「到了每西亞的邊界，他們試著要往庇推尼去，耶穌的靈卻不許。」－使徒行傳16:7
這些人正準備前往庇推尼為主作工，基督的靈卻關上了福音的門。
我也曾有過這樣的經歷；有時看似前程似錦的事業，卻受到阻礙、反對或疾病，逼得我只得再次折返曠野。
當聖靈使我相信這是祂的工作後，我就很難停止不作。直到我後來領會，聖靈不僅有工作的服事，也有等候的服事；於是我開始明白，在主的國度裡，有時我們需要採取行動，有時卻需要安靜等候。
末了，我學到一個寶貴的功課：明白寂寞的曠野，常竟是生命中最受益菲淺之處，甚至比收成的季節更受益良多。我學會感激聖靈的禁止，因為祂沒帶我去到我所一心嚮往的「庇推尼」。
主啊！－馬特孫
教導我，在靜默處看見另一扇門；
幫助我，使我在你停下我的服事時，能尋見你所願的事奉途徑；
啟示我，讓我曉得有時我的責任就是不作，我的工作就是不理，我的事奉就是等候。
提醒我，曉喻你「寧靜中微聲」的份量，使我不再因著聖靈的禁止而抱怨難受。
"After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithyma: but the Spirit suffered them not" (Acts 16:7).What a strange prohibition! These men were going into Bithynia just to do Christ's work, and the door is shut against them by Christ's own Spirit. I, too, have experienced this in certain moments. I have sometimes found myself interrupted in what seemed to me a career of usefulness. Opposition came and forced me to go back, or sickness came and compelled me to retire into a desert apart.
It was hard at such times to leave my work undone when I believed that work to be the service of the Spirit. But I came to remember that the Spirit has not only a service of work, but a service of waiting. I came to see that in the Kingdom of Christ there are not only times for action, but times in which to forbear acting. I came to learn that the desert place apart is often the most useful spot in the varied life of man--more rich in harvest than the seasons in which the corn and wine abounded. I have been taught to thank the blessed Spirit that many a darling Bithynia had to be left unvisited by me.
And so, Thou Divine Spirit, would I still be led by Thee. Still there come to me disappointed prospects of usefulness. Today the door seems to open into life and work for Thee; tomorrow it closes before me just as I am about to enter.
Teach me to see another door in the very inaction of the hour. Help me to find in the very prohibition thus to serve Thee, a new opening into Thy service. Inspire me with the knowledge that a man may at times be called to do his duty by doing nothing, to work by keeping still, to serve by waiting. When I remember the power of the "still small voice," I shall not murmur that sometimes the Spirit suffers me not to go. --George Matheson
