“你在苦难的炉中，我拣选你。”（赛48章10节）

　　感谢神，神给了我们多大的安慰! 这真像火焰中忽然来了一阵细雨，又像给我们穿上了一身耐火衣，使火势不能将我们焚伤。苦难啊，你尽管来吧，神已经拣选了我。贫穷啊，疾病啊，你们尽管来袭击我吧，神已经拣选了我。无论什么患难临到我的时候，我就知道神已经拣选了我。

　　信徒啊，不要惧怕；主是常与你同在的。在你一切猛烈的试炼中，他的同在是你的慰藉和平安。他决不会离开他为自己所拣选的。他曾允许过：“不要惧怕，因为我与你同在。。”（创26章24节）——司布真（C.H.Spurgeon）

"I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." (Isa. 48:10.)

DOES not the Word come like a soft shower, assuraging the fury of the the flame? Yes, is it not an asbestos armor, against which the heat has no power? Let the affliction come─God has chosen me. Poverty, thou mayest stride in at my door; but God is in the house already, and He has chosen me. Sickness, thou mayest intrude; but I have a balsam ready─God has chosen me. Whatever befall me in this vale of tears, I know that he has chosen me.

Fear not, Christian; Jesus is with thee. In all thy fiery trials, His presence is both thy comfort and safety. He will never leave one whom He has chosen for His own. "Fear not, for I am with thee," is His sure word of promise to His chosen ones in "the furnace of affliction." --- C. H. Spurgeon.

Pain's furnace heat within me quivers,
God's breath upon the flame doth blow;
And all my heart in anguish shivers
And trembles at the fiery glow;
And yet I whisper, "As God will!"
And in the hottest fire hold still.

He comes and lays my heart, all heated,
On the hard anvil, minded so
Into His own fair shape to beat it
With His great hammer, blow on blow;
And yet I whisper, "As God will!"
And at His heaviest blows hold still.

He takes my softened heart and beats it;
The sparks fly off at every blow;
He turns it o'er and o'er and heats it,
And lets it cool, and makes it glow;
And yet I whisper, "As God will!"
And in His mighty hand hold still.

Why should I murmur? for the sorrow
Thus only longer-lived would be;
The end may come, and will tomorrow,
When god has done His work in me;
So I say trusting, "As God will!"
And, trusting to the end, hold still.
─Julius Sturm.

The burden of suffering seems a tombstone hung about our necks, while in reality it is only the weight which is necessary to keep down the diver while he is hunting for pearls. --- Richter.