「祂聽見拉撒路病了，就在所居之地，仍住了兩天。」－約翰福音11:6
這似乎含示，不論神對付我們的方式是多麼晦暗離奇，我們仍需相信，在祂的心中，隱藏著向我們永遠、無限、白白賜予的愛。
因著愛，祂容忍疼痛臨及我們。
馬大和馬利亞絲毫不懷疑地，認為耶穌一聽見消息之後，必定會刻不容緩前來解救他們的弟弟拉撒路。然而，耶穌「聽見拉撒路病了，就在所居之地，仍住了兩天」。
耶穌的反應多麼令人費解啊！祂不立即動身前往，不是因為祂愛得不夠，而是因為祂愛得太深。
因著愛，祂克制住不顧一切的衝動，忍心觀望祂所關切的憂患之家。若祂稍微縮減祂的愛，祂就能飛奔去見那些憂傷的心靈，拭去他們的眼淚，帶走他們的嘆息。
神聖的愛抑住了救主慈愛柔細的心，直到傷痛的使者完成任務。
我們有誰能估計患難損失所帶給我們的益處？沒有了這些，我們基督徒的生命怎麼可能流露優越的美德？
免去了試煉，就一併抹煞了信心；若沒有一事需要我們忍耐，也就沒有所謂的忍耐；離開了困難重重，也就遠離了老練、成熟的生命。
－選
"When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was" (John 11:6).In the forefront of this marvelous chapter stands the affirmation, "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus," as if to teach us that at the very heart and foundation of all God's dealings with us, however dark and mysterious they may be, we must dare to believe in and assert the infinite, unmerited, and unchanging love of God. Love permits pain. The sisters never doubted that He would speed at all hazards and stay their brother from death, but, "When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was."
What a startling "therefore"! He abstained from going, not because He did not love them, but because He did love them. His love alone kept Him back from hasting at once to the dear and stricken home. Anything less than infinite love must have rushed instantly to the relief of those loved and troubled hearts, to stay their grief and to have the luxury of wiping and stanching their tears and causing sorrow and sighing to flee away. Divine love could alone hold back the impetuosity of the Savior's tender-heartedness until the Angel of Pain had done her work.
Who can estimate how much we owe to suffering and pain? But for them we should have little scope for many of the chief virtues of the Christian life. Where were faith, without trial to test it; or patience, with nothing to bear; or experience, without tribulation to develop it?
--Selected
