1. Hello listening friends, we are delighted that you’re back with us again.
亲爱的朋友你好，很高兴我们又在这里相聚了。

2. I am praying that God will use these messages to bless your life.
我祈求神，这些信息能带给你生命的祝福，

3. And encourage you to do something great for God.
并鼓舞你为神成就大事。

4. I want to begin by telling you a story.
让我先说个故事，

5. It’s a story about a beautiful cathedral in Europe.
这是关于在欧洲的一座华丽的大教堂。

6. this cathedral was famous for a large, magnificent, stain-glass window,
这座教堂因有一大幅辉煌的彩色玻璃窗而闻名。

7. and one day there was a violent storm,
有一天刮起一场暴风雨，

8. and this storm shattered the beautiful window into a thousand pieces,
在狂风暴雨的吹袭下，美丽的玻璃窗成为千百碎片，

9. and the church custodian hesitated to discard of the fragmented pieces,
管堂的工人不舍得丢弃这些碎片，

10. so instead of throwing it away, he put it in a box and stored them away in the church basement.
于是把它们收拾在盒子里，存放在教堂的地下室。

11. Sometime later, a well-known artist came and petitioned the trustees of the cathedral to give him the fragments, which they did.
不久之后，一位著名的艺术家要求管理教会的委员，将这些碎片交给他，委员们答应了。

12. They did not know what his real purpose was,
他们并不知道艺术家的意图，

13. but two years later,
两年后，

14. the artist invited the church trustees to his studio.
艺术家邀请委员们到他的工作室来，

15. and there he unveiled his major work.
揭晓他的作品。

16. to their astonishment, the restored window looked more beautiful than the original one.
委员们很惊讶的发现，重新镶嵌的玻璃比原先的更加美丽。

17. I want to compare this story to our lives.
我想将这个故事和我们的人生比较一下。

18. Most of us at some point in our lives experience the blasting of a storm
大多数人在人生的某个阶段都会遭遇暴风雨，

19. and these storms sometimes come and blast in the midst of the blessing.
这些风暴往往在风和日丽时突然来临，

20. You may be going through one of those experiences right now,
很可能你现在正处于这样的景况中，

21. or you may have experienced one in the past.
或是过去曾有这样的经历，

22. Some of you have already experienced God’s restoration work in your life,
有些人已经历过神在你生命中重新的建设。

23. but if you have not experienced such a blasting storm, I promise you, you will.
我相信也有人至今尚未遭受人生的风暴，但迟早你会遇到的。

24. But I want to tell you this,
让我告诉你，

25. God specializes in restoring the fragments of life into something more beautiful and more meaningful than ever.
上帝专长于将生命的碎片，重整得比先前更加美丽，更富于意义。

26. God specializes in making beauty out of ashes.
上帝专长于从灰烬中创造美。

27. The blasting and the blessing sometimes go hand in hand in life,
往往人生的打击与祝福是携手并行的；

28. the high and the low are often close companions,
人生的高峰和低谷是亲密的伙伴；

29. trials and triumphs often work in fast succession.
试炼与凯歌相继而来。

30. In fact, this is precisely what is happening at this point of Elijah's life.
事实上，这正是以利亚人生中这一刻所面临的处境。

31. To those of you who have joined us for the first time,
若是第一次收听我们节目的朋友，让我告诉你，

32. we are in the midst of a series entitled, “How God Works”.
我正在讲“上帝的方法＂这系列的信息。

33. We are focusing on the life of Elijah.
我们集中来看以利亚的生平，

34. First we saw God hiding Elijah in the Brook Caris,
首先我们看到神将以利亚隐藏在基立溪旁，

35. often when God hides us, it is to humble us.
当神把我们隐藏时，通常都是要我们谦卑下来；

36. When he hides us, it is to provide for us.
当神把我们隐藏时，祂要供应我们；

37. When God hides us, it is to protect us.
当神把我们隐藏时，祂要保护我们；

38. We may resent God’s hiding places for us,
我们很可能埋怨神的隐密处，

39. but it is only in those hiding places God works his purposes out in us.
但往往正是在这隐密处，神来造就我们。

