1231 昨天
你们出来必不至急忙，也不至奔逃。因为，耶和华必在你们前头行；以色列的神必作你们的后盾。《以赛亚书 52:12》
过去的安全感。「……神使已过的事重新再来。」（传道书3:15）。在年末，我们热切渴望转向神要给我们的种种未来。然而当我们想起过去种种时，焦虑就很容易涌上心头。我们现今在神恩典中的喜乐，容易会因记起过去的罪和重大过错而减弱。但上帝是我们过去的神，祂允许这些记忆为我们未来灵命成长而效力。神提醒我们过去的事情，是要保护我们免于现今肤浅的安全感。
未来的安全感。「……神会在你的前头行……」这是一个恩慈的启示——神将差遣祂的天军在我们失败之处帮助我们。祂将持续看顾我们，使我们不会被同样的失败绊倒，如果祂不是我们的「后盾」，那无疑就会再发生。但神的手伸向我们的过去，解决了所有控诉我们良心的声称。
现今的安全感。「你们必不急忙而出……」当我们踏入新的一年，让我们不要在急躁健忘的快乐中，也不要在轻率冲动中匆忙往前；但让我们以坚忍的力量出发，知道以色列的神将在我们前面走。我们昨天破碎和不可逆转的事情，确实已经失去再回转的机会，但上帝可以将这种破坏性的焦虑转化为对未来的建设性思考。让过去安息吧，让它安息在基督甜蜜的怀抱中。
把破碎、不可逆转的过去交到祂手中，与祂一同踏入无敌的未来。
来自章伯斯的智慧
一个人做了什么并不重要，最重要的是在作为中的所是。一个人所产生的氛围比他所作的更具有持久的影响力。《困惑如何更好地战斗》。
1231 Yesterday
You shall not go out with haste,…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. —Isaiah 52:12
Security from Yesterday. “…God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. “…the Lord will go before you….” This is a gracious revelation— that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste….” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
（英文版取自：https://utmost.org)