8月1日 更认识他的作为

耶稣吩咐完了十二个门徒,就离开那里,往各城去传道教训人。(太十一1)

若神叫你“去”,你却因为过于牵挂本地的人而留下来;那么,你反剥夺了他们领受主耶稣教训的机会。你若顺服,把一切后果交给神,他就到你的城里去教训人。你一天不顺服,就成了阻碍。当心辩论一开始,你所谓的责任,就与主的命令相抗衡。“我知道神叫我去,但他们——我的责任却在此。”这样说,就表示你不把主的话当真。他吩咐我们不要去教导的地方,他自己会去。

“夫子……我们搭三座棚。”我们是否在别人身上,充当了业余的神明?我们教导别人的声音,是否使神根本无法就近他人?要闭嘴,保持心灵的敏锐。神要把他儿子的事教训我们,要把我们祷告的时间变成登山变像的经历。可是,我们却不让他这样做。我们自以为知道神一定用某种方法行事时,他就不再用那种方法。他吩咐我们在那里等候,他就在那里作工。

“等候,直到……”等候神,他就必作工。可是等候的时候,不要因为看不到出路而鬱鬱不乐。我们能否离开自己那份属灵的激情去等候神?等候不是抱着手呆着,乃是学习按神的吩咐而行。神在这几方面的作为,我们甚少人认识。

祈祷◆主啊,在这个早上,我的处境对我的意识构成极大的压力。让我的思想、情感,我的整个本性,去思想你为我所命定的是什么;由此,我便可以知道我所做的并没有错。

August 1 Something More About His Ways

He comes where He commands us to leave.

“When Jesus had made an end of commanding his disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.” Matthew 11:1.

If when God said “Go”, you stayed because you were so concerned about your people at home, you robbed them of the teaching and preaching of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed and left all consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach; as long as you would not obey, you were in the way. Watch where you begin to debate and to put what you call duty in competition with your Lord's commands. “I know He told me to go, but then my duty was here”; that means you do not believe that Jesus means what He says.

He teaches where He instructs us not to.

“Master, . . . let us make three tabernacles.”

Are we playing the spiritual amateur providence in other lives? Are we so noisy in our instruction of others that God cannot get anywhere near them? We have to keep our mouths shut and our spirits alert. God wants to instruct us in regard to His Son, He wants to turn our times of prayer into mounts of transfiguration, and we will not let Him. When we are certain of the way God is going to work, He will never work in that way any more.

He works where He sends us to wait.

“Tarry ye . . . until . . .” Wait on God and He will work, but don't wait in spiritual sulks because you cannot see an inch in front of you! Are we detached enough from our own spiritual hysterics to wait on God? To wait is not to sit with folded hands, but to learn to do what we are told.

These are phases of His ways we rarely recognize.