40. We saw in the last message, how God led Elijah to the land of Baal worship,
在上次的信息中，神把以利亚带到崇拜巴力假神的地区，

41. Zaraphath,
撒勒法，

42. the Phoenician city.
这座腓尼基人的城市。

43. Zaraphath is where God gave Elijah an opportunity to exercise risking faith.
神让以利亚在撒勒法操练信心的功课；

44. Zaraphath was a pagan city whose name means melt, because they used to melt metals there.
撒勒法是个拜偶像的城市，撒勒法的意思就是熔化，因为那里是炼金属的地方。

45. God was purifying his servant by melting away all of the dross of the flesh so that he may trust in God alone.
神要炼净祂的仆人，除掉以利亚属肉体的残渣，以致于他能专心信靠神。

46. In this message, we will find Elijah still in Zaraphath.
在今天的信息里，以利亚仍留在撒勒法，

47. God is about to move from passive testing to active testing.
神对他的考验，由被动转为主动。

48. Here we will see how after the blessing of the flour and the oil, comes the testing of calamity and death.
从面与油的祝福，转为灾难和死亡的考验。

49. I Kings 17,
列王纪上17章，

50. Elijah and the Phoenician woman, and her son all were experiencing a daily miracle,
以利亚和腓尼基的寡妇和她的儿子，每天都经历神迹，

51. a daily blessing,
天天蒙福，

52. a daily provision,
日日供应，

53. the Phoenician woman had risked in faith at the challenge of the man of God.
腓尼基的寡妇接受神人挑战，面对信心的考验。

54. Now we read that her son becomes ill and dies.
如今她的儿子病重而死，

55. The Hebrew word means his soul left him.
希伯来原文说，他的灵魂离去。

56. This leaves us in no doubt that the boy was dead.
也就是说，这孩子已证实死亡。

57. In verse 18, the woman said to Elijah,
在18节里，妇人对以利亚说，

58. What do you have against me, man of God?
神人哪，我与你何干？

59. Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?
你竟到我这里来，使神想念我的罪，以致我的儿子死呢？

60. I want you to notice that verse 17 follows verse 16.
请注意17节前的16节，

61. In verse 16,
第16节，

62. is a picture of Zaraphath.
描绘出撒勒法的情景。

63. As a little village,
一个小村庄，

64. which has been the place of uninterrupted, unhampered miracles,
持续不断地发生神迹，

65. with new oil and new flour every day.
新油与新面天天出现。

66. When they woke up in the morning,
他们清早起床，

67. they experienced the miracle.
就经历奇迹，

68. Before they retired for bed at sundown,
当他们日落而息，

69. they experienced a miracle.
仍经历奇迹。

70. So in verse 16, you read that God’s miraculous blessings was coming upon them,
在第16节里，你看见神赐下神奇的福分，

71. and then immediately in verse 17, you read of life’s tragic blasting,
但在17节里，悲剧突然袭来，

72. all at the same time,
真是旦夕祸福，

73. the woman’s cry in verse 18 is very natural.
也难怪妇人在18 节里哭诉悲情。

74. Please listen carefully to what I am going to tell you,
请留心听我说，

75. this is very important.
这是很重要的。

76. Don’t allow anyone including yourself to send you on a guilt trip just because you asked the question why.
千万别让任何人，包括你自己在内，使你在困境中因发出疑问而内疚自责。

77. “Why” is a natural question.
问“为什么＂是很自然的，

78. The greatest heroes of the Bible asked why
圣经中的伟人也都问“为什么＂。

79. in the book of Judges chapter 6
士师记第六章，

80. when the Mideonites were about to decimate Israel.
当米甸人几乎要消灭以色列人时，

81. Gideon asked,
基甸问，

82. why did God allow this to happen?
为什么神容许这事发生？

83. Job who lost his family and huge fortune and ended up on a heap of rubble.
约伯损失惨重，家破人亡，坐在炉灰中问，

84. Why wasn’t I born dead?
为什么我要生在世上？

85. if you recall the words of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross,
如果你记得耶稣基督在十字架上的呼喊，

