十一月三日
他正禱告。（徒9：11）
天父時常留心人的禱告。掃羅一開口禱告，神就聽見了。這真是在苦難中禱告之人的安慰。傷心至極的人常雙膝跪地，痛哭流涕，哀聲嘆氣；但他的呻吟卻使天上的琴瑟齊鳴，他的眼泪被神珍藏在天上的泪袋之中。“你把我的眼泪裝在你的皮袋裏。”這就是說當眼泪流下之時，神都收了去。祈求神的人，雖然因爲懼怕的緣故不知該說什麽，但是至高者都知道。他只能泪眼朦朧地仰望神，但“禱告就是落眼泪”。泪珠是天上的鑽石；嘆息是耶和華院中的音樂，是“上達至高大君的莊嚴歌聲”。
你的禱告雖然微弱而戰栗，但是不要以爲神因此便不關心了。雅各的梯子能上通高天，我們的禱告靠著恩約的使者也可以上達天庭。我們的神不但聽我們的禱告，而且也歡喜聽禱告。他“不忘記困苦（謙卑）人的哀求”。他幷不關懷高傲的眼和誇大的話；他幷不在意君王的豪華和炫張；他幷不傾聽誇張的戰歌；他幷不留心驕傲人的順利；但是滿了憂傷的心，或是因痛苦、悲哀、悔改的唉哼而戰顫的嘴唇，耶和華的心便敞開了；他把這些都記載在他的記憶之中；他把我們的禱告，像玫瑰花瓣一樣夾在他的記念簿裏，每當他打開就發出奇异的芳香來。
“人心內憂悶者暗中常哭泣，速來到恩座下俯伏祈求。
連苦楚與患難，皆得主憐惜，地上之憂慮，天上能拯救。”
November
3
“Behold,
he prayeth.”–Acts 9:11
Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven.
The moment Saul began to pray the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for the
distressed but praying soul. Oftentimes a poor broken-hearted one bends his
knee, but can only utter his wailing in the language of sighs and tears; yet
that groan has made all the harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has
been caught by God and treasured in the lachrymatory of heaven. “Thou
puttest my tears into thy bottle,” implies that they are caught as they
flow. The suppliant, whose fears prevent his words, will be well understood by
the Most High. He may only look up with misty eye; but “prayer is the
falling of a tear.” Tears are the diamonds of heaven; sighs are a part of
the music of Jehovah’s court, and are numbered with “the sublimest strains
that reach the majesty on high.” Think not that your prayer, however weak
or trembling, will be unregarded. Jacob’s ladder is lofty, but our prayers
shall lean upon the Angel of the covenant and so climb its starry rounds. Our
God not only hears prayer but also loves to hear it. “He forgetteth not
the cry of the humble.” True, He regards not high looks and lofty words;
He cares not for the pomp and pageantry of kings; He listens not to the swell
of martial music; He regards not the triumph and pride of man; but wherever
there is a heart big with sorrow, or a lip quivering with agony, or a deep
groan, or a penitential sigh, the heart of Jehovah is open; He marks it down in
the registry of His memory; He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the
pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, there
shall be a precious fragrance springing up therefrom.
“Faith asks no signal from the skies,
To show that prayers accepted rise,
Our Priest is in His holy place,
And answers from the throne of grace.”
