Daily Devotion - Jan 26 - ¯îºz¥Ì¬u Streams in the Desert

荒漠甘泉 Streams in the Desert

耐心等候

經文: 「從此起首…交給你你要得…為業。」（申二31）

聖經中常講起信徒該怎樣等待上帝，這個眞理不能太偏於一面。誠然，有許多時候，我們頂容易不耐上帝的遲延。我們生活中多少的煩惱，都是出於自己的紛擾、魯莽和焦急。我們不能等果子成熟，只管把青色的果子採下來。我們不能耐心等待我們的禱告答應，不管所求的須有較長時間預備。我們想和上帝同行，不料上帝行得很慢。這些都是我們的失敗，不能耐心等候上帝。然而聖經中還有另一面的眞理。就是上帝常等待我們，可惜我們總是耽誤上帝。

多少時候，我們沒有得到上帝已經為我們預備好了的祝福，因為我們不上前去接受。雖然有時我們的損失，是因為不等待上帝；但是多少時候我們的損失，也是因為等待得過度了。有的時候，我們應該靜坐；也有時候，我們應該邁步上前。

聖經中有許多的應許都是帶條件的。在我們方面必須先有條件的履行，然後上帝方面纔有應許的實現。我們開始順服的時候，上帝就開始賜福我們。上帝給亞伯拉罕許多的應許；可是亞伯拉罕還等在迦勒底的時候，這許多應許之中，沒有一個能夠實現。他必須先離開本鄉、本族、本家，以及一切的朋友，到一個異鄉去，然後上帝纔一件一件成就祂的應許。主肯醫治十個長大痲瘋的，對他們說：「你們去把身體給祭司察看。」他們在甚麼時候得醫治的？「他們去的時候就潔淨了」（路十七14）。如果他們等待，要先看見他們的肉潔淨了，然後再去，他們絕不會得到醫治。上帝等待去潔淨他們；只消他們的信心一開始活動賜福就來了。

當以色列人被仇敵追逼到紅海的時候，上帝吩咐他們「往前走」（出十四15）。他們的責任不是等待，乃是鼓著勇敢的信心起來往前走。還有一次，當他們渡過泛濫兩岸的約但河時，他們必須先有信心伸足入水，信心是一把鑰匙──一把開入應許之地的門的鑰匙。這把鑰匙是在他們自己的手中，他們若不走近那門用鑰匙去開門的話，門就絕不自動開啟的。哦，信徒們，今日我們是命定在世爭戰的。當然我們絕不能得勝，竟不堪仇敵一擊；然而，我們憑信心衝過前線的時候，就有那惟一的得勝者來到我們身邊，替我們爭戰；靠著祂，我們已經得勝有餘了。如果我們猶豫戰兢等候。那得勝者先來了，然後向前爭戰。我定規空等，這就是不信的過度等候。上帝今天在等待，要厚厚地賜福與我們。我們應該用勇敢的信心前去接受。「從起首，我要….交給你，你要得…為業。」──密勒（J.R.M.）


Waiting and Over-Waiting

Scripture: "I have begun to give;…begin to possess" (Deut. 2:31).

A great deal is said in the Bible about waiting for God. The lesson cannot be too strongly enforced. We easily grow impatient of God's delays. Much of our trouble in life comes out of our restless, sometimes reckless, haste. We cannot wait for the fruit to ripen, but insist on plucking it while it is green. We cannot wait for the answers to our prayers, although the things we ask for may require long years in their preparation for us. We are exhorted to walk with God; but ofttimes God walks very slowly. But there is another phase of the lesson. God often waits for us.
We fail many times to receive the blessing He has ready for us, because we do not go forward with Him. While we miss much good through not waiting for God, we also miss much through over-waiting. There are times when our strength is to sit still, but there are also times when we are to go forward with a firm step.
There are many Divine promises which are conditioned upon the beginning of some action on our part. When we begin to obey, God will begin to bless us. Great things were promised to Abraham, but not one of them could have been obtained by waiting in Chaldea. He must leave home, friends, and country, and go out into unknown paths and press on in unfaltering obedience in order to receive the promises. The ten lepers were told to show themselves to the priest, and "as they went they were cleansed." If they had waited to see the cleansing come in their flesh before they would start, they would never have seen it. God was waiting to cleanse them; and the moment their faith began to work, the blessing came.
When the Israelites were shut in by a pursuing army at the Red Sea, they were commanded to "Go forward." Their duty was no longer one of waiting, but of rising up from bended knees and going forward in the way of heroic faith. They were commanded to show their faith at another time by beginning their march over the Jordan while the river ran to its widest banks. The key to unlock the gate into the Land of Promise they held in their own hands, and the gate would not turn on its hinges until they had approached it and unlocked it. That key was faith. We are set to fight certain battles. We say we can never be victorious; that we never can conquer these enemies; but, as we enter the conflict, One comes and fights by our side, and through Him we are more than conquerors. If we had waited, trembling and fearing, for our Helper to come before we would join the battle, we should have waited in vain. This would have been the over-waiting of unbelief. God is waiting to pour richest blessings upon you. Press forward with bold confidence and take what is yours. "I have begun to give, begin to possess." --J. R. Miller


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