86. he said,
祂说，

87. God, my God, why have thou forsaken me?
我的神，我的神，为什么离弃我？

88. God’s own son asked why.
神自己的儿子都问“为什么＂。

89. so don’t let people put you under guilt when you ask God why.
所以当你问神“为什么＂时，不要感到内疚。

90. There are times in life when the highest of dreams get crushed.
人生中有时美梦幻灭，

91. There are times in life when the best of hopes are dashed.
有时希望破碎，

92. There are times in life when you find yourself hanging upside down.
有时你感到天翻地覆，

93. And the natural question at that time, like the widow at Zaraphath, is why.
就像撒勒法的寡妇，自然会问“为什么＂，

94. I am convinced that this question must be pounding the doors of heaven from broken hearted people everywhere.
我深信世上无数心碎的人，都会举起拳头责问老天“为什么＂，

95. It rises from hospital beds.
从医院的病床上，

96. It rises from lonely bedrooms.
孤寂的卧室里，

97. It rises from gravesites.
从坟场墓地，

98. It rises from each personal Gethsemane when troubled souls plead in agony.
从每一个经历客西马尼园的忧伤心灵，发出痛苦的呼求。

99. I am not talking about pain that results from disobedience.
我不是指因犯罪而受苦，

100. I’m not talking about the grief that is the natural consequence of sin and rebellion.
我不是指悖逆犯罪而产生的苦果，

101. I am not talking about the natural results of departing from Biblical principles.
我不是指因离弃圣经原则而产生的恶果，

102. I am talking about being in the middle of God’s will, doing God’s work the best way you know how and suddenly, life’s blast blows you away.
我指的是，正当尽力服事神，满有果效时，不测风云突然来临，

103. Many of us understand the paradox of this woman,
许多人能够理解这位寡妇的矛盾，

104. while she knew God’s blessings in one area,
一方面她懂得神所赐的福，

105. she knew God’s blasting in another.
另一方面她也经历神的打击。

106. In March of 1964, I committed my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,
1964年三月，我接受耶稣基督为我生命的主宰，

107. In July of that year,
那一年七月，

108. my mother who was my prayer warrior, died at the age of 54.
我的母亲，一位祷告的勇士，才54岁就离开了世界。

109. In 1990,
1990年，

110. as I was experiencing the blessings of God in my work and my life,
我的事业和生命都大大蒙神赐福时，

111. within a period of 2-week time.
就在两个星期之内，

112. I had one child in the intensive care unit in one hospital,
我一个孩子在医院的深切治疗室，

113. and my wife was about to go to another hospital for a serious operation.
而我的妻子却在另一家医院，准备动大手术。

114. God’s blessings and life’s blasting.
这就是神的赐福和生命的风暴。

115. Look at verse 12,
请看第12节，

116. when there was a famine and the woman was ready to accept the fact that she and her son were both dying.
当时正有饥荒，这寡妇已经认命了，她和儿子即将饿死。

117. There was calmness in her heart about this.
她已心死，

118. There was a sense of resignation to this calamity.
不抱任何希望了。

119. but in verse 18,
但到了18节，

120. she attacks Elijah with anger and accusation.
她愤愤不平地指责以利亚。

121. Please listen carefully,
请留心听着，

122. this is very important.
这很重要。

123. Our emotions are unpredictable,
我们的情绪变化无常，

124. you cannot trust your emotions.
不足以信任。

125. Emotions are like the barometric pressure,
情绪就像气压计，

126. they go up and they come down easily.
时升时降，

127. I have noticed that we have just run out of time,
我们的节目时间又快到了，

128. and I want to tell you so much more about this.
但这方面我还有很多想和你谈的，

129. So will you promise me that you will tune in next time so you can hear the rest of this,
请你答应我，下次继续收听节目，

130. until then, I wish you God’s richest blessings.
愿神大大赐福给你，再见。