Daily Devotion - Feb 25 - ¥q¥¬¯u¨C¤éÆF­×(©]) Evening by Evening

司布真每日靈修(夜) Evening by Evening

二月二十五日

經文: 約拿卻起來，逃往他施去躲避耶和華。下到約帕……（約拿書一：3）

約拿沒有按照上帝的吩咐前往尼尼微去宣告上帝的話，反倒逃往約帕去躲避上帝。在某些場合中，上帝的僕人會退縮不盡責，但其結果為何呢?約拿的行為使他蒙受甚麼損失?他失去了上帝的同在，不再舒適地享受上帝的愛。當我們盡信徒的義務去事奉主耶穌時，上帝必與我們同在。縱然全世界的人抵擋我們，但是有上帝的同在，這些難處又能把我們麼樣呢？但是如果我們尋求自己的意願，就如同沒有駕駛員的船隻在海中漂泊。繼而我們會悲傷地嘆息：「我的上帝啊，您到那�去了？我怎能愚蠢地逃避服事您？這個代價太高了，求您讓我回轉以致我能因您的同在而喜樂。」約拿也失去了心靈的全部平安。罪瞬間就毀滅了信徒的安慰。約拿失去了能給他安慰的一切事物。因為他不遵行上帝的旨意，他無法懇求上帝的覆庇，他不能說：「主啊，我在執行任務時遭遇困難，求您助我勝過。」他偏行已路，自食其果。基督徒啊，不要效法約拿，除非你希望巨浪怒濤淹沒你。你會發現逃避上帝的工作和祂的旨意，比你立時順服更為困難。最後，約拿因要往他施去而浪費了時間。與上帝對抗是難事，讓我們立刻降服於祂。

Evening, February 25

Scripture: "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa."(Jonah 1:3)

Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade him, Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape from it. There are occasions when God's servants shrink from duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct? He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of God's love. When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers should do, our God is with us; and though we have the whole world against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at sea without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, "O my God, where hast thou gone? How could I have been so foolish as to shun thy service, and in this way to lose all the bright shinings of thy face? This is a price too high. Let me return to my allegiance, that I may rejoice in thy presence." In the next place, Jonah lost all peace of mind. Sin soon destroys a believer's comfort. It is the poisonous upas tree, from whose leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and peace. Jonah lost everything upon which he might have drawn for comfort in any other case. He could not plead the promise of divine protection, for he was not in God's ways; he could not say, "Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the discharge of my duty, therefore help me through them." He was reaping his own deeds; he was filled with his own ways. Christian, do not play the Jonah, unless you wish to have all the waves and the billows rolling over your head. You will find in the long run that it is far harder to shun the work and will of God than to at once yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time, for he had to go to Nineveh after all. It is hard to contend with God; let us yield ourselves at once.

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