我這求告 上帝、蒙他應允的人竟成了朋友所譏笑的;公義完全人竟受了人的譏笑。 I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called upon God and he answered-- a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
強盜的帳棚興旺,惹 上帝的人穩固, 上帝多將財物送到他們手中。 The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure-- those who carry their god in their hands. 12:6 Or ((secure / in what God's hand brings them))
January 2 "And there was on enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst."(Ezek. 41.7.) "Still upward be thine onward course: For this I pray today; Still upward as the years go by, And seasons pass away. "Still upward in this comping year. Thy path is all untried: Still upward may'st thou journey on, Close by thy Savior's side. "Still upward e'en though sorrow come, And trials crush thine heart; Still upward may they draw thy soul, With Christ to walk apart. We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun. Tears may their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon. Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, the lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all thy soul's range of delight. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God! ─Spurgeon. "I want to scale the utmost height, And catch a gleam of glory bright; But still I'll pray, till heaven I've found, Lord, lead me on to higher ground!" Not many of us are living at our best. We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains. The steepness and ruggedness dismay us, and so we stay in the misty valleys and do not learn the mystery of the hills. We do not know what we lose in our self-indulgence, what glory awaits us if only we had courage for the mountain climb, what blessing we should find if only we would move to the uplands of God. ─J. R. M. "Too low they build who build beneath the stars."