五月卅一日
王也过了汲沦溪……（撒下15：23）
大卫与哭泣著的臣仆为了躲避叛逆的儿子一同逃过了凄凉满目的小溪。这位合神心意的人也免不了有患难，不，他的终生满了患难。他是神的受膏者，也是神的受苦者。那末，我们为什么要想逃脱呢？我辈当中最尊贵的都在悲伤的门内满头蒙灰，那末我们为什么要抱怨，以为我们遭到了非常的事呢？万王之王未曾行经康乐的大道，他也曾渡过污秽的汲沦溪，里面满了耶路撒冷一切污物的小溪。神有一个没有罪的儿子，便没有一个不受刑杖的儿子。我们很相信耶稣曾经过我们所受过的一切试探。今天早晨我们的汲沦溪是什么呢？是一位不忠实的朋友、一位故去的亲人、毁谤的责备或是不详的预兆吗？我们的君王都渡过了这一切。是肉体的痛苦、贫穷、逼迫或轻蔑吗？我们的君王都早已先我们渡过了这一切汲沦溪了。“在我们一切苦难中，他也同受苦难。”我们应当立刻并永远赶出我们的错误念头，以为我们受苦是希奇的异常的事，因为众圣徒的头，已经借着受苦的经验得知我们所认为是特殊的苦难了。锡安的一切居民都必不再哭泣了，因为我们的大君王以马内利是那逃亡行列的元首和领袖。大卫虽然出亡，但他仍得胜回城，大卫的主已经从坟墓得胜复活了；我们也要放心大胆，因为我们今天也必得胜。我们仍可快乐地从救恩的泉源汲饮，现在我们还有一段时期得经过罪的忧伤的毒流。十字架的精兵要鼓勇向前，你的王已经得胜地渡过汲沦溪，你也必要过去。
May 31
“The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron.” — 2 Samuel 15:23
David passed that gloomy brook when flying with his mourning company from his traitor son. The man after God’s own heart was not exempt from trouble, nay, his life was full of it. He was both the Lord’s Anointed, and the Lord’s Afflicted. Why then should we expect to escape? At sorrow’s gates the noblest of our race have waited with ashes on their heads, wherefore then should we complain as though some strange thing had happened unto us?
The KING of kings himself was not favoured with a more cheerful or royal road. He passed over the filthy ditch of Kidron, through which the filth of Jerusalem flowed. God had one Son without sin, but not a single child without the rod. It is a great joy to believe that Jesus has been tempted in all points like as we are. What is our Kidron this morning? Is it a faithless friend, a sad bereavement, a slanderous reproach, a dark foreboding? The King has passed over all these. Is it bodily pain, poverty, persecution, or contempt? Over each of these Kidrons the King has gone before us. “In all our afflictions He was afflicted.” The idea of strangeness in our trials must be banished at once and for ever, for He who is the Head of all saints, knows by experience the grief which we think so peculiar. All the citizens of Zion must be free of the Honourable Company of Mourners, of which the Prince Immanuel is Head and Captain.
Notwithstanding the abasement of David, he yet returned in triumph to his city, and David’s Lord arose victorious from the grave; let us then be of good courage, for we also shall win the day. We shall yet with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation, though now for a season we have to pass by the noxious streams of sin and sorrow. Courage, soldiers of the Cross, the King himself triumphed after going over Kidron, and so shall you.
