我们一旦掌握了圣经预言背后的原则，就能够怀着信心平静的面对将来。如果我们知道神肯定会信守祂自己的话，不只是一件事，而是在一切的事上，那么我为甚么还需要有不必要的忧虑呢？还记得神对洪水的预告吗？那是神在洪水发生前120日（创六3）所说的话，结果事情正如神所预言那样的发生了。

也许最惊人的例子是在创世记十五章13至14节，那里记载亚伯拉罕的生平：「耶和华对亚伯兰说：『你要的确知道，你的后裔必寄居别人的地，又服事那地的人；那地的人要苦待他们四百年；并且他们所要服事的那国，我要惩罚，后来他们必带着许多财物从那里出来。』」。然后在出埃及记十二章40至42节，我们看到：「以色列人住在埃及，共有四百三十年。正满了四百三十年的那一天，耶和华的军队都从埃及地出来了，这夜是耶和华的夜。因耶和华领他们出了埃及地」。

第一段经文是一般性的陈述，后来的那一段神缩短了它的时间性，不是一年，不是一个月，而是讲到拯救发生的那一个晚上。在你下一次开始怀疑神所对你说的话是否可靠的时候，要记得这些宝贵的经文。我们需要耐心等候神；需要知道神应许的一切都会实现的。有时我们很难明白耽延的原因，但是一定要等候异象，因为它是确实的，它是肯定的，它永远都不会落空。

Once we grasp the principles that underly Biblical prophecy, they enable us to face the future with confidence and poise. What is the point of being unduly anxious when we know that God is committed to keeping His Word - not in just one thing, but in everything? Remember God's prediction concerning the Flood? It was 120 years before it happened (Gen. 6:3) - but it came to pass exactly as God foretold.

But perhaps the most striking illustration of this is found in the life of Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14: "Then the Lord said to him, 'Know for certain that your decendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and ill-treated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they will come out with great possessions.' " Later, in Exodus 12:40-42, we read: "The sons of Jacob and their descendants had lived in Egypt 430 years, and it was on the last day of the 430th year that all of Jehovah's people left the land. This night was selected by the Lord to bring His people out from the land of Egypt" (TLB).

The first text is a general statement, but then God narrows it down more precisely to not just the year, not just the month, but the very night on which the deliverance is to take place. Keep these remarkable texts in mind when next you begin to doubt the reliability of God's personal word to you. Wait upon God. Be assured - everything He has promised will come to pass. It will be difficult at times to understand the delay. But wait for the vision - it is certain, it is sure, it can never, never fail.