2013年8月30日 星期五

在疑惑中成長,在懷疑裡成型-9月1日

「你這受困苦被風飄蕩不得安慰的人哪,我必親自將你的石頭安置在黑石上,以藍寶石立定你的根基。」-以賽亞書54:11
於牆內的石頭見證說:
「我們來自遙遠的山嶺、崎嶇的山壁。 
水與火千年來在我們身上沖刷、焚燒,使我們成為危巖陡壁;人手在我們身上雕琢刻劃,於是你們的後代得有安身立命的居所,得有在其中經歷創造主所賜的歡笑與磨難。 
然而,我們飽嘗了患難,才能有今天的地步:火藥曾將我們掏空,利斧曾將我們撕裂;當時,我們不過是採石廠中粗糙不堪用的石頭,懵懂的我們,甚至覺得如此痛苦的鍛鍊又是何必。
但是我們在疑惑中成長,在懷疑裡成型;如今我們竟成了完美的石塊,大方得當地嵌在這巍巍的建築裡。 
你們卻還在採石廠中浮沈;像從前的我們一樣,你們仍有許多的疑惑不解。 
盼望你們知道,你們的被造,是為了一座屬天榮美的城;總有一天,你們會成為安置在屬天聖殿裡耀眼的活石。」

"I will lay thy stones with fair colors" (Isa. 54:11).
The stones from the wall said, "We come from the mountains far away, from the sides of the craggy hills. Fire and water have worked on us for ages, but made us only crags. Human hands have made us into a dwelling where the children of your immortal race are born, and suffer, and rejoice, and find rest and shelter, and learn the lessons set them by our Maker and yours. But we have passed through much to fit us for this. Gunpowder has rent our very heart; pickaxes have cleaved and broken us, it seemed to us often with out design or meaning, as we lay misshapen stones in the quarry; but gradually we were cut into blocks, and some of us were chiseled with finer instruments to a sharper edge. But we are complete now, and are in our places, and are of service.

You are in the quarry still, and not complete, and therefore to you, as once to us, much is inexplicable. But you are destined for a higher building, and one day you will be placed in it by hands not human, a living stone in a heavenly temple.