11那么,甚么才是尝过主的真实见证?假定同一位姊妹见证这样的事:『我的丈夫失业了,我们失去了住所,我们的儿子也患病。我们越祷告,我们所有的难处似乎越多。但弟兄姊妹们,我能见证我们的情况越艰难,我里面越喜乐。哦,我何等享受主!我略略经历了保罗所经历的,他求主把刺除去,而主拒绝,说祂的恩典彀保罗用的。主使保罗享受祂的恩典。祂将保罗放在特别的环境里,使他必须享受恩典。祂没有把刺除去。一面,保罗受刺的苦;但另一面,他经历主扶持的恩典。我们在这样的情形里,已经好几个月了,主还没有在外面为我们作甚么。但我能见证,我享受祂作我的恩典。我母亲晓得我们的情况,就说,『这是甚么?你的耶稣在那里?祂是又真又活的么?为甚么祂不为你作甚么?你改去拜佛好了。』但无论她对我说甚么,我继续享受主的恩典。』这是尝过主的见证。尝主不在于外面的神迹,乃在于内里生命的滋养。无论我们在怎样的环境里,或者我们有怎样的景况,我们都得著主的扶持。我们能与保罗同说,『我在那加我能力者的里面,凡事都能作。』(腓四13。)我们经得起富足和贫穷、顺境和逆境的试验,因为我们不在意外面的情况,乃在意内里的滋养。这内里的滋养就是真正的尝主。在这些经文里彼得指明,我们若尝过主是美善的,必然会切慕话中的奶。
11What, then, would be a genuine testimony of tasting the Lord? Suppose the same sister testified something like this: “My husband has lost his job, we have lost our dwelling place, and our son is ill. The more we pray, the more trouble we seem to have. But, brothers and sisters, I can testify that the more difficult our situation is, the happier I am inwardly. Oh, how I enjoy the Lord! I have experienced a little of what Paul experienced when he asked the Lord to take away the thorn and the Lord refused, saying that His grace was sufficient for Paul. The Lord caused Paul to enjoy His grace. He put him into a particular environment so that he would have to enjoy grace. He did not take away the thorn. On the one hand, Paul suffered the thorn. But on the other hand, he was experiencing the Lord’s sustaining grace. In our case, it has been several months, and still the Lord has not done anything for us outwardly. But I can testify that I have been enjoying Him as my grace. When my mother learned of our situation, she said, ‘What is this? Where is your Jesus? Is He real and living? Why wouldn’tHe do anything for you? You should go to Buddha instead.’ But no matter what she says to me, I keep on enjoying the Lord’s grace.” This is a testimony of tasting the Lord. The tasting of the Lord is not in outward miracles. Rather, it is in the inward nourishment of life. No matter what kind of environment we may be in or what kind of circumstances we may have, we are sustained by the Lord. We can say with Paul, “I can do all things in Him who empowers me” (Phil. 4:13). We can stand the test of both riches and poverty, of both pleasant circumstances and difficult, because we do not care for the outward situation but for the inward nourishment. This inward nourishment is the genuine tasting of the Lord. In these verses Peter indicates that if we have tasted that the Lord is good, we shall surely long for the milk in the word