「你要確實知道，你的後裔必寄居別人的地...，那地的人要苦待他們四百年...，後來他們必帶著許多財物從那裡出來。」－創世記15:13-14
亞伯拉罕一生所面對的，似乎就是這樣無法實現的應許。神對於他後裔的誓言，似乎也讓他們無法忍受。
然而這只是遲延，他的後裔後來果真「帶著許多財物從那裡出來」。神的誓言畢竟沒有落空！
神要用延遲來試驗我，而隨之而來的，是一段苦難；但儘管如此，神並未改變祂的誓言。
祂在基督裡已和我立定了新約，並允諾要賜與我應許和福份。遲延和苦難不過是祂應許的一隅，所以我需要為著今日的延遲和苦難向祂讚美！
我要勇敢無畏的等候耶和華，因為祂堅固我的心。
－特榮布爾
"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs; . . . they shall afflict them four hundred years; . . . and afterward they shall come out with great substance" (Gen. 15:12-14).An assured part of God's pledged blessing to us is delay and suffering. A delay in Abram's own lifetime that seemed to put God's pledge beyond fulfillment was followed by seemingly unendurable delay of Abram's descendants. But it was only a delay: they "came out with great substance." The pledge was redeemed.
God is going to test me with delays; and with the delays will come suffering, but through it all stands God's pledge: His new covenant with me in Christ, and His inviolable promise of every lesser blessing that I need. The delay and the suffering are part of the promised blessing; let me praise Him for them today; and let me wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He will strengthen my heart. --C. G. Trumbull
