十二月一日
夏天和冬天是你所定的。（詩74：17）
我的心哪！要在臘月裏與你的神同在。冰冷的雪、尖銳的風都叫你知道神遵守他與冬夏晝夜所立的約；這叫你確實知道他也必遵守他在基督耶穌裏與你所立的榮耀的約。這個罪污世界的季候，尚因他信守自己的話而按時更換，那末對于他自己的愛子還會不信實嗎？
心靈中的冬天無論如何總不是一個安舒的季候，若你的心靈已經到了冬季，那才是一件痛苦的事呢！但你也可以得些安慰，因爲那是神所定的。他用勁風摧折了含苞待放的花朵；他使寒霜遮沒了我們歡樂的草場；他降冰雪凍結了我們快樂的溪流。這都是他所作的，他是冬天的君王，掌管著冰天雪地的世界，因此你不當發怨言。損失、十架、重負、病痛、貧窮，以及無數的災害，都是神所差來的，都是出于他聰明的設計。霜雪凍斃了害蟲，滅絕了病菌；它們也能使土壤變松變肥。這都是苦難冬天之後所得的好處！
我們現在是多麽喜歡火呀!熊熊的熱火是多麽令人快意呀!我們也當這樣喜歡主。苦難之時他是溫暖和安慰的、常流不息的泉源。我們要親近他，因信在他裏面得到快樂和平安。願我們裹在他應許的棉衣之中，按著季候作我們所當作的工作，因爲懶惰人在寒冬不及時耕耘，到了夏天必然行乞，因爲他一無所有。
December 1
“Thou hast made summer and winter.”—Psalm 74:17
My soul begin this
wintry month with thy God. The cold snows and the piercing winds all remind
thee that He keeps His covenant with day and night, and tend to assure thee
that He will also keep that glorious covenant which He has made with thee in
the person of Christ Jesus. He who is true to His Word in the revolutions of
the seasons of this poor sin-polluted world, will not prove unfaithful in His
dealings with His own well-beloved Son.
Winter in the soul is
by no means a comfortable season, and if it be upon thee just now it will be
very painful to thee: but there is this comfort, namely, that the Lord makes
it. He sends the sharp blasts of adversity to nip the buds of expectation: He
scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes over the once verdant meadows of our joy:
He casteth forth His ice like morsels freezing the streams of our delight. He
does it all, He is the great Winter King, and rules in the realms of frost, and
therefore thou canst not murmur. Losses, crosses, heaviness, sickness, poverty,
and a thousand other ills, are of the Lord’s sending, and come to us with wise
design. Frosts kill noxious insects, and put a bound to raging diseases; they
break up the clods, and sweeten the soul. O that such good results would always
follow our winters of affliction!
How we prize the fire
just now! how pleasant is its cheerful glow! Let us in the same manner prize
our Lord, who is the constant source of warmth and comfort in every time of
trouble. Let us draw nigh to Him, and in Him find joy and peace in believing.
Let us wrap ourselves in the warm garments of His promises, and go forth to
labours which befit the season, for it were ill to be as the sluggard who will
not plough by reason of the cold; for he shall beg in summer and have nothing.
