「耶和華的僕人摩西死了以後，耶和華對摩西的幫手，嫩的兒子約書亞說，我的僕人摩西死了；現在你要起來，和眾百姓過這約但河。」－約書亞記1:1-2
你第一個浮現的念頭是放棄，索性讓自己在絕望中倒坐。但環境不容許你如此，因你正在前線，危機四處埋伏。你若躊躇，神的權益就要受虧損；你若袖手，神的旨意就會停擺。你不能再徘徊，你不能再沈溺！
一位名將述說了一段他在戰爭時期悲傷的回憶...
將軍的兒子是陸軍中尉。在一次的戰役裡，將軍正率軍深入敵營，發動突擊；行進間他不經意的瞥見一位倒地的軍官，走進一看，竟然是兒子的屍體。父愛激動他預備伏在兒子身上痛哭一場，但猛烈的戰局不容許他稍待片刻。於是他匆匆的吻了兒子冰冷的嘴唇，步履飛快的繼續領軍前進。
在冰冷的墓旁，即便不受安慰的哀哭也永遠喚不回失去的生命；無止盡的哀傷也無法帶來祝福。
哀痛不過撕裂傷痕，割傷將癒合的傷疤，讓受苦的靈魂隱隱作痛。一旦陷入蜿蜒的悲傷幽谷，當你猛然醒轉；你會發現，長久的哀愁已使你和從前判若兩人。
然而，若喜樂能不被憂傷困住，甚至能在憂傷的陰谷翱翔，那麼傷痛的經歷也能滋養我們。
未曾受過苦的人是貧窮的。若能在苦難中持守著一顆喜樂的心，就如同太陽越過黑雲的籠罩，使我們再見到藍天陽光。在黑暗的傷痛中枯坐，黑暗將侵襲我們的心，使我們的力量消退、無力往前。但若我們撥開層層纏累的憂傷，拿起神所託付的責任，我們就要斷開荊棘鎖鏈，我們的生命也會越顯出豐盛。－J. R. Miller
"Now it came to pass after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now, therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people" (Joshua 1:1-2).Sorrow came to you yesterday, and emptied your home. Your first impulse now is to give up, and sit down in despair amid the wrecks of your hopes. But you dare not do it. You are in the line of battle, and the crisis is at hand. To falter a moment would be to imperil some holy interest. Other lives would be harmed by your pausing, holy interests would suffer, should your hands be folded. You must not linger even to indulge your grief.
A distinguished general related this pathetic incident of his own experience in time of war. The general's son was a lieutenant of battery. An assault was in progress. The father was leading his division in a charge; as he pressed on in the field, suddenly his eye was caught by the sight of a dead battery-officer lying just before him. One glance showed him it was his own son. His fatherly impulse was to stop beside the loved form and give vent to his grief, but the duty of the moment demanded that he should press on in the charge; so, quickly snatching one hot kiss from the dead lips, he hastened away, leading his command in the assault.
Weeping inconsolably beside a grave can never give back love's banished treasure, nor can any blessing come out of such sadness. Sorrow makes deep scars; it writes its record ineffaceably on the heart which suffers. We really never get over our great griefs; we are never altogether the same after we have passed through them as we were before. Yet there is a humanizing and fertilizing influence in sorrow which has been rightly accepted and cheerfully borne. Indeed, they are poor who have never suffered, and have none of sorrow's marks upon them. The joy set before us should shine upon our grief as the sun shines through the clouds, glorifying them. God has so ordered, that in pressing on in duty we shall find the truest, richest comfort for ourselves. Sitting down to brood over our sorrows, the darkness deepens about us and creeps into our heart, and our strength changes to weakness. But, if we turn away from the gloom, and take up the tasks and duties to which God calls us, the light will come again, and we shall grow stronger.
--J. R. Miller
