「萬國之王，你的道路義哉、誠哉！」－啟示錄15:3
「在一個陰沉的晚間，我孤獨的在椅子上休息；雖然房間燈光開著，但有一股黑暗滲入我心，使我靈裡暗眛無光。我試著尋找平時攙扶我行過患難的那雙堅固安穩的手；但這時我卻找不到。
我憂傷的問：『為什麼我的主要這樣對待祂的兒女？為什麼祂常允許錐心的苦楚臨及我身？為什麼祂使我軟弱，無力服事祂的僕人呢？』
主立即透過一種奇特的言語回答了我惱人的問題，祂在我的心裡輕輕的低訴祂的柔聲。於是靜謐開始籠罩我的小房間，我只聽見爐火下橡樹的燃燒聲。
突然間，我聽見細微、輕巧、柔愛的樂音，似乎是窗下知更鳥輕盈的歌唱。但怎麼可能呢？畢竟現在是寒冷的冬夜。
接著，又有微弱、低沉、甜美的聲音；它是這麼的動聽，但我卻四處尋它不著。我的朋友忽然喊說：『啊！那是木柴燃燒的聲音！』熊熊烈火竟然能將長久禁錮在橡樹裡的音樂釋放出來！
也許早在鳥兒在橡樹青嫩的樹梢啼叫高吟時，它就在那裡一點一滴的蒐集美好的樂音。
等到它漸漸老邁，一圈又一圈的年輪，一顆又一顆的樹瘤，牢牢地守住了所有經年累月的音樂；直到有一天，猛烈的火焰燒去堅韌的囚籠，燒去了長年的囤積，讓音樂一口氣洩溢出來，祭奠在熊熊的火中。
人不也是如此嗎？當難忍的烈焰焚燒我們時，我們也要從我們壓抑的心靈向祂歌唱；火煉淨了我們，也榮耀了神。
在火中歌唱！是的，神正在幫助我們，使我們從久寂、封閉的心靈，重獲生機，唱出和諧的樂音。願祂聖潔的烈火加強七倍！」
"Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints" (Rev. 15:3).The following incident is related by Mrs. Charles Spurgeon, who was a great sufferer for more than a quarter of a century:
"At the close of a dark and gloomy day, I lay resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on; and though all was bright within my cozy room, some of the external darkness seemed to have entered into my soul and obscured its spiritual vision. Vainly I tried to see the Hand which I knew held mine, and guided my fog-enveloped feet along a steep and slippery path of suffering. In sorrow of heart I asked,
"'Why does my Lord thus deal with His child? Why does He so often send sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He permit lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render to His poor servants?'
"These fretful questions were quickly answered, and through a strange language; no interpreter was needed save the conscious whisper of my heart.
"For a while silence reigned in the little room, broken only by the crackling of the oak log burning in the fireplace. Suddenly I heard a sweet, soft sound, a little, clear, musical note, like the tender trill of a robin beneath my window.
"'What can it be? surely no bird can be singing out there at this time of the year and night.'
"Again came the faint, plaintive notes, so sweet, so melodious, yet mysterious enough to provoke our wonder. My friend exclaimed,
"'It comes from the log on the fire!' The fire was letting loose the imprisoned music from the old oak's inmost heart!
"Perchance he had garnered up this song in the days when all was well with him, when birds twittered merrily on his branches, and the soft sunlight flecked his tender leaves with gold. But he had grown old since then, and hardened; ring after ring of knotty growth had sealed up the long-forgotten melody, until the fierce tongues of the flames came to consume his callousness, and the vehement heart of the fire wrung from him at once a song and a sacrifice. 'Ah,' thought I, 'when the fire of affliction draws songs of praise from us, then indeed we are purified, and our God is glorified!'
"Perhaps some of us are like this old oak log, cold, hard, insensible; we should give forth no melodious sounds, were it not for the fire which kindles around us, and releases notes of trust in Him, and cheerful compliance with His will.
"'As I mused the fire burned,' and my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so strangely set forth before me.
"Singing in the fire! Yes, God helping us, if that is the only way to get harmony out of these hard apathetic hearts, let the furnace be heated seven times hotter than before."
