Daily Devotion - Feb 17 - ¯îºz¥Ì¬u Streams in the Desert

荒漠甘泉 Streams in the Desert

信心在眼見之前

經文: 「我…賜給以色列人的地。」（書一2，直譯）

這裡上帝所說的「賜給」是現在式，並不是上帝將要作的事，乃是上帝就在此刻要作的。信心求上帝現在，上帝就現在賜給。上帝今天就要工作。許多時候我們在上帝面前等候一件東西，盼望一件東西，尋求一件東西，卻並沒有相信。這不過是我們的盼望，這不過是我們的需要，並不是我們的信心；因為「信就是所望之事的實底、是未見之事的確據。」（來十一1）「所以我告訴你們、凡你們禱告祈求的、無論是甚麼、只要信是得著的、就必得著。」（可十一24）這裡說到信心的禱告，所用的動詞都是現在式的，我們有沒有這現在的信心呢？──譯自信宣（Simpson）著約書亞（Joshua）

眞實的信心，就是以上帝的話為算數，在未見應驗之前就已經深信了。頂自然地，我們常要先有眼見，或是憑據，證明我們所求的已經蒙上帝應許，然後纔肯相信。但是如果我們走信心的道路，除了上帝的話以外，我們不需要別的憑據。雖然四周環境，儘可和祂的話相反，祂已經說了必定會按照我們的信心，給我們成全的。我們將要看見祂話語的應驗，因為我們已經信了。

寫詩篇的人說：「我若不信在活人之地，得見耶和華的恩惠，就早已喪膽了。」（詩廿七13）他雖然還沒有看見上帝對他的答應，但是他已經相信得見；這就能保守他不喪膽。

若是我們也有「信得見」的信心，我們就不會灰心了。我們要笑「不可能」，我們頂高興地看上帝怎樣在紅海──人沒有方法可以脫離艱難的時候──開路。在這種試驗中，我們的信心最會增長。

親愛的受苦信徒阿，你是不是日夜在等待上帝，深怕上帝已經把你忘了呢？絕不會的，你當舉起你的頭來，為著那已經在半路上的拯救開始讚美祂。──譯自讚美的生命（Life of Praise）


Believing Before Seeing

Scripture: "The land which I do give them, even the children of Israel" (Joshua 1:2).

God here speaks in the immediate present. It is not something He is going to do, but something He does do, this moment. So faith ever speaks. So God ever gives. So He is meeting you today, in the present moment. This is the test of faith. So long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not faith; for "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The command in regard to believing prayer is the present tense. "When ye pray, believe that ye receive the things that ye desire, and ye shall have them." Have we come to that moment? Have we met God in His everlasting NOW? --Joshua, by Simpson
True faith counts on God, and believes before it sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe; but when we walk by faith we need no other evidence than God's Word. He has spoken, and according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see because we have believed, and this faith sustains us in the most trying places, when everything around us seems to contradict God's Word.
The Psalmist says, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living" (Ps. 27:13). He did not see as yet the Lord's answer to his prayers, but he believed to see; and this kept him from fainting.
If we have the faith that believes to see, it will keep us from growing discouraged. We shall "laugh at impossibilities," we shall watch with delight to see how God is going to open up a path through the Red Sea when there is no human way out of our difficulty. It is just in such places of severe testing that our faith grows and strengthens.
Have you been waiting upon God, dear troubled one, during long nights and weary days, and have feared that you were forgotten? Nay, lift up your head, and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on its way to you. --Life of Praise


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