every flower, even the fairest, has its shadow beneath it as it swings in the sunlight."         Where there is much light there is much shade.