这几天，我们都在思考基督八福的第二福：「哀恸的人有福了！因为他们必得安慰」。昨天我们看到这句话的意思是，当我们愿意经历悲伤和哀痛的时候，神就能够利用这些遭遇提升我们的敏锐力，从而增进我们服事的果效。

不过，我恐怕大部分基督徒──包括我自己在内──都十分害怕这真理。几年前我提出了这真理以后，一位女士写信给我说：「你说哀痛和悲伤，是神用来提升我们对别人的敏锐力，这让我感到很害怕。我认为不是这样。因为我发现哀痛和悲伤令我更关心自己多于别人，所以我不能作你所提议的祷告说：『主啊，请照您的意思把所有压力集中在我身上；我知道您所允许的压力都是您计划的一部分，为要让我成为合乎您心意的人。』」

我们必须小心，不要以人的经验解释圣经的真理；而相反，我们必须以圣经的真理来解释人的经验。圣经告诉我们，神容许压力的临到是有目的的；只要我们愿意接受，悲伤和哀痛会在我们的生命中产生很大的好处。问题是，每当圣经的原则好像用不上的时候，不要质疑那个原则，而应该质疑你自己有没有开放的接受牠，有没有以神指示的方式去应用牠。与神争论是没理由的，因为神不会错。

We are meditating on the second of Christ's Beatitudes: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Yesterday we saw that the meaning of this statement is that when we are willing to experience sorrow and grief, then God is able to use these encounters to sensitise our spirits and make our ministry to others more effective and more fruitful.

I am afraid, however, that the majority of Christians, myself included, greatly fear this truth. Some years ago after I had expressed this same truth a woman wrote to me thus: "I am terribly afraid of what you said concerning grief and sorrow being the means in God's hands of deepening our sensitivity to others. I have not found this to be so. I find that grief and sorrow make me more concerned about myself than about others. Thus I cannot pray the prayer you suggested: 'Lord, put all the pressure on me You want, I know that the pressure You permit is all part of Your purpose - to make me the kind of person You want me to be."

We must always be careful that we do not interpret Biblical truth by human experiences; we must interpret human experiences by Biblical truth. Scripture tells us that God permits pressure for a purpose, and that sorrow and grief will produce tremendous benefits in our lives - providing we let them. There's the rub! Whenever Biblical principles don't seem to work for us, then don't question the principle - question whether or not you are open to it, and whether you are applying it in the way God directs. There is very little point in arguing with God - He's always right.