2主特别喜欢约束年轻人。如果年轻人无心事奉，主会挑旺他们事奉祂。但等他们被挑旺之后，祂……会限制他们。人天然的性情不喜欢这种限制。譬如，在睡觉和活动上，我们也许不喜欢受限制。我们在属灵上沉睡时，神会来挑旺我们。但我们太活跃的时候，祂就约束我们。……一位年轻弟兄可能想在年轻人中间带头。如果他带头了，他可能又想在召会中作执事或长老。在这些事上，他可能巴望有快速的进展。但神的原则乃是先叫我们快起来，又使我们慢下去；先兴起我们来，又使我们降下。当我们下沉时，祂来扶持我们。但当我们上得太高，祂就把我们拉回来。因此，神对付我们的作法就是上去下来，下来上去。我们若肯接受神这样的上上下下，最终我们就能在祂的工作中有用处（哥林多后书生命读经，五二九页）。
2The Lord is especially interested in restricting the young people. If the young ones do not have a heart to serve the Lord, He will stir them up to serve Him. But once they have been stirred up, He will limit them. Human nature does not like this kind of limitation. For example, both in our sleeping and in our activity, we may not like limitations. When, spiritually speaking, we are asleep, God will stir us up. But when we become too active, He will restrict us…A young brother may want to be a leader among the young people. If he becomes a leader, he may then want to be a deacon or an elder in the church. In these matters he may expect to make swift progress. God’s way, however, is first to speed us up and then to slow us down, first to raise us up and then to lower us down. When we are down, He will lift us up. But when we get too far up, He will lower us down. Hence, God’s way of dealing with us is up and down, down and up. If we can take God’s ups and downs, we will eventually become useful in His work. (Lifestudy of 2 Corinthians, p. 441)